Doulas attend all kinds of births, contrary to the presumption described above. Despite being a great help in achieving a desired and planned unmedicated natural birth, doulas provide services to everyone.
No matter where you give birth, doulas offer tremendous support. They do the aforementioned tasks during a hospital birth while assisting in fostering a good and personal experience in a typically medicalized environment. Nobody is prohibited from receiving doula support if they give birth in a hospital, require medical assistance, or desire pharmacological pain treatment.
Hiring a doula can be extremely helpful if you're anticipating a high-risk birth. It's still possible to have a happy delivery experience, even if you're at risk for difficulties or require medical assistance during labor. No matter what happens during labor, having professional and ongoing assistance can help you have a powerful birth.
How Doulas Can Help During High-Risk Pregnancies
Read below to learn how doulas can help during high-risk pregnancies.
With a Hospital Birth, What Does a Doula Do?
Doulas can:
- Give birth planning assistance and resources
- Offer ongoing labor support while the medical staff is on duty and assist with understanding delivery alternatives throughout prenatal consultations
- Bring up the clients' choices, preferences, etc
- Provide assistance that is physical, emotional, and practical
- Help with comfort measures
- Help in understanding medical jargon, current options, and what's going on
- Bolster the start of breastfeeding
- Provide postpartum support
What Advantages Can Doulas Provide for High-Risk Births?
A physically demanding labor may result from a high-risk birth. Also, it frequently denotes difficult labor from an emotional standpoint. Being high-risk can be frightening, stressful, and even traumatic.
A doula can assist with the physical, emotional, and stressful difficulties, even if she may not be able to change the health conditions. Being frequently comforted during a high-risk birth can result from ongoing professional help.
The ongoing assistance is centered on your mental health and supports your birth partner as well. For the partner, a high-risk birth can be a difficult time. Hiring a doula guarantees that you are both getting enough support to lessen any potential emotional stress.
Having a doula for a high-risk birth has the following advantages:
- Understanding of placement techniques, even with an epidural and monitoring wires
- Ongoing emotional assistance
- Safe physical assistance in the medical situation
- Support in the real world, getting drinks for you or your partner, giving your partner a break, etc.
- Assisting in the explanation of what is occurring and what to expect
- In the event of a separation, a doula can provide support for the mother if the partner must accompany the newborn. She can also give the mom information about the child.
- Assistance in starting to breastfeed or start pumping
- Physical assistance during the first few postpartum hours
- After birth, emotional support and processing
Using a Doula After a High-Risk Delivery
Birth doulas offer crucial prenatal and postpartum assistance, even though they spend the majority of their time during your birth. Support for new mothers after a high-risk birth can be crucial.
You will need time to recover, whether you give birth via c-section, vaginally, or with assistance. A birth doula may offer postpartum doula services in addition to helping you make plans for postpartum recovery (as a separate service).
Processing a high-risk birth can be difficult for women who had previously intended for an unmedicated birth, especially one outside of the hospital. A doula can assist with this in a variety of ways, including:
- Being an ear and offering support
- Referring to a professional counselor familiar with the reproductive years as needed
- Help you with bonding, such as through rebirthing ceremonies, herbal baths, milk baths, and more
- Support you in creating a safe space to heal from birth
- Help you understand postpartum healing
- Support you in navigating postpartum medical complications, NICU stays, etc.
- Help you understand typical newborn behavior
Throughout what could be a difficult birth, a doula serves as your guide. They let you know what to anticipate, offer support and encouragement, and assist you in the healing process. A doula is a vital resource, no matter where you give birth or your level of risk.
Kooshlie Care Doula Services
Doulas do not provide or perform medical treatment; therefore, they are not required to hold NRP certification. ProDoula, the certifying body for all DOC's doulas, does require CPR training and certification.
We, as doulas, are trained professionals who provide emotional, physical, and informational support to women and their families during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. We work alongside healthcare providers to ensure the best possible outcomes for you and your baby.
Delivering a baby is very rewarding but can be overwhelming as well, especially for first-time mothers. Labor and childbirth can be unpredictable and challenging, and we, as doulas, are prepared to support you through a range of physical and emotional experiences.
We work closely with you to ensure that you have the information and resources you need to make informed decisions about your care. We are knowledgeable about childbirth, breastfeeding, and postpartum recovery, and can provide you with accurate and helpful information.
Our mission at Kooshlie Care Doula Services is as follows:
- To empower families during the process of pregnancy, labor, birth, and parenthood.
- To educate families with the most up-to-date information regarding all aspects of pregnancy through early childhood.
- To bring comfort, joy, and lasting memories for the early years of child-rearing.
We would love to talk to you about your birth journey. If you are interested in seeing if Kooshlie Care Doula Services is a good fit for you, please contact us for an interview. We look forward to supporting you in your pregnancy journey.