Tag Archives: birth boot camp

You may have Dr. Wonderful but Hospital Policy Doesn’t Care

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As doulas, we often hear how great and supportive our client’s doctor is during their monthly prenatal doctor appointments. As experienced doulas, we have worked with many of the doctors in the area and usually the one our clients are discussing with us.

Sadly, we know that Dr. Wonderful is saying all of the right things to his patient who is preparing for an unmedicated, low intervention birth, but his words do not match hospital policy. Hospital policy will win out in the end. Whether Dr. Wonderful believes that a ruptured water bag is not a valid reason for bedrest during labor means little when he is not in the hospital when your water breaks. The nurse will inform you that the policy is bedrest and monitoring once your water is broken. It’s not bait and switch, but rather, you were asking the right questions to the wrong people.

Your birthplace is the element of your birth plan equation which holds the majority of the power. Hospitals which hold to antiquated policies regarding monitoring, bedrest and clear fluids/ice only during labor can make or break the natural, low intervention birth plan.

How does a woman avoid finding out about these policies too late to remedy the situation? Ask the right questions to the right people. Go on the hospitals labor and delivery tour early in your pregnancy. Call the labor and delivery floor and ask the charge nurse about their policies. Ask other women who have delivered their babies at your birthplace recently about the “must have” items on your birth plan.

Don’t assume because you have a different doctor than your friend that the hospital will change its policy or routine for you or your doctor.  Every woman wants to believe they are special or have a special bond with their doctor which will trump hospital policy, but sadly, it usually doesn’t.

A positive, empowered birth is different for every woman and family. Determine which requests you have are the most important. Do you want to labor in a tub? Do you want to eat during labor? Do you want to have your baby room in? Match your birthplace to these desires and look for a doctor or midwife who attends at the best fitting birthplace.

Also, if you want to avoid a surgical birth? Check out your birthplace on consumerreports.org. The reports now include hospitals-section rates. Often, hospital policies can lend themselves to a high surgical birth rate.

As always, doulas are wonderful resources for the scoop on local birthplaces and careproviders. We have attended births in nearly every hospital in the Annapolis, Baltimore and DC area. We are know and are prepared for each birthplace. We can also empower you with the knowledge and support to choose a birthplace which matches your birth vision. So, when in doubt, find a doula and ask away! We are professional birth workers who want to see women achieve an empowered birth. Matching your plan to your birthplace is essential.  Let us help!

Modern Doula Care of MD

www.moderndoulacare.com

 

Doulas: Why do we still define our profession?

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Modern Doula Care of Maryland

TO DOULAS EVERYWHERE, LET’S STOP DEFINING AND START EXPLAINING WHY BIRTH WITHOUT US IS NOT RECOMMENDED.

Recently, I realized it was necessary to update my company’s website.  I looked around and researched how other doulas had their websites organized. I did  market research on prices and advertising efforts while I was spending time knee deep in SEO. I made an odd discovery in the process. A good percentage of doulas still have the tab which says, “What is a Doula” or some sort of version of the same question. I wondered how many other professions feel the need to have this question as a tab on their advertising. “What is a Plumber?” I made the executive decision to leave the tab off the website.

As a profession, the doula has become more recognized in the mainstream world of labor and delivery. No longer isolated to homebirths or moms and fathers who are fighting the mainstream system of hospital birth in an effort to have an unmedicated birth, doulas have stepped into the light of mainstream acceptance. Why do we still feel the need to explain ourselves and our value?

Most clients find doulas by internet searches after a wonderful new mom friend mentions that childbirth without one would be a huge mistake. By the time they see our website, they are searching for a doula.  Why not take this page and fill it with the details of why we are the doula for them?

Why? Because the generation before the expectant moms and their husbands may not be as familiar with what a doula is and what role they play during a labor.  The last ten years have brought enormous growth in maternity care in the U.S. which has been mostly driven by consumer choice and desire to avoid the cascade of interventions. They have heard doulas support this well and are verified in studies as the reason why women have shorter, more positive, and better supported births.  The generation before never had the option or even the knowledge of the doulas a profession. We have reached a new point as a profession and it is time to accept and own this place with confidence.

Expectant couples, birthworkers and educators should be proud of the fact that consumerism and demanding better, evidenced based care has made an impact on the choices their careproviders are making in Labor and Delivery. Nurses have lobbied for peanut balls for laboring women, expectant couples happily tote their birth balls and relaxation tapes into their birthing rooms and instead of advertising new, gleaming hardwood floors in the delivery rooms, hospitals are advertising lactation consultations, rooming-in and mobility during labor. As doulas, lets be proud as well that we are now an accepted member of the birth support team. No longer looked at as crunchy, adversarial figures, we are looked upon to help a laboring mother cope so the nurses and doctors can provide the holistic care acknowledge does stop the cascade of interventions.

So, doulas, let’s provide information about our role as a doula. What makes you the best doula out there. Let’s tell expectant couples that we are the best choice they can make for their birth.  That’s right, pregnant mama, put down the extra, extravagant stroller and save the money for the five hour back massage you will truly appreciate during contractions. The helpful hand and heart of a doula will guide you and your partner through this experience with the confidence and expertise which studies show will help your stay at the hospital or your birthplace be a more positive experience, a shorter experience, and a much more manageable experience than what our mothers had to endure. Let’s save the definition of our profession for our clients to explain to their parents and focus on how important our profession in the Modern Birth has become.