Birth Doula! What’s that and why do I need one?
SHIFT Physical Therapy and Wellness is so excited to welcome guest blogger and good friend Brittany Pavin with Pavin Your Way to answer those questions!
So, you're pregnant. You are excited, nervous, and have no idea how you are going to navigate it all. You have questions, but don’t want to ask your provider. You are unsure what you want your birth to look like, or you know what you want but are not sure how you will be able to achieve your goal. In comes your Doula!
Now there are several types of Doulas for all of your needs.
Postpartum Doula – A doula who comes to you after the baby is born to help you sleep, clean, make food, etc. So that you can focus on healing from birth and be able to snuggle and connect with your baby.
Sibling Doula – A Doula who is there to be with older siblings throughout the labor and birthing process.
Fertility Doula - A Doula who helps you navigate your fertility and talks you through the ups and downs of trying to conceive. Just be a full-on emotional support through the process.
Birth Doula – Provides physical and emotional support through pregnancy, labor, and immediately postpartum.
Now, let's dive a little deeper into what a Birth Doula is and what one can do for you.
Definition: A birth doula is a trained, non-medical professional who assists families through pregnancy, labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum period. Now that is a very wide definition of what a birth doula does because a birth doula does so much more.
Through pregnancy, a birth doula provides education to their clients. Walking you through any questions you have, helping you with resources you may be looking for to make an informed decision, as well as helping you become more educated about the birth process. Birth Doulas also provide assistance in birth planning and creating a birth preference list. These are big things that a birth doula provides, BUT one of the biggest things that a birth doula provides during pregnancy is EMOTIONAL support. Emotional support is so important in pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum so having that support from the same person through everything is so amazing.
Now that we have talked about what a birth doula can provide through pregnancy let's talk about how a doula can support you through your labor and birth. Now, this is where most people think that they only need a doula if you are wanting an unmedicated birth, this is most definitely not the case, although having a doula can decrease the use of any medication for pain relief by 10%. A doula can again provide emotional support through the labor process by encouraging the birthing person in whatever way is best for them. Another way a doula can provide support is physical support, so yes a doula can provide assistance in having a medication-free birth, but also a doula can help with position changes and making suggestions on positions for pushing or any other suggestions that the birthing person and family/friends may not know or understand.
Now, some fun stats on Doulas: Having a doula at birth…
There is a 25% decrease in the risk of cesarean (C-Section).
There is an 8% increase in the likelihood of spontaneous vaginal birth.
Shorter labor by 41 minutes on average.
There is a 38% decrease in the baby’s risk of a low 5-minute APGAR score.
And a 31% decrease in the risk of being dissatisfied with the birth experience.
A Doula can’t guarantee your birth outcome, but having one can make all the difference in your pregnancy, labor, and birth!
Brittany Pavin, Birth Doula, Lactation Counselor, LPN
Pavin Your Way, LLC
www.pavinyourwaymn.com
