Birth + Postpartum Doula Support
Birth and Postpartum Doulas can be an essential addition to your support team. As trained professionals it’s our job to help you navigate each stage with personalized support. Doulas are there to provide meaningful insight, resources, and support you and your family before, during, and after birth.
Every family is unique, so I customize my support services to better meet each client's needs. Regardless of how you choose to birth, we will dive into your beliefs and expectations around labor, birth, and postpartum. Together, we will explore your physical and emotional strengths and limitations to ensure you’re prepared for birth and your transition into caring for a new baby.
What does Birth Doula support look like?
Prenatal Visits: typically 1-2 depending on your needs:
In addition to getting to know each other; having a few prenatal visits is beneficial because we explore your birth goals, practice coping techniques, and address any concerns you may have going into your labor or postpartum period. I'd also help connect you with other resources in the community and informational resources if desired.
Labor and Birth Support:
When I walk into your birth my job is to support you and your choices throughout your entire labor until about 2 hours after birth. I can help with comfort measures for both you and your birthing partner. Or I can just be another source of calm energy in the room. You and your family are my top priority. .
Immediate Postpartum:
I follow up with all of my birth clients at about 24-36 hours postpartum to check in and address any immediate needs. I also join you at about 1-2 weeks postpartum to talk about your birth and recovery.
What Does Postpartum Doula Support look like?
I typically meet my clients prenatally to discuss their goals and plans for their postpartum experience, we try to think about where they might find stress or expect shortfalls. Learning how to care for a newborn baby (or newborn AND toddler!) and finding time to run errands, cook, clean, and recover from birth or adoption can be incredibly overwhelming for a family. So let me support you while you nurture your new baby. Typically support is set up in increments of a few hours at a time based on
Other benefits for POSTPARTUM support
help processing your birth or adoption
feeding support (breast/chest, pumping, bottle, etc)
general baby care education and support
assist in meal prep or light household chores
a companion while running errands or attending appointments
overnight care support
Back-up Birth Support
Most professional doulas have a back-up agreement with another doula for those *just in case* situations such as family emergencies, illness, extremely long labors, or multiple clients in labor at once. I have partnered with Erin Megenity from Bridge Birth Services and Tori Freund from Greater Love Doula Services.