But the role of your midwife is totally different from the support of a labor and postpartum doula.
Combined, doulas and midwives can create an incredible team of support that nurtures your whole family. Doula support is unlike any other in the field and offers parents a customized care plan from pregnancy to postpartum and works seamlessly with your midwife to help provide you with the best birth experience possible.
Midwives are medical professionals that specialize in the stages of labor, delivery and newborn care. Your midwife will monitor you and your baby’s health during labor and provide the medical counselling necessary for your baby’s safe arrival. Midwives can help educate parents on different labor options, and can coach them through possible medical complications. Although midwives present families with comfort measures for birth, their attention is often divided with your baby’s delivery, placing your doula in a completely separate role of support.
She’s essentially there to keep that little bundle scooting along safely on it’s way, not so much to help your husband deal with all the visuals going on and keeping your comfortable throughout the whole process. That’s where your doula comes to the rescue.
Your doula is there to support your whole family during your transition to birth. Waiting for the call that you’re in labor, we are armed with comfort measures to help ease discomfort and provide parents with the affirmations they need to remain confident and in control. We can provide massage and other physical therapy for discomfort and be the communication link between you, your midwife and birth center staff.
We empower you to ensure your birth preferences are carried out accordingly or adjusted as you see fit, completely free of bias and judgement. When your baby finally arrives, your doula can facilitate your first bonding experiences with baby and help you properly latch your baby as you breastfeed for the first time. Even with cesarean births, a labor doula is a great resource to help parents navigate the process and feel as comfortable and in control as possible.
She’s there to help you with everything from a massage to keep your mind off the pain to a simple reassurance that you got this and you’ve got what it takes to have a healthy baby.
Let’s face it, bringing home a new baby can be freakin’ terrifying.
Your midwife’s care and assistance will usually not leave past the hospital and you’ll be off to take on your newborn’s care alone. When you have a labor doula as a part of your birth team, she can help you prepare to take your little one home and you can choose to continue her support postpartum. Your postpartum doula will be there to welcome you and your baby inside, help you get them settled and be the extra set of hands you need while you get comfortable. These doulas offer schedules that are flexible to suit your needs and even provide overnight care for those intimidating first few sleepless nights.
Your birth team works together to help you achieve the most comfortable and empowering birth experience possible. Everyone plays an important part and to keep the party going according to plan, you need all the help you can get.
Doulas provide a unique opportunity for parents to take charge of their baby’s birth while receiving the physical and emotional support they need as they make the transition to parenthood.