Question Time!

Thanks for thinking of inviting us to your next birthday party! We probably won’t bring balloons, but we will bring years of experience support people just like you, with birthday wishes just like yours!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

• “What does a doula even do?”

• “I’m really skeptical of using a doula. Do you know what you’re doing? Are healthcare providers going to be present?”

• “Do doulas support people who want to birth in the hospital and/or get an epidural?”

• “Do doulas try to take the place of the partner?”

ANSWERS AND CLARITY:

A DOULA IS A TRAINED NONMEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WHO PROVIDES CONTINUOUS PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL SUPPORT TO A PREGNANCY PERSON BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER CHILDBIRTH TO HELP THEM ACHIEVE THE HEALTHIEST, MOST SATISFYING EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE

• Doulas help you stay strong and calm utilizing evidence based emotional and physical support throughout pregnancy, labor&delivery, and postpartum.

• Doulas help you navigate your birth preferences: “Where do you want to deliver your baby? Do you want be receive pain medications and interventions or do you prefer non-pharmacologic pain interventions? Do you want to breastfeed?”

• There is no right or wrong answer. We help you find out which type of birth is best for you. Every birth is unique and sacred. Contrary to what many believe, in addition to being present for home and birthing center births, doulas are right there with our clients in hospitals as they are receiving an epidural. Doulas assist in cesarean births at hospitals, as well. (We don’t just do births at home or at birthing centers

• Don't worry partners/friends/family/support system--we will never forget you! I promise we are not here to take your place. We are here to help your loved ones help you. We can work as a team. Every situation is unique and you will decide what feels best. Some people say, “My partner is my left hand and my doula is my right.” –Penny Simkin, author of The Birth Partner.

  What Does Doula Mean?

  Pronounced 'doo-la' — doula is a Greek word meaning 'servant or caregiver'- it refers to someone who is trained to offer emotional, informational and physical support to someone and their partner before, during and after childbirth. A doula (also known as a birth attendant) believes in nurturing the birthing parent and supporting them in every aspect of parenthood and birth.

  Why Do People Use Doulas?

  People want to be listened to, to be as comfortable as possible not only physically during birth, but emotionally. They want to have the experience of a lifetime and not one they will feel they didn’t have a say in… They want to be supported with information that will help them have a quick birth that continues to progress so they may meet their baby quickly. They want to perhaps go naturally to see if the experience can be as instinctual as possible. They want to be able to have someone with continuous presence who knows birth, knows them, and knows how to interact with the providers to accomplish their birth goals, and to help explain choices when things do not go as planned. They want a calm in the storm to support them when things seem overwhelming and to remind them… you can do this.

  Do you offer Discounts or have “Student Doulas”?

  We do not have any doulas in training, but we do offer 0% financing through the Hebrew Free Loan association, even if you are not jewish you can take advantage of this and push out payments through the baby's first year at 0%! We also offer payment plans through 38 weeks, and we can take FSA or HSA or credit card with a convenience fee charge. We truly work with you as much as we can to make sure that you get the best service possible! We can truly say that what we learned in our doula training is probably 5% or less of what we know. We learn so much by experience and continuing education so we can absolutely vouch for every client experience that we serve, we know if someone has a cesarean for example, we tried every possible option within our scope of knowledge to get that baby out vaginally if that is the client’s wish. This training is extensive and culminates to hundreds of hours of serving clients to take that information and apply it to your birth specifically. For this reason we do not have student doulas, if we had a newer doula- we would do her full training prior to having her take clients then she would still be the full rate because of the education and training we would invest in her to get her up to speed, no one would get a subpar experience!

Other’s Experiences with Doula Support

o "My doula was there to support me through my whole pregnancy, labor and postpartum. We had two prenatal visits, she was there for 6 hours of my labor and came to visit when my daughter was two weeks old to help us with tips on how to adjust to being home and help with any questions + lactation support."

o "She gave me so many coping methods and she was really amazing at her job. I had no medication. It was amazing."

o "During labor she was able to help my partner support me and remind him of what I wanted and the things he could do."

o "I had my partner coaching me and holding my hand, doula doing hip compressions, and my mom pouring water down my back. I felt like I had a secret weapon in my back pocket.. anytime something wasn’t working our doula had another idea or something new to try."

Maybe you do not want someone else in the room?

but you want support prenatally, to learn coping mechanisms, for us to teach your partner how to support you, for us to be your go-to for questions and support, for us to talk to you about your birth plan and navigating options and give you advice virtually during your birth?

Check out our Birth Concierge Package!