Posts Tagged ‘labor doula’
5 Things Midwives, Doulas, and Postpartum Moms Love
As I was in the shower today, after two births in 24 hours–one in the hospital as a doula, the other at home as a student midwife–I was appreciating the perfect temperature of the water, the smell of my shampoo, and the utterly clean feeling I had when I stepped out onto the mat. I…
Read MoreA Doula For The Dying, Part 2: 5 More things I learned while doulaing my dying father.
When I set out to be by my father’s side in 2012, I had no idea what to expect. My sister and I both lived in Colorado Springs, so naturally we caravaned to Oregon together. We talked about it a lot. What would we have to do? How would we help our mom? This was…
Read MoreA Doula For The Dying: 5 Things I Learned at My Father’s Deathbed
Almost three years ago, I packed up my four children and drove to Oregon to help care for my father. His melanoma had metastasized to his spinal fluid, and everything that could be thrown at it to kill it, had been. There was nothing left, but to wait. Probably only weeks were left. His decline…
Read MoreDoulas and Home Birth
Is there benefit to hiring a doula for a home birth? I say YES absolutely. An oldie but a goodie, from Desirre, in honor of International Doula Month. As a seasoned doula who has attended home births as labor support and now an intern midwife who clinically supports the mother, I believe that many women…
Read MoreI Am A Doula
Doula. I am a doula. Those words, filled with so much meaning over the years, were my starting point in this birth journey I’m on. Doula is a weighty word. It’s a very different role than almost any other in birth. It encompasses so much that used to be taken for granted: that a sister,…
Read MoreLife Lessons Found As A Doula
Being a doula has taught me… I have to disappoint people I love sometimes. At any moment, I may have to leave people I care about high and dry while I bolt to the side of a mother in labor. Babies don’t care about the date on the calendar. I will be growing and learning…
Read MoreBeing A Doula
Being a doula, for me, is not about changing hospital policy, or steering women away from “bad” providers. It is not about disseminating information to every client. It’s not about birth plans. It’s not about informed consent. It’s not about vaginal birth, home birth, or cesarean birth. It’s not about statistics. It’s not about rebozos,…
Read MoreNuts & Bolts: What exactly am I paying my doula for?
Next to finding a good personality fit in a doula, financial concerns are probably the biggest factor in choosing which doula to hire, and many potential clients ask me exactly what the fee covers. In some ways, that’s an easy question to answer: “My fee covers x number of prenatals, labor, birth, and immediate postpartum,…
Read MoreDad Matters – A doula’s perspective
Many men in our culture are fairly apprehensive about birth. Most have never seen a real birth, or talked about it outside of sex ed. They are often nervous about birth itself, seeing their partner in pain, the what-ifs, and all that may come after. They doubt their ability to support their partner in her…
Read MoreIntangible Reasons
My husband and I watched “Away We Go” last night. It’s a movie about a pregnant couple’s quest to find the place where they want to give birth and raise their baby. Along the way, they meet up with a lot of old connections to try and get a feel for where they belong. During…
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