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What a Doula is and Why Birthing Women Need Them. (Article published in 'It’s a Small World' Magazine in August 2006 - Written by Maria Sterrenberg, Doula) In times gone by, when a woman went into labour she went into the red tent to give birth. This was the space in the village where women gathered every month to celebrate menstruation. They stopped working for a few days each month and spent the time sharing stories, pampering each other and resting. It was taboo for men to enter the red tent and this allowed women the freedom to be completely open and honest. This is where the stories of love, birth, heartache, death and many other life experiences where shared and passed down from mother to daughter. These were the stories, which taught the young women the natural events of life and relieved them of fears in these times. When a woman went into labour they would gather in the red tent and share their wisdom from their own births. They would sing songs of encouragement, calling on the goddesses who give strength, feeding the labouring woman morsels of honey and nutrient rich cakes and fruit to keep her energies up. They would rub her feet and hands with fragrant oils. All the while trusting in the wisdom of her body to know how to expel the baby.  Many women suggest that their partners or husbands could be their Doulas. This is not optimal since husbands have not had babies and are just as scared as their wives are. This leads them to request intervention often sooner than their wives wish. The support needs to be from another woman, one who does not see birth as a medical emergency, but a natural progression and who can increase the mother's self confidence in her own abilities instead of doubting her 'pain threshold'. 'Child Birth Companion'. Many women in today's westernized society assume that their husbands will fill the role of Doula for them at their births. What women do not realise is that being present at births is not a natural place for fathers to be. Men have a natural tendency to turn to tools when they perceive a crisis. Television has done much to perpetuate the myth that childbirth is a medical emergency, and husbands, seeing their beloved wives in 'unbearable' pain, automatically call for the tools to stop that pain, namely epidurals, pethidine or even elective Caesars. What they have not been educated to know is that these drugs are not entirely safe and often cause a cascade of medical problems. Traditionally women in labour would be surrounded by other women from their family and village, namely their sisters, mothers, aunts, grandmothers (generally women who had already given birth). These women would gather in a band of support and encouragement around the labouring mother and build her confidence in her body's abilities in birthing her baby. These women in the old Greek Village were known as the Doula, which means 'a woman who helps other women'. More than likely the Doula would sit for hours with the labouring mother and give her words of encouragement, nourish her with energy sustaining foods and help her in finding comfortable positions in which to labour. It is interesting to note that in the Sotho language the word Doula also appears and means, 'to sit'.  Doula Studies (1) (2) and the world over have proven the effectiveness of having a Doula in conjunction with a midwife/obgyn. It has been shown time and again that having a Doula at your side during labour and childbirth reduces the Caesarean rate by 50%, the epidural rate by 60%, forceps deliveries by 30%, and length of labour by 25%. Conversely Doula support dramatically increases successful breastfeeding for longer periods and eliminates much postnatal depression. Another misconception is that mothers assume that their midwives, doctors and hospital caregivers will give them all the support they need during their labours and births. Since the current system is fragmented, this does not often happen. Midwives and doctors often only have time to check in periodically on the labouring mother and then are called in at the last moment to 'deliver' the baby. In hospitals the nurse/midwives running maternity wards simultaneously look after many labouring women, also allowing them to only periodically look in on the labouring mother. These gaps, where the husband or spouse is expected to support his wife, is when the fear builds up in the mother and this slows labour down. Doulas give continuous support from the first stages of labour when the mother is still comfortable to labour at home, through the journey to the hospital, staying with the mother throughout the birth and thereafter until baby has successfully breast fed and the whole family is settled and comfortable in bed. The comfort of the continuous support promotes the steady release of endorphins in the mother, which dramatically decreases the amount of pain she experiences. For every person walking into the birthing room whilst she is in labour, an hour is added to that labour. This is due to her instinctive fight or flight response initiating adrenaline and shutting down endorphins. It then takes another hour to reverse this process in order for the labour to continue. Doulas know to create an environment where mothers can feel completely protected and safe. Since Doulas tend to show fathers how to actively support their wives in labour, they can look after peripheral issues such as taking photos of the birth. Fathers who have had Doula support have expressed their enjoyment at being a part of the births experience instead of fearful spectators. As a whole, the entire family comes through the birth experience physically stronger and emotionally fulfilled. |