Eleven years ago when I was pregnant with my first child, I was living in Georgia, 500 miles away from my mother, sisters, grandmothers, or any family that could be with me when I had my baby. My husband was beside me, but he knew even less about birth than I did! I wish I had known about the option of having a doula, but my hospital didn’t offer a list of available doulas, and none of my friends had ever used them.
Today, women have so many options for help before, during, and after birth—that clearly was not the case a generation ago. My mom jokes that she would just show up at the hospital, the medical staff would take over, and she would wake up holding a baby. Luckily, it’s not like that today and women, even in rural areas, have more options than ever. One alternative to consider is hiring a doula, or mother’s helper, to assist during labor or to help at home afterwards. To learn more about doulas, I had a chat with Carole Thorpe, a Mission Viejo, California mother of four, and hypnotherapist. In fact, Carole is a Hypnobabies childbirth hypnosis instructor, a childbirth doula, and a lactation educator and counselor. She also practices homeopathy and Reiki healing touch. She has assisted with over 450 natural births.
Q: What is a doula, and how can one help during labor and delivery?
Carole: The word “doula” comes from the Greek word, which loosely translated means “woman’s helper.” Doula has come to mean a woman experienced in childbirth who assists women and their partners through the birthing process. Doulas help couples (or single moms) define their birth preferences. They assist with comfort measures during childbirth. They can reassure a couple about the normal progress of birth, and explain routine procedures and medical terms that a woman may not understand. This gives a woman the ability to make an informed decision when faced with choices during the course of their labor. Studies have shown that a doula’s presence at a woman’s birthing results in fewer medications being needed, less cesarean births, less interventions overall, more maternal satisfaction, and less postpartum depression.
