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.

Help with a New Baby - A great Shower or Grandparent Gift!

As a postpartum doula, I am charging new parents an hourly rate to help them out with their new babies.  While my rates are very reasonable, it is not always easy for parents to find the extra cash to pay for more than a few hours.

So  instead of buying new moms expensive and (sometimes) unnecessary gifts for the baby, offer to contribute towards a postpartum doula.  The hours a postpartum doula spends with the mom help her to take care of herself and better bond with her new baby. For more about my services see the  postpartum services section of this blog.

Before giving this gift it is good to ask to check with the mother and see if this is something she wants.  Also, if you are a pregnant woman looking for support with your new baby, ask your friends and family if they would be willing to contribute towards a postpartum doula, instead of buying you more conventional gifts.  New grandparents who live in a different city may be especially interested in contributing.

We can put together a gift package that includes a gift certificate for the new mom that tells her how many hours she gets and who has given the gift.  Please get in touch with me about arranging a gift for your favourite new mom (or mom-to-be) today.

This is an excellent book for new moms.  Very honest
about the highs and lows of new motherhood, easy to read and full of useful information.

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

Practice as a Post-Partum Doula (Part 1 of 2)

“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).

Me as post-partum doula, holding the baby while my sister-in-law takes a shower.

On February 24, 2010 my brother Ben and his partner Abigail had their first baby, Anne. She weighed a healthy 8 lbs, 4 oz at birth and was born in the Kamloops hospital, naturally, with few complications.

This was great for me, because along with becoming an Aunt and having a new cousin for my little one, Julie, it was one of the first times in my life that I got to be the one in a position of support. As the little sister, growing up I was always used to doing things second. But in this instance I was able to use the experience I gained by having Julie last year to be in a position to help.

I am calling this post ‘Practice’ as a post-partum doula, because although I am a trained birth doula, I have not yet been trained as a post-partum doula. I am hoping to take the training in Lethbridge at the end of May.

It strikes me that, like a birth doula, training is not necessarily the most important element in providing post-partum support. Like a birth situation, being able to read the environment, and helping the mom in the way that she needs to be helped is the key. It is all part of preserving the space. This is just as important after the birth as during the birth process.

Sometimes family members can be in a great position to support the new parents (as I was in this case), but what about when there is no family available, or if the family and the new parents have different philosophies about how to parent? That is where a doula can be extremely useful. A good doula should be concerned with helping the parents to have the environment that they want, allowing them to rest and helping to increase their confidence (if they are first time parents).

In my next post, I will write about what specific kinds of things I help Abigail and Ben with.

All information used with express permission