I should start this post by explaining what that means because most people I speak to don’t know so people who read this may not either. Doula is an ancient Greek word that means female servant but today it is a woman who supports women in birth. Unlike doctors and midwives they provide non medical support in the form of encouragement, information, massage and advocacy to ensure the woman’s rights and decisions are respected. They support women before and after the birth so they are a familiar face all the way through and help them when they get home with breast feeding etc.
I decided to get into this after my birth. I was very lucky to be part of a program in which I met with the same midwife all the way through and she was encouraging and respectful and helped me with different positions and massage. I also had a very supportive family around me and although I didn’t end up birthing Nina how I would have liked I always felt well cared for and respected. After the birth I could debrief the experience and share my disappointments. However most women around the world don’t. They often have a different health professional for all their prenatal visits and then someone else on the day of birth and no support when they get home. Or they can have a doctor who takes over the whole process for them and doesn’t treat them well. I have began speaking to many women who have talked about their births as really negative experiences, my mother in law informed she was told to be quiet during her labour. Some women have no family and go through the process alone. A doula can be someone to support women in these situations and research has shown women with doulas are less likely to have medical interventions, feel more bonded to their child, are more likely to breast feed and are more satisfied with their birth experience. I particularly feel that a doula would be a good support for women in Peru where birth is still very much treated as a medical procedure where most women have caesars and women who do have natural births are forced to stay one their bed with their legs up. This position works for the doctor but not the women who would be better in a position such as squatting where she is working with gravity.
Since the beginning of this journey it has felt like a real leading. When I first started thinking about this I mentioned it to Gemma in passing. Without knowing almost anything about she just said, “Mil I think this might be a real calling for you”. When I dropped her home that night we told Jane who said, “You know, I have heard the word Doula twice. The first time yesterday when reading the Sojourners magazine whose theme this month is the politics of birth and now.” So I read the magazine and they woman who was writing about becoming a Doula described almost exactly how I felt about it. She says, “my faith has brought me to a place where justice meets the delivery room”.
So I came home and found a course on the internet that I can do over a few months or a few years, however long it takes doesn’t matter. I have to do a practicum though which I got a bit nervous about, thinking I wouldn’t know how to do that. I gave it to God though in hope that something might come up. That week by chance I met the only other Doula in Alice Springs who was very encouraging and a woman who works at the indigenous birth centre who said many of her women give birth alone and could really use the support of a Doula. After that I knew it was right. So last week I down loaded the course and I have begun. I absolutely love it and I can’t wait to actually get started.