Are doulas just for home births?

Nope! We are employed directly by the families who hire us, so we go with them wherever they choose to give birth. In fact, doulas can be especially helpful in the hospital setting! Sometimes women have a hard time relaxing in a hospital, since they associate it with sickness and they may be surrounded by strangers. The trusted and familiar presence of the doula can make a huge difference in helping her to feel private, loved, and safe enough to relax.

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Are hospitals accepting of doulas?

It certainly depends on any particular provider's experience with doulas, but in our experience, many hospitals see doulas as assets. Patients who work with doulas are more prepared to be active participants in their care. Also, doulas improve health outcomes for the clients we serve, which means the hospital's health outcomes improve as well. In the moment of birth, doulas are a great support to the labor and delivery nurses, giving them more information about their patients, and often providing the extra set of hands that they need when they are tending to other patients. While there are certainly past misunderstandings about doulas, the general attitude about their work is rapidly changing as more healthcare providers become aware of the tremendous benefits to families and other birth workers. 

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What sets you apart from family members?

The studies from which we get our evidence on doulas compared support from relatives to that of a doula. These studies found that continuous support from anyone improves outcomes such as the mother's pain perception, risk of Cesarean section, and artificial augmentation of labor. However, the benefits were the highest with a doula. This is likely because doulas bring expert knowledge about birth, hospital procedures, and techniques to manage labor progress and pain. This means they can explain what is happening, and provide assistance based on their experience and training about birth, not just to mom, but to any loved ones who are present as well. It's also a really big emotional journey to watch someone you love give birth--it's transformative for family members too and they often find they are able to be more present and enjoy the experience when they have a doula to help support them too! For more information, read Evidenced Based Birth's one-pager on Doulas here.

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What’s the difference between a doula and a midwife?

We work in a complementary manner to midwives, not in competition, and our hands are often engaged doing different types of work. Midwives are licensed medical professionals, and similar to obstetricians in that they are specialists. Midwives are medically trained to handle normal birth and variations of normal, while referring out for complications outside of their scope of practice. At a birth, they’re doing things like monitoring mom and baby’s vitals, charting, administering medications, and, when they have time and opportunity, helping with physical support and encouragement. Doulas are experts in helping labor progress normally, and guiding both the mother and any loved ones through the mental, emotional, and spiritual changes that occur during birth. Our focus is on how mom is doing holistically, so we’re doing things like comforting and reassuring her, suggesting and helping her with position changes and pain management techniques, and helping her stay in a positive mindset. 

 

Do you take insurance?

The short answer is--not exactly. Michigan just opted in to cover doula services through Medicaid last year since they see it as preventative care. Our Doulas Abby & Bethany have completed training to be Medicaid billable but until they're approved, we can not bill Medicaid. Our goal is to have that completed by fall of 2024. Other insurance agencies will frequently reimburse for doula services and we can provide a "superbill" for clients to submit. Insurance billing is not traditionally part of doula training and therefore we do not bill insurance in advance at this time. 

If the cost of hiring a Doula is prohibitive, talk to us--we are willing to work with families and can offer discounted price and, occasionally, have some privately funded sponsorships available.

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