Labor is an intense physical and emotional experience. It's comforting to be reassured that what's happening is normal and healthy and to get feedback about your progress in labor. Some women also want comforting touch or gentle assistance moving and changing positions in labor. They may also appreciate encouragement and help communicating their wishes to their clinical caregivers.
Throughout the ages, in nearly all societies for which we have records, women have been helped and comforted in labor by other women. Today, labor support professionals called doulas (DOO-lah; Greek for "woman who serves") are trained to provide the comfort and care women need during labor.
Labor support can help you avoid or reduce risks associated with interventions. Research also shows that having good support can affect how you feel about your birth, and that memories of childbirth experiences often stay with women throughout their lives.
Would I still benefit from having a labor support companion if I think I will want an epidural or other pain medication?
Women who plan to use pain medications could also appreciate having a labor support companion for many reasons:
Can I get supportive care from my partner alone?
Giving your partner responsibility for supporting you through labor puts pressure on someone who may have little or no prior familiarity with birth, and who may have strong emotional needs of his or her own during the experience. Some partners do not have temperaments suited to this physically and emotionally nurturing role. The lack of privacy and the impersonal atmosphere in the hospital may inhibit others.
Partners can benefit by having someone with more experience mentor them through, offer practical ideas for helping with your comfort, reassure them, and look after their needs. Having an additional person allows partners to take a needed break and relieves pressure to meet your every labor support need. If labor is intense, you may welcome having more than one person to help you. For example, you may want one person in front of you talking you through each contraction while the other is behind you pressing on your lower back. If labor is long, members of your support team can relieve one another so that you always have someone relatively refreshed working with you.
Throughout the ages, in nearly all societies for which we have records, women have been helped and comforted in labor by other women. Today, labor support professionals called doulas (DOO-lah; Greek for "woman who serves") are trained to provide the comfort and care women need during labor.
Labor support can help you avoid or reduce risks associated with interventions. Research also shows that having good support can affect how you feel about your birth, and that memories of childbirth experiences often stay with women throughout their lives.
Would I still benefit from having a labor support companion if I think I will want an epidural or other pain medication?
Women who plan to use pain medications could also appreciate having a labor support companion for many reasons:
- women and their partners need information and emotional support, whether they use pain medication or not; although pain may be removed with an epidural, other questions and concerns remain
- many women do not experience pain-free labor with pain medications and will still welcome comfort measures and mental strategies to help with pain
- when a woman labors without an epidural, the sensations in her pelvic area are a powerful guide to help her know when and how to push; epidurals reduce or sometimes remove these sensations, making it harder to push effectively; an experienced labor support companion can be a helpful guide during the pushing phase of labor in that situation
- epidurals involve or increase the likelihood of using many other interventions to monitor, prevent, or treat adverse effects - this has been described as a cascade of intervention; a labor support companion can help you cope with those experiences
- depending on your wishes, a trained or experienced labor companion can also help you avoid or delay medication, or use a smaller amount; this may help you avoid or limit some potential adverse effects.
Can I get supportive care from my partner alone?
Giving your partner responsibility for supporting you through labor puts pressure on someone who may have little or no prior familiarity with birth, and who may have strong emotional needs of his or her own during the experience. Some partners do not have temperaments suited to this physically and emotionally nurturing role. The lack of privacy and the impersonal atmosphere in the hospital may inhibit others.
Partners can benefit by having someone with more experience mentor them through, offer practical ideas for helping with your comfort, reassure them, and look after their needs. Having an additional person allows partners to take a needed break and relieves pressure to meet your every labor support need. If labor is intense, you may welcome having more than one person to help you. For example, you may want one person in front of you talking you through each contraction while the other is behind you pressing on your lower back. If labor is long, members of your support team can relieve one another so that you always have someone relatively refreshed working with you.
* Doulas are trained in the use of positions and techniques to help labor progress and to help women to be as comfortable and secure as possible. They know which positions to try when a baby won’t descend, when a woman has back labor, when dilation stalls, when one position is no longer working, and so on. They are trained to help women tap into whatever mental relaxation technique works best for them and to minimize distractions so that women can access and remain in that relaxed and positive mental state. We will suggest getting in the shower to cope with contraction intensity, sitting on the toilet to help encourage dilation, kneeling on the bed in hands and knees if your back hurts. It’s rare that a partner, sister, mom, or friend will have access to the knowledge a doula has about labor’s natural progression and the physiology of birth.
* Doulas are not emotionally invested in the birth. Yes, we care about you, and we want recognize and honor the amazing process of labor and birth, but we are professionals who have the emotional distance necessary to be a constant, unwavering support for a laboring woman for the duration of labor, whether that’s a couple of hours of a couple of days.
* Partners are riding the emotional roller coaster of birth with the laboring woman, and this is natural! They are emotionally connected to everything that is happening. They get concerned, excited, tired, hungry, grumpy, nervous, everything that an expecting parent feels when their baby’s birth is imminent! A doula can help partners stay calm, rested, fed, and hydrated, too. She is there to complement the dyad of mother and partner, and she offers a third-party perspective that an intimate partner may not have.
* Nurses, midwives, and doctors are excellent birth attendants, and while they may want to spend your birth at bedside nurturing and supporting you, they simply cannot. Their role at your birth is chiefly devoted to the health and safety of you and your baby, and that is as it should be. That’s where the doula comes in; she fills the gap by assisting you in whichever ways necessary for the duration of your labor. Because of their clinical responsibilities and the number of patients they have, a nurse, midwife, and doctor can spend a limited amount of time at bedside; a doula stays at your side for your entire labor and for several hours after.A doula also has the unique perspective of having attended many births. She can help interpret medical policies and procedures for you and serve as a sort of medical advocate in the delivery room. She can give you the information you and your partner need to make an informed decision about proposed interventions and help you to ask questions to get the information you need to make the best decision for your family.
* Doulas are not emotionally invested in the birth. Yes, we care about you, and we want recognize and honor the amazing process of labor and birth, but we are professionals who have the emotional distance necessary to be a constant, unwavering support for a laboring woman for the duration of labor, whether that’s a couple of hours of a couple of days.
* Partners are riding the emotional roller coaster of birth with the laboring woman, and this is natural! They are emotionally connected to everything that is happening. They get concerned, excited, tired, hungry, grumpy, nervous, everything that an expecting parent feels when their baby’s birth is imminent! A doula can help partners stay calm, rested, fed, and hydrated, too. She is there to complement the dyad of mother and partner, and she offers a third-party perspective that an intimate partner may not have.
* Nurses, midwives, and doctors are excellent birth attendants, and while they may want to spend your birth at bedside nurturing and supporting you, they simply cannot. Their role at your birth is chiefly devoted to the health and safety of you and your baby, and that is as it should be. That’s where the doula comes in; she fills the gap by assisting you in whichever ways necessary for the duration of your labor. Because of their clinical responsibilities and the number of patients they have, a nurse, midwife, and doctor can spend a limited amount of time at bedside; a doula stays at your side for your entire labor and for several hours after.A doula also has the unique perspective of having attended many births. She can help interpret medical policies and procedures for you and serve as a sort of medical advocate in the delivery room. She can give you the information you and your partner need to make an informed decision about proposed interventions and help you to ask questions to get the information you need to make the best decision for your family.