Midwife and Doula in HypnoBirthing Birth

What's a Doula?

The word doula comes from the Greek word meaning "woman caregiver." 

The word is now used to describe a trained labor companion who provides the woman and her partner continuous emotional support, physical comfort and assistance in obtaining information before, during and just after childbirth. 

Labor support consists of helping a woman develop her own rhythms and rituals, providing distractions with breathing patterns, comforting touch, varying positions, use of a birth ball, warm or cold compresses, vocalization, visualization, relaxation, or whatever is needed to provide comfort. 

Every birth is a unique experience and she will work with you to modify and vary comfort measures as desired and needed.

Know the difference between a midwife and a doula. 
A midwife provides prenatal care, delivery of the baby, care of the mother post-partum and newborn care. The midwife is responsible for the safety of mother and baby. Some kinds of midwives also provide family planning, annual exams, and other kinds of well-woman gynecology.

Certified doulas do not provide any kind of medical care. For instance, they would not listen to the baby's heart beat or do a vaginal exam or deliver the baby. However, a doula is instrumental in providing emotional and physical support for the laboring woman and her family (husband) and/or post-partum care of the mother and baby. Doula care has been shown to improve outcomes for both moms and babies shown through many studies.

A doula can specialize in assiting you at just your baby birth, or post-partum (after the baby arrival) care of mother and baby, or both. A birth doula stays with you throughout your labor, no matter how many hours it lasts, and leaves after the baby arrives.

Many doulas know massage techniques, or belly casting (making a cast of your full belly for decoration at home), or know to prepare your placenta after delivery to take as pills to eliminate post-partum symptoms, or prenatal yoga they can show you, HypnoBirthing relaxations, lactation consulting, photography or videography of birthing or after birth, etc. Call up a couple of them to find the one who is available and again, who 'clicks' with you: she will be your hand-maiden in your birth room, and will keep you and your husband comfortable.

The post-partum doulas can stay  with you (a new mom) longer, or come after the baby arrives, for a few hours a day, to clean up, take care of you, teach you to breastfeed the baby, and how to take care of the baby, some will shop and cook for you.

If you choose to want to find a post-partum doula who takes care of you after the birth, please connect with her in advance as well. Doulas' experience is reflected in amount of births she attended and the price she charges.
How to Hire a HypnoBirthing Doula?

A doula can greatly enhance your experience of childbirth and the postpartum. Your HypnoBirthing birth doula will be at your side along with your care provider and partner, as part of your team for continuous support during labor and birth. Or maybe you’d like a postpartum doula to help you through the transition into parenthood and family. Either way, finding a good fit for you and your family is critical.

A doula’s education, training, experience and credentials are important. When doulas have DONA International certification, you know that they have had the best education and training available. You can also be assured that they have a strong sense of professionalism and integrity.

Also important is doula's experience. Many doulas attended hundreds of births and have enormous wealth of knowledge and practical experience. Some have just started. Their pricing will depend greatly on the experience and confidence in assisting you in the birth that you want.

You will also want to consider whether you and your partner feel comfortable with an individual doula. You will need to feel that this doula is supportive of your hopes and expectations about labor, childbirth and parenting, in addition to having a strong professional background and credentials. That is why we recommend the following four-step hiring process when hiring a birth or postpartum HypnoBirthing doula.

Morrin Bass specializes in training hypnoBirthing doulas for moms specific needs. Certification classes are offered at New York Awareness Center.