Transcript
Your reasons behind hiring a doula are as unique as you are. But knowing these ahead of time is gonna help you as you start interviewing doulas to know if your intentions line up with their intentions.
00:21
Hello, beautiful birthing people. Welcome back to my channel—the place where empowered and creative people prepare for birth. In this video, I’m gonna share with you six things that you need to know about yourself before going into doula consultations. So if you’re thinking about hiring a doula and you’re getting ready to do some consultations and interviews with possible doulas, this video is for you.
00:50
The first thing that you’re gonna need to know are your intentions behind hiring a doula. Why are you hiring a doula? What do you hope to get out of this relationship? People hire doulas for a lot of different reasons. But for your birth, the only person’s reasons that matter are yours.
01:11
And if you’re wondering what that screaming in background is, that’s my pet parrot.
To get a clear idea of your intentions, I want you to try finishing this sentence: “I believe when I find the right doula they will help me to…” and then fill in the blank. Whatever comes up is the right answer.
Your reasons behind hiring a doula are as unique as you are but knowing this ahead of time is gonna help you as you start interviewing doulas to know if your intentions line up with their intentions.
01:47
The second thing that you’ll want to know is what your deal-breakers are. In every kind of relationship, there are what we call “deal-breakers.” These are the things that are absolutely non-negotiable. What things have to be present or what things can absolutely not be present in this relationship.
Staying true to deal-breakers can be quite a challenge.
02:14
I don’t know about you but when I’m in certain situations where deal breakers might start to come up, I can sometimes question myself and wonder, “Well is it really that big of a deal?” Knowing what your deal-breakers are helps you to stay true to them in the moment. And trust me there really truly is a doula out there for everyone so settling on deal breakers is just not worth it.
Some examples of deal breakers might be having a doula who is gender-affirming, having a doula who’s culturally competent, having a doula who speaks your language, or having a doula who will honor your spiritual practices.
02:57
The third thing that you’re gonna want to think about ahead of time is what kind of physical touch you’re comfortable with and how much physical touch you’ll want. For some people, the thought of physical touch is really comforting but for other people the thought of physical touch makes them cringe.
03:16
In-person doulas offer a lot of comfort measures that require physical touch. These can be super beneficial but it’s completely up to you whether or not you want somebody to touch your body. Touching your body requires your consent. So knowing this ahead of time can help you have that discussion with your doula and set your boundaries clear so that there’s no missed communication once you’re in the birthing room.
03:48
The next thing to think about is whether or not you want any quote-unquote extras. By that, I mean any specializations that a doula could have like aromatherapy, hypnobirthing, spinning babies, things like that, some people choose to hire a doula specifically for a specialization; other people hire doulas just to have that extra support but maybe a specialization would be a great added bonus.
04:21
Think about this ahead of time and then you can specifically seek out doulas who have those specializations. This cuts out a lot of trial and error of interviewing doulas and then finding out that they don’t do placenta encapsulation, for example. So think about this ahead of time it will definitely help you to be much more efficient in your interviewing process.
04:50
The next thing to know before you go into a doula interview would be who else is going to attend your birth and how is their support going to differ from your doula support. The role your doula plays is probably going to be a lot different than the role your partner plays or whoever else may be attending the birth thinking about this ahead of time again allows you to have very clear communication with both your partner or other support people and your doula.
05:21
Get really clear on this ahead of time so that you can play to people’s strengths and so that you feel the most comfortable with each person’s specific roles.
The next thing to get really clear on ahead of time is how you want your doula to make you feel. This is something that we don’t necessarily think about very often but how people make us feel really affects every aspect of the birth if you feel tense or stressed then you’re gonna release stress hormones and this can impact the way that labor unfolds.
06:03
So reflect ahead of time on how you want your doula to make you feel. Visualize i,t meditate on it, pray on it, whatever you need to do to help you gain that clarity so that when you meet the right doula you’re gonna know just based on how they make you feel whether or not they’re gonna be the right fit for you.
06:24
So now that we’ve talked about what you need to know going into your doula consultations, you’re probably ready to dive a little bit deeper. I encourage you to take advantage of my free email newsletter. I write to my subscribers as if they are my own doula clients. So this is an amazing tool that is completely free for you.
06:45
I’ve included a link in the description box so that you can easily sign up for this newsletter. Thank you for sharing your time with me today. I’m sending you healing energy and blessings through growth birth and life.