Birth partners play an important and special role during the birth experience. A doula can never replace the love and caring that her birth partner provides during this incredible time. A doula gives birth partners ideas about what comfort measures work best during different parts of labor and birth, and a doula’s knowledge and experience can also help birth partners to participate to their comfort level during the birth process. The doula and birth partner work as a team.
I really value the moments when I see birth partners encouraging and supporting mothers, whether they initiated it on their own or through suggestion and guidance, by holding them, kissing them, touching them, and offering positive and loving affirmations. It is the most amazing thing to see their love shine through during this incredible event, and also to see how empowered birth partners can become by supporting mothers during labor. When birth partners are supported by a doula, studies have shown that they feel more emotionally and physically involved with the birth of their child, rather than feeling left out.
Often times, labor and birth can be an anxious and even scary time for birth partners as they tread through uncharted waters. The complexity of the partner’s role and the expectations given to them, vary greatly in our society and it can be hard for partners to remain objective when they are so emotionally involved. Doulas can help to relieve any panic and anxiety so the birth partner is able to fully take in the birth and help the laboring mother to the best of his/her ability without feeling the pressure of having to know what to do through each stage of labor on their own. By having a doula present, it takes the pressure off and allows partners to feel calmer, more confident and better able to provide the support a mother needs.
My job is to compliment the partner’s role and strenghten it by offering suggestions and encouraging birth partners to participate in ways that feel comfortable to them, and comforting for the mother during the birthing process. “With her partner and a doula at birth, a mother can have the best of both worlds: Her partner’s loving care and attention and the doula’s expertise and guidance in childbirth.”
Read more in Dads and Doulas: Key Players on Mother’s Labor Support Team and Penny Simkin’s The Birth Partner.
