More and more pregnant women are heading into the delivery room or birthing center – or giving birth at home – with a doulas at their side, ready to offer them the support they need during labor and delivery. What’s behind this doula craze? What exactly does a doula do? And why should you hire one? And what if the mother- and father-to-be don’t see eye to eye on whether to have a doula present at birth or not? And aren’t there other kinds of doulas, in addition to birth doulas? Babble answers these questions and more.
One of the questions I’ve gotten often since announcing my pregnancy to the world is: “Where are you going to deliver?”. And to that, I reply: ”Hmmmm….good question.” It seems like there are so many decisions to be made. Will we have a hospital birth? Will we use a doctor or a midwife? Will we MORE »
As I’m sitting here writing, an old friend of mine (like since middle school) is in labor with her first baby. I’m excited! She’s the first of my old friends to have a baby. (Obviously I have lots of “new” friends that have two or three!) I can’t wait to hear when the baby arrives, MORE »
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The first line of the introduction to From The Hips, the pregnancy and baby book I co-authored, is something like, “We have a confession to make. We didn’t know what a doula was when we got pregnant.” I recall being surprised to learn that midwives take insurance and deliver in hospitals. And upset to discover MORE »
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How many of you have seen the documentary film, ‘The Business of Being Born?‘ We did, and I can’t be thankful enough. Although it was based from a primarily American perspective, I was fascinated with the exposure into the business-sided, control aspect of the maternity care system. Much of which translates over into what happens in Canada. We may MORE »
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Yesterday we talked about what a doula is. And many of you commenting loved having one. Now, imagine if you’re told that you can’t have a doula. It’s against your doctor or hospital’s policy. Never mind that doulas have been shown to increase positive outcomes for moms and babies. No, it’s against the rules to MORE »
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If you’re new to the natural pregnancy world, you may have never heard of a doula. I hadn’t in my first pregnancy. And once we figured it out, my husband looked at me skeptically and said, “We do not need that.” So we didn’t really even look into it. Turns out, we really could have MORE »
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Well, jeebers. It’s been six months since Abby made her big debut. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh? I realize that I never told my birth story. I think it’s because it was such a mixed bag. It ended up being a great, fabulous birth, but the experience was marred by a midwife who MORE »
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