What is...: A New Life Begins Doula and Pregnancy Services

What is a Doula? (pronounced Doo-Lah)

A doula is a professional trained in childbirth who provides emotional, physical and informational support to the woman who is expecting, in labor or has recently given birth. The doula's role is to help women have a safe, memorable and empowering birthing experience. Up until recently, women gave birth with women around her, who were experience and knew how to assist her. In our current time, with most births happening in hospitals, with various staff coming and going, mother’s no longer have the benefit of that group of women to help her through labor and birth. As Doulas, we bring back this tradition of constant support, and help create positive birth experiences.

What does a Doula do?
Each Doula is different, but our goals are the same. During labor, doulas provide close uninterrupted care of the mother. They can provide comfort with pain relief techniques, such as breathing, relaxation, massage and various laboring positions. Doulas also encourage participation from the partner and offer reassurance. A doula acts as an advocate for the mother, encouraging her in her desires for her birth. The goal of a doula is to help the mother have a positive and safe birth experience, whether the mother wants an un-medicated birth or is having a planned cesarean birth.

Natural Birth Information from DONA.org
Benefits of Having a Doula:

What effects does the presence of a doula have on birth outcomes? Numerous clinical studies have found 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, as well as the incidence of cesareans

What effects does the presence of a doula have on the mother?
When a doula is present during and after childbirth, women report greater satisfaction with their birth experience, make more positive assessments of their babies, have fewer cesareans and requests for medical intervention, and less postpartum depression.

What effects do the presence of doulas have on babies?
Studies have shown that babies born with doulas present tend to have shorter hospital stays with fewer admissions to special care nurseries, breastfeed more easily and have more affectionate mothers in the postpartum period.

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