Emotional, Physical, and Informational Support
Why have a doula at your birth?
Doulas continue to be recognized for the positive effects they have on the laboring individual, their partners, and their babies. Births attended by doulas generally have a reduction in medical intervention and improved birth outcomes.
Studies show that having a doula:
- reduces the rate of cesarean birth
- reduces the rate of forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery
- shortens labor by reducing stress, discomfort & anxiety
- reduces the use of Pitocin
- reduces requests for pain medication
- increases positive feelings about the birthing experience
What can a Birth Journeys Doula do for you?
Our goal is to support families in having more satisfying birth experiences. We provide continuous support to the person in labor and support to the whole birth team. Often a doula is the only person present for the whole labor experience, other than a partner or other primary support person.
Our role during labor is to:
- Provide continuous support throughout the entire labor and birth process
- Support the decisions you make about your birth
- Suggest positions, comfort measures, and techniques to help the progress of labor
- Answer questions or help you get your questions answered
- Provide emotional support and encouragement to you and your partner
- Help your partner take as active a role as desired in supporting you
We will not:
- Perform clinical tasks such as; blood pressure, check fetal heart tones or vaginal exams
- Make decisions for you
- Judge the decisions you make for yourself or your family
- Communicate decisions on your behalf to the medical staff – you or your partner will speak on your own behalf to the clinical staff
- Offer medical advice
Our fee includes:
- FREE online initial consultation
- Unlimited phone and email contact from date of hire until forever
- A second online meeting to flesh out your desires for labor
- We will be on-call for your birth 2 weeks prior to your estimated due date until you have your baby
- Unlimited, 24/7 phone support in early labor
- Physical support in your home or help to make that transition to the hospital
- Unlimited, continuous support for your labor until approximately 2 hours after the birth
- 10% discount on prenatal massages with Massage Journey
It is our hope that you will feel fully supported as you meet the unique challenges of your labor, and that your birth will be a positive experience during which you feel confident, informed, and surrounded by care, love and respect.
Back up support:
In the event of a long labor (lasting more than 24 hours), we may call in each other as back-up. After a short respite, your doula will resume her role. This is to ensure you get the best support possible.
Fees:
We have set our fee on a sliding scale of $1500-$1900 in an attempt to be accessible to more families.
Typically half the fee is payable as a deposit upon hire, although we are willing to discuss other payment schedules.
Reimbursement:
If more families apply for reimbursement, insurance companies may consider adding labor support to their coverage list. Please ask us for paperwork to assist you in your efforts to be reimbursed by your insurance company.
Currently, many Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) will allow for either direct payment or reimbursement for our services, please check with your company.