MY SERVICES
It is my pleasure to support families through pregnancy and labor to help them find their own strength and confidence to have a beautiful birth experience. My services include:
* Unlimited phone and email contact:
I’m available to answer questions and refer you to other sources of information if needed. We can discuss all your options so that you can make the right choice for you.
* 2 Prenatal visits:
We set up two home visits to discuss your birth preferences. My role is to help you understand all your options and to support you in your choices. I take time during these visits to really listen and get to know you and any fears and desires you have surrounding birth. It is your opportunity to get to know me, ask questions, and find out more about what techniques you might like me to use to help you remain calm and relaxed throughout labor.
* On-call availability for your birth:
You can call me anytime, day or night. Once labor has begun, I will join you at your home as soon as you would like more support and I will help you to labor at home and decide when to leave for the hospital (if you are not having a home birth). I always stay at least a few hours after the birth to provide assistance with breastfeeding and any other support that’s needed.
* 1 Postpartum visit:
Within the first two weeks after the birth, I will schedule another home visit to check-in, answer questions, bring photos and birth notes, and support you in breast feeding as needed within my scope of practice.
PHILOSOPHY
I believe the childbirth is an experience to be embraced, but there is no right or wrong choice. I work to support your choices. I do not try to impose any agenda onto your own experience.
ABOUT DOULAS and HOW I WORK
Families almost always state that choosing a doula was the best choice they made for their birth. Entering into this time in your lives is full of wonder and excitement, but during labor a grounded voice of experience who can help to coach, encourage, reassure and support you and your partner is invaluable.
A doula can:
- Help you to labor in the comfort of your home longer.
- Help you decide when it is appropriate to go to the hospital if you are not having a home birth.
- Help you to effectively navigate the hospital and medical staff to make your time there as harmonious as possible.
- Help you and your partner feel calmer and more confident in your choices.
- Help you to trust your body, submit to the sensations of labor, and find your own rhythm and routine.
- Help you to have all the information you need to make decisions that may arise during pregnancy and labor
As your doula, I will use a wide variety of techniques to help you manage your labor. These include breathing, massage and touch, positioning, rebozo, birth ball, aromatherapy, water therapy, acupressure, counter-pressure, vocalization, visualization, use of imagery, and guided meditation. The woman in labor is my guide. I find that I get in synch with her and carefully watch and listen to all her verbal and nonverbal communication, intuitively catering the techniques I use to fit with her preferences and personality. I am part of the birth team, so I do not replace the role of husbands, partners or other support people. I help everyone to feel confident in their support role. Often I will do something that the laboring woman really likes, and then her partner is able to do it during the following contraction. Labor is usually long and requires endurance from the whole team. As the doula, I can help relieve the partner if he/she needs to rest and having more than one person present means that the laboring woman will never be left alone. One of us will always be by her side.
At a hospital birth, my role is also to help you to respectfully communicate with the medical staff and to make sure that you are fully informed and in control of any decisions. I help ensure that all staff is clear and informed about your birth preferences, and I work to make it a comfortable environment with everyone working together for you.
Clinical research studies have shown that a doula’s presence at birth:
- Tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications.
- Reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience.
- Reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction.
- Reduces the requests for pain medication and epidurals.
- Reduces the incidence of cesareans.
- Reduces the chance of the baby being admitted to a special care nursery.
- Increases the ease with which the baby breastfeeds.
