What's a Doula Do?

Blogging moms explain in their own words why they hired doulas and the impact doula care had on their birth experiences.

By Meagan Francis

I've had a few people ask me recently whether I plan to use a doula at my birth. I'm not, since my midwife will be there the whole time and I have other support as well. But a doula--a specially trained support person and advocate hired to help mothers through labor, birth and sometimes beyond--can make the process of delivery and adjustment to motherhood easier and less stressful on expecting moms. I'll let these bloggers explain their decision to use a doula (and how it worked for them).

• Lora Lynn at Vita Familiae shares her beautiful birth story--in which her doula, J., plays a central role:
• Here's the birth story of World Momma's son, River--as written by her doula! (Writing down a birth story is a service some doulas provide--good for us procrastinators).
• On Prayer of Hannah, Christina writes about her doula-attended birth:
• At The  Morula Logs, Xiebob writes about their decision to hire a doula and shares about the process of choosing one:
• At The Mom Crowd, Amelia posts about the benefits of hiring a postpartum doula
• Tash at Ramblings liked her birth doula very, very much
• And now for something different--a dad's perspective on doulas at DearWally.

I should note that in the interest of fairness I looked to see if I could find a negative doula story in the blogsophere and couldn't find a single one! Of course, not all doulas are going to be great, but overall, everyone I've ever spoken to who's hired one was very happy that she did.