Things we often hear: "I don't need a doula, I have Steve." or "I don't need a doula, I have a midwife." We know that the majority of the birthing population isn't hiring doulas. In fact, only 6% of birthing families report using a doula for childbirth, and we get it, doulas are an extra cost but it's one you will be happy you invested in. Let’s look at the investment you make in our team: you get childbirth education, birth support, lactation support, and a postpartum visit to debrief on your birth experience (bonus, a lactation goodie and meal to show you some extra love), but we don’t stop there we offer 12 weeks of text support for all of your random questions that may arise during the fourth trimester.

8 reasons why you should hire a doula

Doulas help you and your partner develop questions to ask in your appointments to maximize your birth center experience. This happens prenatally, during labor and birth, but also postpartum! It starts with a birth plan and making sure you know your choices and what questions to ask your provider to gain more insight into what your care in labor and birth will look like. We also encourage clients to have a plan in place should a transfer to the hospital happen for medical reasons like pre-eclampsia or transfer during labor.
Doulas are your Google. You can still take to Google, but your doula can help with that and make it less scary. We are available to you from the time you sign your contract through your first 12 weeks as a new parent. There is a wide range of normal in birth, and we are experienced with that. Doulas are like the dad of the birth world… we have a “guy” for everything, use your doula for all sorts of solid resources in the area like massage, chiropractic, pediatric dentists, acupuncturists, prenatal yoga, pelvic floor therapy and the list goes on.
Doulas don't have requirements on when to contact them for support. Your contractions don't have to be every 5 minutes, lasting a minute, for an hour. You call us when you are in need of extra hands and support. Doulas can help you navigate when it’s time to head to the birth center.
Doulas provide continuous care, because even at a birth center the support team may have other laboring families to tend to. Doulas can help fill in the gaps when the staff enter the room and keep them updated on what has been happening and what we have tried. It’s truly collaborative care with very like minded team members.
Doulas remind you that you can ask questions. In the out of hospital birth center setting providers tend to provide a full picture when presenting information, but nonetheless a doula can help you ask additional questions or help you navigate hard decisions that may arise like transferring to the hospital.
Doulas are there the whole time, there is no shift change. You get who you hired for the WHOLE time. Doulas are usually guaranteed to be there unless otherwise noted in their contract or your interview. In the event that you have a long birth or experience prodromal labor then your doula may switch out to get rest and come back.
Your partner needs help supporting you. A common tool used in labor is a hip squeeze or counter-pressure on the back of the laboring person. This requires a lot of effort and strength, and may even require some weird positions. It helps to have someone to take turns with. Your partner needs help. They need to go to the bathroom, they may even need to run and get coffee or food for a mid labor mental break, and that's ok. That's where having a doula comes in very handy because if they leave you still know the person in the room with you and you are never alone.
45% of people have traumatic birth experiences. I think this statistic speaks for itself. We know having a doula doesn't always prevent this, but we can certainly help you where we can to avoid this but also if you do find your experience traumatic we can give you great referrals in the area to help you work through your trauma. We also know that picking your birth place and provider carefully puts you at an advantage here, so the fact that you are birthing at an out of hospital birth center with midwives will just continue to stack the deck in your favor.

On average, doulas spend about 20 hours with each client from pregnancy to postpartum. They do a lot of research for their clients and work long hours, but it is so worth it to watch two people turn into a family of three (or more). A doula is an addition to your birth team and fills in the gaps to give you a well rounded experience from pregnancy into parenthood.