go to service packages...

birth with awareness

Birthing your baby is an event that not only affects the rest of your life and your thoughts about yourself either as a parent, but also the life of your child. We now know that how we are born affects who we become and how we function as adults.

Birthing with awareness means that you take all this into account when making your own best decisions for birthing your baby. It is not about whether you birth your baby with medications or without, it is about the process of birth and how it unfolds. Birthing in awareness, being mindful; helps you to be compassionate and trusting towards yourself, your baby and your family during your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum time with non-judgment and presence of heart.

Emotional care of mothers and families during birth is a vital factor in determining the bond between baby and mother and with the family as a whole. No matter how the birth itself unfolds, mothers and partners who feel secure, healthy and in control will be in the best state of mind to meet their new family member.

A doula can provide this emotional and physical support as well as provide non-biased information that helps parents make informed decisions about their births.

The word, "doula," comes from the Greek word for the most important female servant in an ancient Greek household; the woman who most likely supported the lady of the house through her births.

what is a doula

The word has come to refer to "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after childbirth."(Klaus, Kennel and Klaus, Mothering the Mother)

After many years and experience as a doula and birth educator, I have found that the meaning of "doula" for me encompasses honoring birth as a life transition for the entire family. While the mother embodies the physical and emotional depths of birth, her partner and baby's siblings also need support to honor their own experience of bringing a new life into the family.

A doula is someone who:

• Hold's the space of birth; keeping a sense of safety, privacy and security for the mother to birth and for the couple to feel safe to be with one another in whatever way they choose.
• Provides a constant presence of trust in the process of birth.
• Encourages the normal, physiological rhythms of birth
• Recognizes birth as a major life transition. Birth is an event that effects our thoughts on being parents and how we identify ourselves within the family unit and the greater community.
• Offers emotional, physical as well as informational support to the family throughout pregnancy, birth and early postpartum.
• Assists mothers and partners in making informed decisions during pregnancy and birth by providing information or pointing to available resources.
• Helps partners understand the physiology and process of birth and how to support the birthing mother in whatever way is comfortable.
• Empower's the mother and the couple to know their patient rights and to trust in their individual ability to birth how they choose.

mindful doula

A mindful doula provides information and care with non-judgment and compassion. The goal being the most optimal birth as a woman and her family defines it.

When a doula is present some women may feel less need for pain medications for coping with labor, or may choose to put them off until later. However, many women need or choose pharmocological pain relief. In fact, doulas can help maximize the benefits of pharmocological pain relief while minimizing the side effects. Attending women with awareness and compassion, a doula will not disourage a woman from making her own best choices. A doula helps families become informed about their various options for intervention along with the risks and benefits.

erica's doula service packages