What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know
I’m very very lucky. I’m not a doula but I’m in the tiny percentage of the world’s population who knows exactly what what a doula does. And I have seen with my own eyes what an amazing difference doulas can make to the parents’ experience of a birth and the first few weeks of life with a new baby. I’ve even made a film about it: DOULA!
But I have a bee in my bonnet. I want more people to know about doulas. I want to shout it from the rooftops that EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE A DOULA, if they so choose.
It should be a choice available to every expectant mama and papa. A human right. In my humble opinion, cost shouldn’t come into it.
As soon as they know they’re pregnant, a woman should automatically have one-to-one midwifery care and also have the option of having a doula. Not just any doula, for not every doula is right for every woman, but a doula who feels right to the expectant woman.
The doula stats are something to shout about. If an expectant mother has a doula, statistically she will have:
- 50% reduction in rate of c-section
- 25% shorter labour
- 60% reduction in epidural requests
- 40% reduction in oxytocin use
- 30% reduction in analgesia use
- 40% reduction in forceps delivery
Information from Mothering the Mother: How a Doula Can HelpYou Have a Shorter Easier and Healthier Birth, Klaus, Kennell, and Klaus (1993).
Right now, a doula is not mainstream. It’s often seen as a crunchy mama’s slightly weird or alternative choice. In the general population, most people either haven’t heard of a doula or they confuse doulas with midwives. Just for the record, the difference between a doula and a midwife is described HERE
Maybe the confusion starts with the word “doula”. It doesn’t exactly describe what a doula does. It’s not like an engineer – someone who works with engines. Or a midwife – someone who works with women.
According to Wikipedia, “Doula comes from Ancient Greek δούλη (doulē) meaning “female slave.”
doula = wise woman birth companion
Also according to Wikipedia, “Male dromedaries have a soft palate, which they inflate to produce a deep pink sack, which is often mistaken for a tongue, called a doula in Arabic, hanging out of the sides of their mouths to attract females during the mating season”
or doula = camel's floppy palate
To help people tell the difference between an exceptionally caring, nurturing, wise, supportive, knowledgeable, non-judgemental, inspirational birth companion and a camel’s floppy palate, here’s a short film about what a doula does:
And here’s some interviews from our One World Birth film project
World Doula Week is coming up March 22-28. This’ll be a chance to create a bit of a buzz about doulas. For this week only, we have waived the license fee to encourage doulas and doula fans to host their own DOULA! film local screening.
So a DOULA! film screening will cost you nothing! It doesn’t have to be a big event – it could be in your own living room. All to spread the word about doulas. So far it’s looking like we’re going to have 200+ screenings that week!
For a map of the screenings for WORLD DOULA WEEK and for more information: CLICK HERE.
To host your own screening and receive your own FREE screening kit:
please email info@altofilms.com
For me, it’s simple: The more people that know about doulas
= more people hire doulas
= more people have better births
= the world will be a better place!
I honestly believe doulas are the secret to making the world a better place. The world might not be aware of this yet but with your help spreading the word, it will.
