What WON'T My Doula Do?
Doulas can be a great asset to your birthing team when you’re planning your support for meeting your birthing goals. A professional who knows the ins and outs of birth and is familiar with the workings of your birth location can help things go smoother for you and those you’ve gathered for your emotional and physical comfort. But what can you expect in terms of the scope of a doula’s care? Are there things that doulas won’t do during your labor experience?
Absolutely!
While a doula’s main role is to provide non-judgmental, continuous support to the birthing family and provide them with detailed and unbiased knowledge to be able to make their decisions in birthing, there are a few roles that we won’t be able to fulfill for you, as they’d compromise the very nature of our focus on you and your support team.
Clinical Tasks
Don’t look to your doula to tell you a few things that are strictly medical, such as perform blood pressure readings, insert lines for fluids and check your cervix for dilation. You’ve picked a wonderful clinical and medical team who are in charge of monitoring your health and that of baby’s from that standpoint. We CAN help explain to you their use and roles, but a doula shouldn’t be adjusting your monitors or tracking baby. This takes away from their ability to connect with you and meet your emotional and physical support needs.
Speak With Care Providers on Your Behalf
Many times doula roles are confused with those of an advocate. Your partner or members of your personal support team can advocate for you in labor; our role is to allow you the full extent of information background on those things you need to communicate with your medical team over, and the ways in which support persons can help you achieve this crucial communication while you are focusing on labor. We are happy to provide clarification and more detailed information on terms, procedures and dialogue that has transpired with your medical team, but we won’t make decisions on your behalf, because you will have the strength and support from us at that juncture to do so yourself!
Only Provide Support for Natural Childbirth
Planning a cesarean? Great! Let us come assist you in knowing what to expect during your preparations. Want an epidural? We can help keep labor progressing forward and help you feel connected to your body during this process. Doulas are not only for natural, home birth child birthing. There is a birth plan for every family, and we’re happy to assist you in finding the best plan for you!
Only Arrive in “Active” Labor
Many times our clients rejoice when they learn that they can have us attend their labor whenever they feel like they need support. Sometimes, this might be earlier in labor than anticipated, either to help get things going a little bit with suggestions or to calm early labor jitters while waiting for the ‘active’ stage of labor to kick in. Only supporting you during the hard physical stages of the game would leave you feeling unsupported and frazzled during other parts of your birthing time.
No matter what role you’re hoping a doula can fill for you, we’re available to hold hands, squeeze hips, encourage, fill tubs, give drinks and gather information for you. Our ability to stay within the scope of the job you’ve hired us to fulfill is one of the reasons we enjoy great relationships with providers at hospitals, birth centers and home births in the state of Maryland. Let us describe today how we can join your team!
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