Birth Philosophies
I offer free 30-minute consults to anyone who enquires about doula support. Welcoming a new baby to the family is one of the most life-changing experiences any person will have. Ensuring you select the right doula for you is so important - it is crucial to feel calm, comfortable, and confident in the person who will support and advocate for you as you navigate the most vulnerable and incredible time of your life.
When I meet with a new expecting family, I have a loose framework for what those initial 30-minute free consults look like. I find this helps everyone (myself and the expecting family) get the most out of this time. I start by asking them a few questions: what their lives look like, what they love, what they do for work, how they met one another. I then ask them why they reached out, what they are looking for, and what they already know about doula support. I then reflect back: “This is what I heard you say – does this sound about right?” From these conversations, I am able to understand people’s needs, and how it is I can help on their journey.
Within these meetings, I also start to develop a sense of whether this family has an already formed “birth philosophy.” A birth philosophy is basically a set of ideas about how you want your birth experience to unfold. Perhaps you aren't looking forward to the birth process and you are pretty sure you want to feel as little as possible through medication. Or on the other end of the spectrum, you may feel excited about the birth itself and want to experience every facet of it with no numbing or medication of any kind. A birth philosophy can include choices about pain medications (from spinal block to completely unmedicated), positions you’d feel comfortable pushing in, whom you want at the birth, ways you want your partner to help you, if you want music playing, or cultural values relating to rituals with the placenta.
Your birth philosophy is so important and yet it is rarely discussed by pregnancy primary care providers. This leads to a situation where choices in a birth are being made by the provider and not the pregnant person.
A huge part of my role as a doula is educating and making sure my clients know they are the leader in their care. I empower them with knowledge so they can make decisions that are right for them. I teach my clients that they can advocate for their own birth philosophy with my support.
Some people arrive in my initial 30-minute meetings knowing what they want, and what their birth philosophy is. Others have a vague idea of their preferences. Many are lost and overwhelmed and have no idea at all, and are looking for support and education to help guide them in forming their own birth philosophy. I dig deep with the families I support and ensure they form a vision of a birth they desire, and then I help make it come to fruition.
I support people of all philosophies. No two people are the same. My personal philosophy, and the way the births of my children looked, aligns with a very hands-off, non-clinical approach. I had unmedicated vaginal births for both of my children, the second one was born at home. This doesn't mean that I will push you to have births like mine. I respect you as an individual with different needs and wants. Our birth philosophies can differ, in the same way that we don't have to like the same baby names!
I will support and advocate for what you need because being heard, being validated, being understood, and being autonomous in your birth is what results in positive birth outcomes.
