There is so much pregnancy and birth terminology that we're always getting asked what certain words and phrases mean. Much as the Realbirth staff are always happy to answer any questions you have, I thought it would help if I explained what some of them mean in a new regular series on this blog, starting with…
DOULA
There are two types of doulas when you are having a baby. A labor doula who provides physical and emotional support to the laboring couple, and a postpartum doula who supports and cares for the postpartum mother.
With our students, one of two** consistent things that I hear at our class reunions is either "thank god for our doula" or "I wish we had used a doula". While at reunions birth stories are often like being dealt a hand of cards eg "my water broke/it didn't break/ it was artificially broken" or "I had/did not have/loved/hated the epidural" etc, the doula feedback is strong and consistent. Most people who used a doula found them to be an invaluable resource - or else the couple retrospectively wished they had had one.
This makes sense when you look at the data: the numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of having a labor doula. In a recently published study* of a randomized controlled trial of continuous labor support the rate of cesarean delivery was shockingly affected.
In this study, couples were randomly assigned to have a doula who arrived shortly after hospital admission and remained throughout labor and delivery. Doula support included close physical proximity, touch, and eye contact with the laboring woman, and teaching, reassurance, and encouragement of the woman and her male partner. The doula group had a significantly lower cesarean delivery rate than the control group: 13.4% vs 25.0%. Among women with induced labor, those supported by a doula had a lower rate of cesarean delivery than those in the control group: 12.5% vs 58.8%. On questionnaires the day after delivery, 100 percent of couples with doula support rated their experience with the doula positively.
In both our Realbirth classes and in The Big Book of Birth, we fully explain the role of support. A doula doesn't have to be a paid professional, it could be as simple as a girlfriend who had a positive experience with birth and is willing to drop everything and be there for you one hundred and ten percent!
*A randomized controlled trial of continuous labor support for middle-class
couples: effect on cesarean delivery rates.
SK McGrath and JH Kennell
Birth, June 1, 2008; 35(2): 92-7.
Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA
**The second piece of consistent feedback we get is how helpful 'The Big Book Of Birth' and the Realbirth classes were!
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