What’s a doula? Find out at Iowa City event
May 10, 2010 by Admin
Filed under Featured, Parents Like Me
Since May is “International Month of the Doula,” the Iowa City Doulas are taking the time to highlight this growing profession.
Doulas offer a variety of services that allow all women to receive the care they deserve during the time from pregnancy through birth and the early postpartum period.
The concept of a doula is an old one. The word doula comes from the Greek word meaning “a woman who serves.”
Trudi Shafer (left), a certified midwife also working as a doula, looks at one-week old Evan DeRosa and his mother Jennifer in Davenport in 2000. A doula works with the family throughout the pregnancy and afterward to help guide and comfort them through the experience. (AP Photo/Quad-City Times, Jeff Cook)
Today, the word doula means a supportive person trained in childbirth who provides continuous emotional, physical and informational support to laboring women.
Birth doulas accompany women and their partners in labor, providing emotional support and physical comfort. They facilitate communication with caregivers to help clients feel fully informed, provide reassurance, perspective and help with relaxation, positioning and other labor support techniques.
Studies have shown that a doula’s presence at births results in shorter labors with less complications, fewer requests for pain medications and/or epidurals and a reduction in labor-enhancing drugs (Pitocin), forceps, vacuum extraction and cesareans.
Postpartum doulas reduce the stress involved in being a new mom. Doula care has also been shown to reduce the frequency and severity of postpartum depression. Doulas like to say that they “mother the mother.”
Over 20 years of research have revealed the benefits of continuous doula support during labor:
- Reduction of up to 50 percent in the cesarean section rate
- Reduction in the need for assisted delivery (forceps and vacuum extraction)
- Up to 25 percent shorter labor
- Up to 60 percent reduction in the requests for epidural anesthesia
- Up to 40 percent reduction in the use of oxytocin
- An increase success at breastfeeding
- Maternal satisfaction with the birth experience, their partner, child and themselves
- Increased satisfaction in the experience by the mother’s partner.
Postpartum doulas help new mothers in the early weeks with their new baby. Parents find the additional help with breastfeeding, education on newborn care, errand running, nighttime support and assistance with anything else a new family needs invaluable.
The Iowa City Doulas will be hosting an open house “Meet the Doulas” event on Monday, May 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Panera Bread Garden in the Sycamore Mall, back couch area. The Iowa City Doulas is a group of doulas and childbirth educators who are committed to providing women in our community with excellent prenatal, postpartum, and labor support. [www.ICDoulas.com]
To obtain more information about doulas, contact Jun-Nicole Matsushita at 319-430-6736 or by email at junnicole88@gmail.com
Meet the Doulas: speed dating format. Sit down and talk with each doula for 5 minutes. Looking forwards to seeing you there.
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I am going to try to have a baby next year and decided to start on some research. I am confused from the decision of natural birth to the type of bottles. Now I want to hire a doula. How much do they cost? Thanks for the post and yes bookmarked!
Leslie
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The Iowa City Doulas plan more Meet the Doulas: Speed Dating Style
meetings will take place at Panera, in the back room, Sycamore Mall, 7-9 PM
October 14, 2010
February 10, 2011
May 12, 2011
August 11, 2011
Looking forwards to seeing you then!
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