Many people are not familiar with the term doula. Based on a Greek word for female helper, a doula is trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth.
While midwives have medical training to assist with birth, doulas serve as advocates and provide nonmedical techniques during labor, such as breathing, massage, and helping the client move into different body positions. Some doulas are also trained to help with postpartum care, which is an area in which traditional medicine is often limited by insurance.
I recently learned something new: There are also end-of-life doulas. They help at another important time, supplementing the care provided by hospice workers. In all cases, doulas attempt to help the entire family during these transitions.
Why do I write about this? Because doulas seek to go beyond physical support and provide emotional support, often through mindfulness. Writing for the International Doula Institute, trainer Aliza Juliette Bancoff writes that research has found participants who practice mindfulness were more likely to report a positive birth experience. She states, “For birth doulas, this makes mindfulness an important tool to add to our toolbox.”
Birth and death are often times of fear, tension and pain, all of which could benefit from mindfulness. While researchers did not find a decrease of perceived pain during childbirth, those who practiced mindfulness felt an increased rate of self-confidence, had a lower rate of IV opioid use, and lower rates of postpartum depression, according to Bancoff.
Last year in South Boston, Sentara began phasing out obstetric care at the hospital. Unfortunately, this has happened across and our country. In response, some areas have established rural birthing centers staffed by midwives and doulas. A study of such centers from 2012 through 2020 found that “quality outcomes exceeded national benchmarks across all geographic regions with high performance on maternal and neonatal measures.”
The approach to care may go beyond a typical medical setting. For example, one woman experiencing early labor pains went to her local birthing center and was initially placed in a room set up with cozy lighting, calming music, and diffusers with essential oils. That’s quite a contrast to a typical ER.
Perhaps we should consider mindfulness here in Halifax County. While it is all-too-human to focus on what we have lost, we could look to something new and see it as a positive. A wild dream: Consider the closed assisted living facility on North Main. What if it could be bought and converted to a birthing center and place for end-of-life care, and at the same time provide rooms for young doulas and midwives in training to live affordably?
It’s a dream with many financial challenges and other obstacles, but the same is true of getting a hospital to reinstate obstetric care. A starting point to setting aside the past is sharing our dreams with others, mindfully. What is your dream for our community? We can all agree upon one things: It takes many helpers, like doulas, to transform our dreams into reality.