Do I need a doula if I have a midwife?
Photo Credit: Lawren Rose Photography & Film
I hear this question often. Do I need a doula if I have a midwife?
Yes. For most women, the answer is yes. ESPECIALLY for first-time parents or those wanting to birth without pharmaceutical pain medication (or those wanting to avoid unnecessary interventions).
However, I’m a doula by profession so you might feel that I am a bit biased in my answer which is an understandable skepticism. I’ve done the legwork for you though and asked many midwives in the North Texas area why they value doulas and recommend them to their clients. If you haven’t read my post about the different roles of a midwife and a doula, you can read it here.
What did the midwives say?
Midwife Krista Young from Legacy Midwives in McKinney, Texas writes:
“Adding the right doula to your birth team can be a real blessing to your birth experience. Having extra support from an experienced doula can bring comfort to both mom and her family in labor. The knowledge they bring can help a mom have confidence in her ability to birth her baby.”
Midwife Teri Mitchell from Bundleborn Midwifery in Frisco, Texas writes:
“I often get asked by clients if & why they should hire a doula. My answer every time is 'because I want you to be successful.' As a certified nurse-midwife, my role is clinical. It is my responsibility to monitor your adaptations to the labor, birth, and postpartum process; listen to your baby's heartbeat; listen to your body language & fear & joys; monitor your blood pressure and temperature; prescribe and administer the appropriate herbs or medications; be prepared for emergencies & more. Sometimes, during a long or extraordinarily difficult labor, I just need to step out of your space and think. While I am brainstorming creative solutions to help your labor progress, or performing clinical tasks, or charting in your medical record, or checking (and double-checking) that all the emergency supplies are set out, triple checking that all the emergency supplies are working, and so on- your labor marches on.
You still need those hip squeezes while I am charting. You still need those encouraging words while I am setting up the oxygen tank. You still need a constant presence of a skilled birth worker who knows just the right thing to say or just the right place to massage.
I enjoy doing all those things too, but they are just a bonus when they are coming from me. You really hired me to make sure your baby breathes, to give you stitches, and to keep you safe. Doulas are such an integral part of the birth team, so much so that I require them for first-time moms!”
Photo Credit: Abbey Barnosky
Doula: Hannah Troyer
Midwife Courtney Watson from Adriatica Women’s Health in McKinney, TX writes:
“Doulas can improve your entire birth experience. That support is irreplaceable and so valuable. Outcomes are better, birth preferences are supported and honored, and experiences are more positive even if plans change. Is it worth the risk not to have one?”
Midwife Emily Portis from Craig Ranch OB/GYN in McKinney, TX writes:
“I️ look at it like a choir. You have the choir, which is the mother. The choir director elicits the song from the choir members but does not sing. The nurse or BA, is like the assistant director; able to step in to direct; always present and listening but sometimes doing administrative duties. The doula is like the accompanist. She both follows the choir director’s lead, but balances the choir members’ needs. If they’re off-pitch, she plays the correct note where only they can hear/notice and the audience is none the wiser. In the hospital-based CNM role, I’m often pulled in many directions. We have a larger volume of patients, so I️ can’t be with the woman entirely alone. I️ am dependent on the assigned nurse and the random volume the day brings. I️ also manage answering service calls and postpartum patients. The assigned nurse has a huge responsibility to their employer for documentation and patient assignment. I’ve often said the L&D nurse/patient relationship is like having a one night stand; you develop a bond, mutual respect, and intense connection in a brief encounter versus the provider/patient relationship is like a long term relationship/marriage; you’ve met over time, your involvement increases in frequency and depth. But the doula, they have a sole focus on the woman, while supporting and balancing what the nurses and providers do. It’s so beautiful. I️ had a doula at my last birth, 2.5 weeks ago. And it was awesome. At our pre-birth consult, we discussed some of my goals, and she mentioned some things I️ had forgotten at my last birth. My husband couldn’t believe how much she helped us during my longer than expected 4th labor.”
Midwife Amber Higgs from Be. Women’s Health & Wellness in Frisco, TX writes:
“CNM here! I encourage doula support without hesitation to all my mamas, but especially those with goals of a natural labor or high anxiety-I tell them it’s imperative. For one, they need someone they know and trust to be by their side continuously to support them and their partner. As her provider, I come and go, they may or may not really bond with their nurse-who also may leave depending on the length of labor (and certainly won’t be present continuously), the doula is the constant. Even with my own knowledge base and my partners delivering me, I hired a doula for my own labor last month to keep me grounded so I’d stop worrying about the what-ifs (too much knowledge can definitely be a detriment), help me focus when things got tough, provide amazing hands-on support, and just generally talk things out before and during labor. She was a Godsend and I can definitely credit part of my successful VBA2C to her. Doulas for everyone!!!”
Photo Credit: Lawren Rose Photography & Film
Midwife Jen Juve from Grace Obstetrics & Gynecology in Fort Worth, TX writes:
“I always tell my mommas about the value of a doula. No matter where they deliver their provider and assistants and/or nurses have clinical stuff to do and the doula can focus on continuous labor support where it’s less feasible for the provider. And…there’s plenty of evidence that supports the use of doulas to decrease c-sections and increase the likelihood of having an unmedicated birth. I think doulas are great for all births!!”
Want more information about how a doula supports all types of labor? Learn more here.