What is a Birth Doula?

“You will be known as the lady who does the hip squeezes” are words spoken by my doula instructor that will forever be etched in my memory. Oddly enough, when people inquire about my line of work as a birth doula, I respond “you know, those ladies who do hip squeezes during birth”. Though a majority of my time is spent helping birthing people with pain management during birth, often using this technique, there is so much more that a doula does to provide guidance (informational), companionship (emotional) and support (physical) that birthing people need during pregnancy, labor and postpartum.

So...Is This A New Profession?

Before explaining what a doula does, I think it is important to expose readers to the history of this line of work. To many, a doula’s role in birth sounds like a modern profession or luxury that profits from an already costly experience. However, history shows us that this guidance, companionship and support has always existed.

The term “doula” originates from ancient Greece, meaning “women who serve”. During ancient times across our world, when women gave birth in their homes, these “women who serve” provided important support, guidance, and companionship while the midwives focused on the medical care these birthing moms needed during their labor. When the rise of an industrialized civilization began and birth moved towards a more hospital based experience, the use of birth doulas diminished. It wasn’t until the 1970’s and 1980’s when a resurgence of this type of birth support occurred and the desire for women to be supported and have  a better birthing experience increased.

Today, as more birthing persons are looking to have a positive birthing experience in their homes, birthing centers, and hospitals, the ancient “women who serve” during births has turned into a profession for those with a passion to provide informational, emotional, and physical support to all birthing persons.

What Is A Doula?

DONA International defines doulas as “a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible”. Doulas seek to support birthing persons in an effort to help them achieve a positive experience in birth. Unfortunately, birthing people often feel overrun by their care provider .during one of the most vulnerable periods in their lives, feeling like they do not have options and lose all control over the experience. Statistically, the presence of a doula has shown to help birthing people maintain a sense of authority in the birthing space, which results in a more positive birth experience. Doulas put in a significant amount of time helping birthing people achieve the birth they want by helping them advocate for themselves and understand the options and interventions being presented to them.

Physical Support

Beyond the hip squeeze, doulas provide suggestions for physical comfort during pregnancy, perform various techniques for pain management during  birth, and use various techniques to help achieve a vaginal birth when an epidural and other interventions have been used. Some examples are: encouraging birthing persons to use an exercise ball for comfort during pregnancy, providing massages (with comfortability of the birthing person) while laboring, using methods to stimulate pushing if an epidural has been used, and helping with the skin to skin contact and the initiation of chestfeeding if birthing persons are planning on doing so.

Emotional Support

I’d be lying to you if I said that  pregnancy, birth and postpartum are easy. There can be easy moments in the process but each has their own emotional pitfalls where the support of a doula can be extremely helpful. Many doulas use the concept of affirmations to remind their clients that they were made for this process and give them the push they need to persevere and endure.

Informational Support

There is A LOT of information surrounding pregnancy, birth, and postpartum that can be very overwhelming to look through. Sometimes the information that is out there can contradict one another and birthing persons are left to wonder which is the right information for them. While some birthing people prefer a more directed approach (which is totally fine!) I personally am of the belief that doulas should encourage their clients to gather information for themselves while the doula coaches the client in figuring out what will be the right path for them. But for other clients who want to steer the ship of their birth experience I think it is important for doulas to not discredit any information out there but rather coach their client into determining what will work for them.

But...Can’t My Partner Do All This?

Addressing a partner's role in the birth experience is so important. Oftentimes when birthing persons consider hiring a doula, partners wonder if they will feel left out or birthing persons themselves say “Well I don’t need one because I have my partner for that”. In full disclosure, my husband was one of those partners. He firmly believed that he could be my doula and we did not need anyone else. It took much convincing and quite frankly it wasn’t until my doula was doing her thing during our labor that he was fully convinced of why having one was so important for us.

Doulas are not meant to overshadow a partner or take their spot in the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience. In fact, doulas find ways to include partners in the process when partners are unsure of what to do or how to help. Remember that partners, especially for first time families, experience some of the exact same feelings in a different form that birthing persons do during the process. As a professional who is called to provide informational, emotional, and physical support for a positive birth experience, doulas realize that this positive birth experience is not just for birthing persons but also for their partners.

Now that you have a general idea of what a doula does, would you consider having one for your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey?

Naria Menard is a certified doula who works on an amazing team (The Orchid Nest) serving birthing persons in the South Florida area. She was drawn into the field by her desire of decreasing the racial disparities that occur in birth outcomes. She firmly believes that with the right education and support, all birthing persons can experience an intentional positive birth. You can keep up to date with much of her work as a doula on instagram @mamanarnar30.