The Purpose of Childbirth Preparation...

...is to prepare mothers to give birth in awareness, not to achieve a specific birth outcome.

This Birthing from Within guiding principle was a real shift for me.  Before I became a Birthing from Within Mentor and Doula in June 2011, I was promising my clients a natural birth in the hospital. I had an intervention free hospital birth and at that time most of my doula clients where having the same type of birth. I was selling pregnant couples a 'good' hospital experience.  And of course couples were buying it.

My realization through my Birthing from Within training and experiences over the last year have helped me realize that truly birthing 'from within', has nothing to do with the type of birth you have and everything to do with where your head is at. Preparation is incredibly valuable, and it does not guarantee a certain outcome.

Research shows parents who receive support:

• Feel more secure and cared for
• Are more successful in adapting to new family dynamics
• Have greater success with breastfeeding
• Have greater self-confidence

These things are true for most parents who use doulas, regardless of the birth outcomes.  This is what I am now offering pregnant couples.  It is not a 'magic bullet', and sometimes it is hard for first time parents to understand how valuable building confidence and feeling good about the birth really is.

The DONA Website also mentions less interventions and cesareans.  While these statistics are valid over a large number of births, parents sometimes interpret this as: "If I hire you as my doula, I will not have an epidural or a cesarean." Promising this (even unintentionally) is doing a disservice to the parents and the doula. Doulas burn out because we take on responsibility for birth outcomes and then when it does not go the way we expect (and parents expect), we take it personally and it is emotionally draining.

Birthing from Within preparation and support includes preparing for every possible outcome and helps parents learn to be present in the moment and recognize their birth as a major rite of passage, whatever kind of birth they have.

Please take a look at my new website for more about what I can offer you.

New Year - New Endeavours

Over the past weekend, I put together a small website at www.elliedoula.com.  It is a start.  I want to keep posting new information to my blog, hopefully more often this year, but a recent promotions workshop I attended said that it is essential to have a website, so there you are.

I am also doing a presentation on Friday, January 28th at the Family Centre here in Lethbridge, as part of their 'Parent Talk' program.  The purpose of this presentation is to let more people know about birth and postpartum doulas and that we are available here in Lethbridge.  

'Doula' is still not a word that most people know, at least in this part of the world. I want people to understand that a good doula will be interested in supporting you to have the birth that you want. What we do see, both anecdotally and through research, is that mothers who had a doula present at their birth consistently report a more positive birth experience and have a better self-image (DONA Position Paper: The Doula’s Contribution to Modern Maternity Care).  

As doulas, our role is to ensure mothers feel they had the birth they wanted and that they felt confident and empowered during the birth.  Doulas should not be promising women: “If you hire me, you will not need a c-section, epidural, etc.”  We should be doing what we can to ensure women feel positive about their birth experiences regardless of the outcome. The doula provides clients with information and helps them advocate for themselves, she must not make judgement calls about what kind of interventions a client might need.

DONA Standards of Practice are very clear: DONA International Standards and Certification apply to emotional and physical support only. The DONA International certified doula does not perform clinical or medical tasks such as taking blood pressure or temperature, fetal heart tone checks, vaginal examinations, or postpartum clinical care.  I love this work because it is not medical.  I believe that birth is 90% emotional and psychological and maybe 10% medical.  

There is a huge need for emotional support in women giving birth, which is not being met in hospital settings in my community.  This is not the fault of nurses and doctors, their role is different and broader than a doula’s, and it is not realistic to expect them to provide continuous support the way that a doula can. Professional doulas who understand the scope of their practice are able to meet this need, in a way that is complimentary to the role of medical care providers.

I look forward to the future, when women in my community have the option of a safe home birth with a licensed midwife, and I know doulas will be just as valuable in this situation as in the hospital. In the meantime, I am happy to help clients give birth in a hospital setting, maintaining good relationships with hospital staff, the majority of whom greatly appreciate my role as doula.

The Essential Ingredient: Doula

DONA International has put together a new video on birth and postpartum doulas.  It addresses a lot of what I have been writing about here.  I would recommend watching it if you are interested in hiring a doula.


The Essential Ingredient: Doula from DONA International on Vimeo.


I am a DONA trained birth and postpartum doula, currently working on certification.

Support for New Parents

This past weekend, I completed my training as a post-partum doula with DONA and I am now able to offer this type of support to families in the Lethbridge area.

A post-partum doula is trained and experienced in meeting a new family’s needs for household help, meal preparation, advice and assistance with newborn care and feeding, and allowing time for the new mother to rest.” (From Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, 5th edition).

BASIC POST-PARTUM SUPPORT PACKAGE

• One meeting during the pregnancy to determine post-partum support needs
• 8 hours of support at your home, which could include:
• Breastfeeding support
• Discussing the birth experience
• Light cleaning, laundry and meal preparation
• Cloth diapering and baby-wearing support
• Photographing the baby
• Preparing birth announcements (additional fee applies)
• Other support as requested
• Connect you with useful community resources, books and articles

Support up to 3 months (additional fees apply)

please feel free to contact me at 403-524-1721 or emcolver@gmail.com for more information.

MAKES A GREAT GIFT FOR NEW PARENTS