Several months ago, my wife came home expressing her interest in obtaining a Doula for the birth of our second child.
My first comment was : “What is a Doula?”
After she explained to me what a Doula is and does, I reluctantly agreed… not really wanting a stranger involved during this very special time.
First Labour (No Doula):
My wife’s 1st labour was quite traumatic for her. As a result of a blood clot being found in her leg during the pregnancy she was told to have 2 injections daily, and was then medically induced at 39 weeks.
She was given cervadil to ripen her cervix which then hyper-stimulated her uterus creating overly strong contractions. This was done in the afternoon, causing her a lot of pain throughout the night. She was unable to sleep during the night due to the pain and was told not to eat anything just in case. In the morning she had her waters broken and shortly after was given syntocin. This was turned up to make the contractions stronger and consequently more painful throughout the labour. My wife and baby needed constant monitoring and she was told she had to lie in the hospital bed unable to move around due to all the leads attached to the machines. My wife used the gas, then had an epidural to help manage the pain of this labour. Our son was born at 3pm.
Both my wife and I went into this birth with closed eyes, believing solely in the hospital system, the doctors and their advice. Neither of us oppose the medical system – my wife is a nurse and I care for people with disabilities, but on reflection of the first labour, we weren’t presented with options just told what to do by the doctors. We believe that some of their interventions used had a cascading effect, causing other interventions to then be required throughout that labour, and simple options such as wireless machines etc weren’t even mentioned to us.
Second Labour (With Doula):
During the second labour, we went through the doctors clinic again, and like last time, every doctor had a different recommendation. With our Doula – Stephanie’s support and knowledge, we were able to ask questions of the doctors about their advice and about other options. We were very happy with the result of this question-asking exercise, as we really feel it opened up the doors to make educated decisions about risks and benefits, and get the flow on effect from those decisions.
Stephanie was a great source of wisdom, support and companionship, as we had built a great relationship through the prior meetings and the many telephone conversations.
During the meetings prior to the birth, one of the things that we did was complete a very in depth birth plan. That created a lot of discussion and allowed us the time to think of what we wanted in the event of lots of different scenarios, as opposed to the hospital’s tick a box birth plan which didn’t leave any room for flexibility or things that were important to us.
My wife was again induced and needed constant monitoring, but Stephanie and I were able to support my wife to get cordless machines, and to assist her in a more active labour, which helped with the pain management.
Due to Stephanie advising of less painful techniques and positions and most importantly the support and knowledge that she has, this whole birthing experience was just beautiful, and my wife was able to have a drug free birth that we are extremely proud of.
I couldn’t recommend Stephanie’s Doula services more highly.
Aaron, Christine and Chelsea – 2013