Do you know what it means for me as your doula to be on call for you? It means: backup plans for my work and fun outings both -- it means people one step removed from me having to have backup plans for if I can't show up. It means not being able to go on family vacations, saying no to camping trips that are out of cell range, lugging birth supply bags in and out of the car day after day when I go to town just in case I get the call so can drop everything and get to my client quicker. It means carrying 24 hours worth of food and water in case I'm stuck at a long birth where I can't leave my client even for a minute. It means not knowing if I get to sleep through the night. Living in limbo about where I'll be tomorrow.

​It means friends and family knowing birth comes first for me. It means wolfing down Thanksgiving pumpkin pie sitting in a bathroom while watching a woman push outside the door (because I finally got a breather with care providers stepping in after hours of my support). It means spending my own birthday welcoming a new little soul into the world, or missing one of my family member's birthdays entirely. It means keeping my pro CPR license up just in case I am needed to step outside my scope in an emergency to give a breath. It means constantly checking my phone to make sure I didn't miss a call from a client going into labor.

And when I go on call two weeks before a due date, with just 2-3 births a month my life can look like this much of the time. This is what you pay for when you hire a certified birth doula. Experience. Devotion. Just peeling the window back from my professional veneer to get real with you. This is the on-call life. And it's worth all the sacrifice to have the honor of standing by your side.

At my most recent client's birth, I got to be on the other side of the camera. Special thanks to Jessica who captured these photos of the support I provide as a doula!

A doula is a multi-faceted support person. I coach moms to help them relax and break the fear>tension>pain cycle, I help them use positive visualizations, suggest more comfortable/effective positions to help labor progress, and also do double hip squeezes, counter pressure, and use a rebozo to provide comfort in labor (and coach dad on how to do the same).
It is fulfilling work to take moms from a place of fear to that of confidence in anticipating birth.

Read more here: Doulas Empower Birth

This is a common question especially from families planning a homebirth. Here's my answer: A doula frees up the midwife to spend all of her energy on the medical side of birth, resulting in a safer birth all around. If a midwife is exhausted from hours of encouraging, coaching, and emotionally comforting a mom then her mind will not be as sharp when it is needed to make split second life-affecting decisions as the baby is born. Midwives do not typically provide extensive emotional support anyway, and often do not arrive as early in labor as the doula can. With a doula specializing on the emotional and comfort side of labor, the midwife is able to provide better medical care. The mom gets all of her needs met by having professionals there both for her emotional needs and for her medical needs.

Want to lower your chances of having a C-section? Doulas have recently been recognized "by two leading physician groups as playing an important role in reducing the nation’s cesarean birth rate and improving overall labor and delivery outcomes. Research indicates that continuous physical, emotional and informational support before, during and just after birth by a trained and experienced professional has significant benefits to both mother and child. 

"In a statement issued earlier this year by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal– Fetal Medicine, "doulas were highlighted as both an effective and underutilized solution to improving labor and delivery outcomes.” You can read the details in the DONA press release. 

I recently coached another mom through a successful VBAC so I know firsthand that it is possible!

Read this great article over at www.mothering.com:
20 Reasons You Should Hire a Doula