Hiring a doula and finding the right person should be challenging. on the other hand, pregnancy can be very intimidating if you are not sure what to expect. Your body is about to undergo many changes over the next couple of months. Additionally, your life is going to be changed forever. You will be welcoming a newborn into your life before you know it. Because of the large life change pregnancy has, you may find yourself in need of a little assistance for the months to come.
You may soon find yourself having many questions but you are not sure what to ask. This is completely normal for a new mommy carrying their unborn child. Many individuals realize they could benefit from hiring a doula to work with closely throughout their pregnancy and birthing process. These highly trained professionals are able to help with pregnancy, labor, and newborn care. However, hiring a doula is not any easy task. There are several questions to ask a doula prior to selecting the perfect candidate. It may be beneficial to compile a list of your birthing desires, as well as, a doula checklist in order to make sure you select the best fit.
What Exactly is a Doula?
Now, many people may be wondering what is a doula? The doula definition is, a trained professional who offers physical and emotional support to you during pregnancy, childbirth, and the newborn stages. These professionals are all highly trained and continue to go through countless professional developmental courses. The extensive research and education allows these birthing coaches to stay updated on the latest pregnancy and birthing trends. Derived from the ancient Greece, the term doula meaning “a woman who serves”. A doula is committed to serving their clients from the moment they accept the position until they determine care is no longer needed. By opting for a doula meaning less stress on you as an expecting mother.
What Are Doula’s Duties?
Now that you understand what a doula is, you are probably wondering, “what does a doula do”? There are several purposes a doula will serve during the time they will spend with you. They will be by your side throughout the process in order to offer continuous emotional, physical, and educational support about carrying a child, birthing, and after care. The relationship typically begins a few months prior to giving birth.
You will meet with the doula several times in order to discuss various topics and to compile a birthing plan for the arrival of your new infant. These birthing coaches offers 24/7 support via phone or in person leading up to the birth. Although they do not provide any sort of medical care, doulas are able to lend tremendous amounts of emotional and physical support during the process. Additionally, their knowledge and experience with previous labor and deliveries can help mothers know what to expect.
Why Hiring a Doula?
Carrying and delivering a newborn is such a precious time in one’s life. As a result, it only makes sense to hire an experienced doula to assist you. This birthing coach will be by your side every step of the way in order to make the process easier on you. You may be wondering where to find a doula and how to pick a doula. Thankfully, there are many tools on the Internet in order to search for doulas around the area that you live. There are some doulas that are willing to travel and others that simply stay local so you will want to be sure you conduct a search accordingly.
What to Ask a Doula During and Interview?
There are several questions to ask when interviewing a doula. These questions to ask a doula before hiring can help you understand their personality and beliefs. There are also many things to discuss with your doula. You may find it beneficial to compile a list of questions for doula and you to discuss. It can also help to have a doula questionnaire ready for your initial meeting. These tools will aid in the interviewing process and assure that you are asking the correct questions to find your doula. These are by no means all of the questions you should be asking; however, they will give you a good starting point to go into a doula interview. Below are the questions you should ask a doula during an interview in 2021.
These interview questions are going to give you topics to discuss and allow you and the doula to get to know one another. The questions to ask a potential doula allow you the ability to understand the doula’s personal values, beliefs, and birthing ideals. Knowing what to ask is going to be the key to find the perfect doula for the birth of your child.
1. How many births have you assisted?
When interviewing potential doulas, you will want to be sure and ask how many births they have assisted. Most individuals must attend at least three births in order to gain a doula certification. Hiring a doula with experience can be a great asset because they have helped with more births. Keep in mind that with experience comes an increased price tag.
2. What is your background and training?
You will want to be sure to always check the training and background of a doula you are considering. It is important to ensure that the doula has a valid up-to-date certification. There are also some doulas out there that have additional childbirth training that you may find give them an advantage over other doula candidates
3. Are you willing to travel?
During the doula interview you will want to ask if they are willing to travel if necessary. Doulas are able to decide where they participate in births. Therefore, you will want to be upfront about where you plan to deliver and be sure the doula accepts the location. It is important to work these details out before preceding any further to ensure the doula can be by your side during labor and delivery
4. What is your pricing and what is included?
One of the top questions to ask a doula is how much they charge and what services are provided in the package. Most standard doulas provide 1-2 prenatal visit, 1-2 postpartum visits, assistance with labor and delivery, and availability for questions. Additionally, there are some doulas that will meet after the delivery in order to check up on your and go through any questions you may have after birth
5. When will you be on call for me?
Along with the many questions to ask when interviewing a doula, you will want to be sure to discuss when your doula will go on call for the birth of your new infant. In general, you will want to hire a doula that will be open to being on call. The doula should be willing to going on call for at least two weeks before your due date, two weeks post delivery, 24 hours a day. Furthermore, there are some doulas that provide a backup doula in case they are not able to make it in time for delivery. This ensures that as a doula you have the support you have paid for and have been promised.
6. How will you as a doula assist me through labor and delivery?
An important aspect of selecting a doula is to gain a person that will be right by your side during the labor and delivery. Therefore, you need to ask the important labor and delivery interview questions in order to understand how the doula is going to be able to work with you through the challenging process.
7. How many other clients do you have around my same due date?
This is a very important one. While you want to hire the best doula available, you do not want to get one that is overbooked. It is common for an experienced doula to have up to four or more clients in any given month. This speaks to their popularity but if that number makes you nervous that you may not get the attention you need then find a less experienced doula. They may be less experienced but they will most likely be able to provide you with more attention
8. Why did you become a doula?
This can be an interesting question to ask a potential doula. It can be helpful to understand why they selected the doula path. This may help you find common ground and understand they doula style.
9. What is your style or approach to being a doula?
Finding out why the doula got into child birthing could help understand not only their personality but also their style. This will be very important for you because you need a doula that will
10. Ask other questions catered to you personally
Use the remaining part of the interview to ask questions that are centered on your personal beliefs and values. This time if for you to run through your checklist and ask any other questions that may have risen during your conversation. As a parent there will never be too many questions to ensure you are going to get the service you desire for the birth of your new child.
Again, these interview questions are going to allow you to dive into topics and understand the core values of the doula. You will want to understand what to ask during the interview in order to get most of your questions answered. Leaving an interview well informed will help you select the perfect doula for your birthing experience.
Other Benefits of Hiring a Doula
There are several great benefits hiring a doula to assist you throughout the child birthing process. Research is beginning to show that women who opt to work with a birthing doula are less likely to require Pitocin, less likely to have a cesarean, and less likely to use any pain medications that can cause sever reactions. Additionally, research also shows that overall mothers who have a doula also rate the experience of childbirth more positively than those that do not use the service of a doula. You will quickly begin to see the benefits of a doula once you begin working out the birthing plan and see how easy things come together.
Leave It to Professionals
Overall, childbirth is a huge moment in your life. If you are an expecting mother, you should look into hiring a birthing coach to take some of the stress off of you. Carrying a child is difficult enough; you should not worry about the labor and delivery all on your own. An experienced doula will be able to offer you the emotional and physical support you need leading up to delivery, labor, and newborn stages.
See Also: Stay Home Mom Schedule for 2021