Today, we hit another milestone in our baby journey - we signed our contract with our doula. For those of you that aren't familiar with what a doula is, you can read more about them here. Essentially, I think of a doula as a labor coach. She'll come to our house when I'm in early labor, will come with me to the hospital, and she'll stay with me the entire time until after the baby is born. It's really important for me to have someone there the entire time. While we're delivering with a midwife (which will likely mean that we'd get more one-on-one care than if we'd been with an OB), even a midwife can't guarantee that she'll be there the whole time.
Plus, the doula will be a bit of an advocate for us. There are lots of stories of area hospitals doing things like breaking your water without your permission. I'm absolutely not okay with that, and a doula will help make sure my wishes are followed as much as possible. While I don't have illusions that everything will go exactly to plan, I have certain things that I'd really like to see respected. A doula can help with that.
Finally, a doula will help be a labor coach. I'm very interested in an unmedicated child birth, and a doula is a great way to help us get there. She's organized childbirth classes to help prepare us, and she'll help encourage me to go through the birth without pain medication. She's very understanding that things may not go as planned, but she's also very encouraging of me trying to have the unmedicated birth that I want.
I'm very excited.
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