Doulas

I've gotten lots of questions about what a doula is, so I'll try to answer. A doula is (usually a trained) birth assistant. She is not medically trained, so she can't do any medical things, but she is there to provide support to the mother and father during the birth. She is familiar with the birthing process and can provide emotional support, and can also do practical things, like massage. She can remove some of the pressure from the father, for example with coaching the mother etc. I think the status of doulas varies from place to place. I've heard that some hospitals in the US provide them, others don't even allow you to bring your own with you. Research on the use of doulas has shown good outcomes, including decreased likelihood of C-section and other interventions, shortened labor, increased satisfaction with the birth experience, and healthier mothers and babies after the birth. Here's the wikipedia entry.

We decided to hire a doula partly because of these outcomes, because we want a more natural birth than the mainstream medical model offers and hope that the doula will help with this, and also because we don't speak the language a local doula would. Aside from her doula training, our doula also knows shiatsu massage and reflexology, which I think may come in handy.