Choosing Your Doula
Finding the right doula for you involves more than looking
for the one with the most experience, the best website, or the
lowest fees. Who you have in the room with you when laboring
and giving birth can have a profound effect on you,
emotionally and physiologically. (see Ina May
on Sphincter Law) For birth to happen
smoothly and naturally you must feel secure.
Feel Safe, Enjoy Labor
Effective natural labor is a game of trust; one where you close your eyes and let yourself fall backwards off the edge of a platform, trusting that those poised to catch you will indeed do so. When you feel safe in your environment and with the people caring for you, you feel free to fall into your labor and ride it through to the birth of your baby.
Trust your Birth Team
I urge you to be selective and discerning in choosing those who will attend you during labor and birth, beginning with your midwife or doctor. In hospital, you usually won't know the nurses and staff going in, so make the most of the choices you do have. Shop around until you find the right match for you.
Your doula will be:
- easy to talk to.
- supportive of your goals without her own agenda.
- a person you like and are comfortable with.
- reliable and clear about her skills and experience.
- knowledgeable about birth and comfort measures.
- committed to empowering you to experience birth in your own manner.
- a welcome guest at your birth
Questions for
a Doula you're thinking of hiring
Find a Doula to Interview:
- Contact Me
- Baby Moon in Lexington
- Birth Care Network in Louisville
- DONA International
- Doula Match
search and compare
- Doula
Network, National search