Why Have a Doula?

The word “doula” is a Greek word meaning “Woman’s servant,” and in labor refers to a supportive companion other than the birth partner. They have been depicted for centuries as women helping women give birth, behind or beside the mother, holding and comforting her. Today, the doula’s role is to provide emotional, informational, and physical support to women and their partners during labor and birth. The doula offers help and advice on comfort measures such as breathing, positioning, movement and relaxation, and encourages families to obtain all the information they can on their options during labor and delivery. However, the most important role that she fills may be in providing continuous emotional support and reassurance, a true comfort during the most challenging moments of a woman’s life. Doulas do not perform clinical tasks, but specialize in non-medical skills, and do not offer medical advice or make decisions for her clients. She does not judge, but supports and respects each mother’s choices and recognizes that birth is an individual, personal experience. Studies comparing delivery outcomes of non-doula assisted births and doula-assisted births have shown that the presence of a doula's support during birth has affected the outcome of deliveries in the following ways:
    Lisa Turner Photography
    “If a Doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it.”-John H. Kennel, MD
  • Four times more vaginal deliveries than in non-doula assisted births
  • Reduction in the length of labor by over 50%
  • Reduction in cesarean section by over 55%
  • Reduction in mothers receiving epidurals for pain relief during labor by over 85%
  • Reduction in mothers using oxytocin (Pitocin) to induce labor or strengthen contractions by over 65%
  • Reduction in delivery assisted by forceps by over 65%
  • Increase in the breastfeeding success during the first 6 weeks by nearly 50%
  • Improved relationship between mother and partner following the birth over mothers with non-doula assisted deliveries
  • Statistics shared from Mothering the Mother, Marshall Klaus, Phyllis Klaus, and John Kennel

Doulas and Fathers/Partners:

 
“We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful…it’s that women are strong.”-Laura Stavoe Harm