Doulas support expectant mothers
Posted On: Monday, Jun. 8 2009 05:41 AM
By Iuliana Petre
Killeen Daily HeraldWhen Bergen Bassett, a stay-at-home mother and military spouse, gave birth to her first son – now 2-year-old Gavin – at the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. in 2007, she was glad that she had a doula by her side.
Bassett's husband, now a captain assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division on Fort Hood, was deployed at the time. Not only did Gavin arrive two weeks early, but Bassett's mother hadn't yet made it into town.
Without her doula, Bassett would have been all alone.
"It helped me to have a doula," Bassett said. "She was making sure that I was drinking fluids and that I was comfortable. She helped me to interact with the medical staff. She wouldn't speak for me, but she gave me time to address questions. She was just a really good support person. Without a doula, I would have been alone."
And recently, before the birth of her second son, without hesitation Bassett hired a doula even though she knew her husband would be at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center for Carson's birth.
"I'd been through a birth but my husband hadn't. She was someone he could turn to if he had questions. He didn't rely on her that much, but I had peace of mind knowing that she was there for us," Bassett said of her second doula, Ali Cameron.
A doula, not to be confused with a midwife, is a support person with no medical training, but experienced in childbirth, who provides continuous non-medical – physical, emotional and informational – support to a mother or pregnant couple before, during or after childbirth. Some doulas provide massage to aromatheraphy to informed choice.
"Doulas have been around since the beginning of time," said Cameron, a doula trained and certified through the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association, explaining that doulas, unlike midwives, don't catch the baby or do anything medical related.
"Doulas offer informational support. If a doctor says they want to induce labor, doulas encourage women to ask questions: What are the risks of induced labor? What are the benefits? What are some alternatives? What happens if we wait? There are risks for everything done in a hospital. We can't decide what's best for the mother, but we give her the information, that way she makes an informed decision," Cameron said. "We also offer physical support in the form of natural comfort measures like positioning because movement is of the utmost importance; acupressure techniques; massaging."
Professional doulas – of which there are only three in Central Texas – begin their work with expectant mothers sometimes long before a child is due. A doula will meet with a woman several times before joining her in the hospital on the day of delivery to discuss any number of pregnancy-related issues.
On the day a woman goes into labor, a doula will meet her at the hospital – or in her home if she chooses to give birth at home – and will remain with the woman the entire time.
After the birth, a doula will continue to offer her support or provide the mother with resources as they are requested.
"We've had a few doulas at Metroplex," said Carolyn Lockridge, a registered nurse and the director of maternal child services for Metroplex Hospital in Killeen. "From a patient perspective doulas are very helpful. The patient depends on them for extra support. When you get one that is in tune with the entire labor and delivery experience it makes everyone's experience great. The doula will do the things that a nurse doesn't have the time to do, which is to be comforting and explain things to the mother."
The cost of a doula's services will vary as will her services, but Cameron provides for her customers resources such as books and DVDs from her lending library, she answers questions about post-partum issues such as breast feeding, and even takes late night calls from concerned, new mothers.
"It's important for an expecting mother to feel comfortable with us," Cameron said. "Our support can be very in-depth and personal."
Cameron and fellow Central Texas doula Olivia Sporinsky, volunteer their services free of charge via "Operation Special Delivery," a non-profit project that provides free doula services to expecting mothers.
Cameron and Sporinsky will conduct doula training in Killeen in November for women who are interested in becoming doulas.
Contact Iuliana Petre at
ipetre@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7469.