What is a doula?

That's the question for which I am trying to create a so-called "elevator speech." What is a doula?

A professional childbirth attendant.

Done.



but its so much more than that...

Doulas assist a laboring mother and her partner in navigating this personal, private, life-altering event, childbirth. A doula assists with pain control measures, she educates the family about a myriad of things including prenatal nutrition and health, hospital procedures, and what is and is not normal in birth. She helps the family to make decisions and express their wishes, needs and desires in their own words. She helps the laboring woman's partner feel like a hero--teaching him or her how to rub her back just right, how to support her if she is laboring on a birthing ball, on her side, on her knees, etc. A doula is an extra set of hands for the hospital staff so that busy nurse or nurse's assistant doesn't have to run for ice, or sheets, or towels or ice again.


A doula is NOT a healthcare professional. We don't diagnose, give medical advise, take measurements or do exams.

We are not just a great choice for a woman who is doing natural labor and delivery--we also assist if the family has chosen pain relief medications including epidurals, and if the birth will occur via cesarean section.

I'm new at this, and I am sure that in the coming months and years will be able to add hundreds more things that a doula is.