A doula is a helpful person to come alongside you during your pregnancy and childbirth to offer educational, emotional, and physical support. They are not midwives, nurses, or doctors, so they don’t provide medical care. However, certified doulas are well trained and are required to pass an exam, ensuring they know how to help pregnant women. Often, doulas provide ongoing support after the birth, even giving encouragement and support to the rest of the family, because they understand pregnancy and the postpartum experience.
Her doula’s adapts to your needs during the pregnancy, birth, and time following the birth. She may help you adapt your new role as a mom or support breastfeeding, or she may just help make you comfortable during the birth. You can learn more about doulas here.
Often, your doula will connect with you during the second or third trimester to get to know you and identify the best ways they can support you. You may have a lot of questions about birth and pregnancy. Your doula can answer a lot of them. Think of her as your experienced friend who can help you develop your birth plan. Doula services are a huge help to parents to be, not just for the mother, but the dad too.
As a result, the doula can offer the best help possible during the birth, staying with you for comfort, massaging you to help you relax, or even serving as a liaison with the medical staff while you are focusing on birthing the baby. She may even be able to help keep the dad-to-be focused and calm to help you out. This makes it natural for the doula to help in the early hours after the birth, because she can help while you start breastfeeding or give you some assistance caring for the baby while you recover.
As you can see, doulas are a huge help to moms and moms-to-be. It is just one of the many services we offer to our clients at Cornerstone Women’s Health Center Services. Fill out the form on this below to see if you qualify for our doula services. Also, if you haven’t scheduled an appointment for a pregnancy test, now is a good time.