The re-emergence of the doula
11th May 2015 · 0 Comments
By Kelly Parker
Contributing Writer
It takes a village to not only raise a child, but also to prepare for his or her arrival into the world.
Today, giving birth involves making a variety of important choices, many that were not available to mothers in the past. A doula can help expectant mothers and their families during this life changing event-before, during and after the arrival of their bundle of joy.
The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother.
Here in New Orleans, The Birthmark Doula Collective is a group of trained doulas dedicated to assist women and their families in having the most empowering pregnancy, birth, and parenting experiences possible.
The collective was founded 4 years ago by Latona Giwa and Dana Keren.
The services provided range from birth tub rental, prenatal massage, Labor/birthing and new baby care classes and education to placenta encapsulation and postpartum support. Birthmark doulas are on call 24 hours/day from two weeks before a clients due date to two weeks afterwards.
Doulas work with moms to be; answering many questions during the pre natal stage. “The average OB visit is 5 minutes, says Giwa. “So women do not have time to get all of their questions answered. Moms to be are often intimidated during these visits. We’re able to sit with them after visits and talk to them about what they didn’t understand about what the doctor said, and come up with questions for future visits.”
During labor, doulas can use numerous homeopathic techniques such as massage and different labor positions to help with delivery. Doulas also reduce the use of unnecessary medical intervention, and postpartum depression and dramatically increase the rates of breastfeeding success. Emotionally, studies show that families who have doulas report much higher satisfaction with their birth experience, Giwa states.
“We started out providing doula services and wanting to bring together a group of doulas-to expand the number of us in the city, since there were very few at that time.” Giwa told the Louisiana Weekly. “Since then, we’ve expanded our services by offering a number of classes and advocacy work. I was working with homeless youth, and the majority of the girls were either pregnant or had just had a baby. I became really interested in providing support to these women, so that’s how I became trained and certified.”
The group is also in the process of opening two innovative facilities. One is an out- of- hospital birthing facility, operated by midwives. The other: Milk Bank-a facility that would process human donor milk, to be available for women who cannot provide milk to give to their babies. Both would be the first of its kind in the city and this region.
Since its inception, the Collective has served about 500 families locally. ‘And it’s been increasing every year.” Latona Giwa says.
Birthmark clients are supported by a team of doulas with diverse experiences and expertise and the services are offered on a sliding scale; available to all mothers, regardless of income.
“That has been a key to our mission from the beginning,” Giwa adds. “We wanted to be able to find a way to charge people what they can afford. Everyone deserves a doula and can benefit from these services.”
Medically speaking, doulas greatly impact birth outcomes, according to Giwa.
“Families who have a birth doula have been shown to have 50 percent reduction in c-section rates.” She says.
Historically, Louisiana has ranked high in the number of births delivered via cesarean section, along with the lowest breastfeeding rate. Doulas and midwives are helping to change this trend.
“We need to get this information out to our community.” Says Nicole Deggins, CEO & Founder Sista Midwife Productions.
As a midwife, she often works with doulas; providing the clinical component of the birthing process.
There are many misconceptions regarding the work of doulas and also midwives. The duties of the two are not the same.
“Midwives will check to see how far you’ve dilated or listen to the baby’s heart rate or check blood pressure.” Deggins explains. “But everyone works as a team to ensure that the mother has a safe, satisfying and empowering experience-that is the goal.”
“One of the main misconceptions about both doulas and midwives is that we are only necessary if a mother is planning a natural birth, with no medication, which is far from true.” Deggins told The Louisiana Weekly. “Any woman can benefit from the care of a midwife and/or doula.”
The Birthmark Collective states that they work with women no matter their birth plan. Their clients “have home births and birth in the hospital, unmedicated births, use pain medication, and anything in between.”
“The unexpected can always happen-you can’t plan your birth; even if it does, families who have a doula really benefit from the postpartum home visits from a doula, which is helping a new mom process and adjust to life with a new child.” Giwa states.
The care provided by doulas is proven to be essential in the overall care of both Mom and baby. Nicole Deggins strongly suggests new moms add the service of a doula to their gift registries.
“There are a lot of things that family and friends purchase that are cute, but a doula would be worth a lot more.”
For more information on the services of Birthmark Doulas and the Birthmark Doula Collective, visit www.birthmarkdoulas.com.
This article originally published in the May 11, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
