The word "Doula" comes from Ancient Greece, meaning "a woman who serves". Today it is used to refer to a woman who is a trained, experienced professional that provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother and her partner before, during and after their birthing time (birth doula); or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period (postpartum doula). The information contained on these pages will focus on the birth doula portion of this service.  

What a doula does:

• Recognizes birth as a key life experience that you will remember forever.
• Understands the anatomy and physiology of pregnacy.
• Understands the spiritual and emotional needs of the expectant mother.  
• Assists women in preparing for and carrying out her and her partners wishes for birth.
• Stays with the woman throughout the labor.
• Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint, as well as helping mom and her partner obtain proper information to make informed decisions.
• Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and the clinical care providers.
• Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting the woman's memory of the birth experience.
• Allows the woman's partner to participate at his/her comfort level.

Benefits of Having a Doula

• Shortens labor by 25% 
• Decreased need for narcotic pain medication
• Decreased need for forceps/vacuum extraction 
• Decreased need for labor augmentation
• Reduced overall cesarean section rate 
• Decreased requests for epidural by 
• Increased positive feelings of childbirth experience
• Increased mother/infant bonding
• Increased success and satisfaction with breastfeeding
• Decreased postpartum depression
• Increased acceptance of their infants
• Decreased neonatal problems
• Increased woman's self-esteem and self-confidence
• Increases woman's confidence with partner