By Ramona Redding Lopez
What is a Doula?
The word doula comes from the Greek word meaning woman’s servant. A birth doula is a professionally trained and certified birth assistant that provides support to both a laboring mother and her partner throughout labor and birth. While some hospitals and birth centers have doulas on staff, most are independently hired by birth parents to help create the type of birth experience the family desires. Special wishes such as specific music, lighting, relaxation techniques, or aromatherapy are communicated to the doula prior to the birth. The doula is aware of the family’s wishes, has a copy of their birth plan (if there is one), and can reinforce their commitment to natural birthing techniques throughout labor.
A doula is not trained to perform any clinical tasks, and cannot make medical decisions or give medical advice to a birthing woman. What she can do is provide a voice of calm and reassurance that allows a birth family to feel positive and in control of their labor process.
Support for the Mother
Women have complex needs during labor. A doula provides physical comfort measures to a birthing mother, offering a variety of alternative positions, focused breathing, massage, or counter-pressure as desired during labor. Doulas also provide emotional support, quiet guidance and constant encouragement to create the most positive and empowering birth experience possible. Constant support throughout labor has been shown to decrease emergency medical interventions, and to create a more positive birth memory. A positive and empowering birth experience can also affect initial mother/child bonding, and can aid successful breastfeeding.
Support for the Birth Partner
Many birthing women are fortunate enough to have a birth partner (whether the birth father, a sister, or another loved one) with them to provide support throughout their labor. Having a close personal relationship, a birth partner can give a birthing mother a level of support and comfort that no one else can. But labor can also be a very stressful time for a birth partner, especially when watching their loved one endure physical discomfort; some may feel overwhelmed or helpless when faced with the tasks of comforting a mother in labor, gathering information from staff, and being responsible for making important medical decisions.
Doulas don’t just provide support to a birthing mother. A doula also guides their birth partners through the process by offering emotional support and suggesting ways that they can be as connected and helpful as possible. The doula and birth partner act together as a team, taking turns offering constant support to the mother, which allows the birth partner to be available to staff for making critical decisions throughout the labor.
Support for Staff
Birth doulas can be helpful whether birth takes place in a hospital, a birth center, or at home. The presence of a doula is often considered an advantage to doctors, midwives, or nurses whose primary concern is physical monitoring and the safety of the mother and baby’s health. Their many responsibilities can leave little time for staff to provide constant emotional support to a mother in labor. At the same time, the emotional condition of the mother plays a substantial role in the overall birth process. With a doula present, staff can focus on the physical aspects of the labor as it progresses, secure in the fact that the mother is receiving the emotional support she needs.

Women in labor need consistent encouragement, reassurance, and to feel a sense of respect and absolute safety. Having a professional doula present at a birth is one way to assure that birth family’s needs are met throughout the birthing process. The ultimate goal is to guide mother and baby through that process as safely and compassionately as possible, and to give each family the birth experience they desire.

Ramona Redding Lopez is a trained doula and is working on her certification through DONA International. For more information, contact her at 426.2069