Doulas

Terpsichore

Has anyone hired a doula? Please explain your experience.

silja

We've hired a doula for this birth, but as it hasn't happened yet, I can't say much about it

We hired her for five reasons, I want a VBAC, and where we live currently (Arkansas, USA), these are rare:
1. I feel having a doula will help me as I'll be happier labouring at home for a longer time, where I am more relaxed and comfortable at the hospital (even though I don't want a homebirth).
2. Our doula has a lot of experience with the hospital I'll give birth at, and can explain neccesary/ elective medical procedures, as well as interceed if the medical staff put pressure on me to have a c-section.
3. We will have 2 year old twins at home and whole we have a babysitter lined up, I want my husband to be able to look in on them if the labour takes a long time; also I want him to be able to rest and be there for the pushing/ actual birth part.
4. I love my husband very much, but he hates hospitals and medical stuff and blood etc. He doesn't deal well with seeing me in even a little pain, so a doula might be more suppportice at times :P
5. If something happens and I need to be separated from baby right after birth, my husband can go with the baby and the doula can stay with me for emotional support.

The way we hired her is that I emailed a set of questions to several doulas, and then we selected three to interview in person from the replies we got.

January

The thing about doula's in Ireland is there are very strict policies on who you can have in the delivery room. It's usually only one person, so the hospital may make you choose between your partner (husband/boyfriend/mother etc) or the doula.

Terpsichore

Great! Thanks for the infos!