You’ve probably heard about "doulas" before. Doulas are amazing! We're kind of like the firefighters of the birth world. While everyone else is running away from the birthing person when things get really hard, we're sprinting towards them.
Doulas have a unique and amazing ability to provide emotional, physical, and sometimes spiritual support to people during the birth experience. This can include but is not limited to, birthing people, partners, support people, nurses, midwives, doctors, and other medical professionals.
Doulas perform a variety of support tasks, that often differ by each individual doula. But there’s one thing all doulas share: an undeniable calling and passion to help people.
Benefits of working with a doula
The quick story on doulas is they have been proven to decrease labor time, incidences of medical induction methods, and cesarean sections.
The doula is often the only part of the birth support team that remains with the birthing person through the duration of their labor. Unlike medical staff who often have to attend to other patients, the doula is devoted to only one birthing person. Just the presence of someone who is there only for the birthing person is often enough to help.
The most recent evidence, gathered in 2017, showed some of the incredible benefits of working with a doula. Below are just a few notables:
39% decrease in caesarean section
15% increase in spontaneous (not medically induced) vaginal birth
10% decrease in the use of pain medication
Shorter labors by 41 minutes
How The Nest is supporting the birthing experience
It’s an incredible honor to join The Nest as a birth doula.
Dr. Harmony Carlson has created an incredible space for helping people and adding doula support is a natural fit for this environment. By supporting people during their pregnancy and birth, we can deeply hold our beloved clients during one of their most significant life events.
Doula support fits so naturally with mental health support and creates an easy and accessible way to hand off care when needed. I cannot wait to support The Nest clients during their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. Through working with The Nest, I will be able to support them not only with my doula expertise but with the partnership of my medical and behavioral colleagues.
What we’re creating is huge!
Among its other services, The Nest provides a true one-stop-shop for care for people in their childbearing years. We’re not done yet either. We have big plans to expand our birth services to include childbirth education, lactation support, and prenatal bodywork. The sky is really the limit!
Stay tuned and we will be pushing out (no pun intended) more updates soon.
For more info on the services I provide, check out my staff page or contact me. I can’t wait to work with you.