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For many women looking for support during
pregnancy and birth, it is not a case of "either/or" but "both/and."
Women value the role of
their doctor or midwife, with whom they seek to build a trusting
relationship and look to for expert medical care and advice. They value the
support they will get from nurses who combine clinical knowledge with
practical and social
support in a unique way. They value the love and intimacy of their partner's
support, and often feel
especially close during the intense experience of birth.
Even with all this in place, women also may
look for support that a doula can be best-placed to provide. A doula can
offer:
-
one-on-one
care, including at home in early labor; she doesn't have to juggle shift
changes, paperwork, or caring for other women simultaneously
-
24-hour
availability; she is reachable anytime, day or night, when a woman
needs labor support
-
an
objective presence who can offer support to both the woman and
her partner, who will have his or her own
intense emotions to cope with, in addition to expending the physical and
emotional energy needed to support a woman in labor, and needs a bit of care
as well!
-
a sense of continuity and
reassurance, especially on entering the hospital, as the doula is
someone the couple knows very well by the time of birth.
The extra support a doula provides can enable each member of the
team -- partner, doctor, nurse, midwife -- to focus more on what they do
best, and not have to worry about trying to be all things to all people.
Most of the time, the team interacts in a way that is to everyone's
ultimate advantage, including the medical caregivers. (See more on
the
benefits of a doula to medical professionals.)
Still concerned? If you wonder about
whether a doula will try to assume a unofficial medical role, or whether a
doula will take away some of the enjoyable aspects of your own job of caring
for women in labor, read on. See our pages on
working with a doula
and
solving common problems.
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