How to Hire a Birth Coach

A Birth Coach or Birth Doula is a professional that offers emotional and physical support to a woman in labor. The doula's job description includes: helping the couple find information to make informed decisions on the care of the mother and baby, using compression and counter-pressure for the mother during labor, suggestions positions for labor and more.

Hiring a doula should be a process both the mother and her partner are involved in. Here are some steps to find a birth doula that fits your needs.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Phone
• Internet connection

1. Sit down and write out your needs for a doula according to your birth goals. Will he/she have experience working with vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)? How much experience will your doula have - two births or two hundred? Is your ideal doula supportive of your natural childbirth wishes or your wishes to use pain medication?

2. Ask for referrals from your childbirth professionals: your midwife or doctor, your childbirth educator, your yoga instructor, your prenatal bodyworker or your acupuncturist.
   
   You can also research doulas through organizations like DONA International, CAPPA and ALACE using internet searches.

3. Call your list of doulas and ask these basic questions over the phone (or by email): Are you available around my estimated due date? Is my birth location easy for you to get to and/or do you attend births there? I am planning a...(natural, VBAC, medicated, medically-necessary cesarean, non-medically necessary cesarean)...birth would you support me if I was your client?

4. Go on interviews with three or four of the doulas you spoke with over the phone. Some doulas charge for interviews, some will come to your home, some will meet you in a public cafe. Here are some questions to get you started: Where did you receive your training? How long have you been a doula or how many births have you attended? What has been your experience with births similar to my goals for birth? What is your philosophy on birth, do we share similar perspectives? How can you help my partner to be involved in this birth experience to his/her comfort level?

5. Review the doulas you have interviewed and follow up with phone calls or emails for any questions you may have forgotten. Once you have picked your doula let him/her know right away by phone or email and mail in your deposit and contract. Call or email the other doulas to thank them for their time and let them know that you have found a good fit through your interviews. You may wish to hang on to their contact information in case your doula is no longer available for your birth.

Tips & Warnings

• Let your midwife or doctor know that you have hired a doula, consider bringing your doula to one of your prenatal appointments with your care provider so they can meet before the birth.
• Use your prenatal meetings with your doula to get to know each other. He or she can demonstrate comfort techniques, birth positions and much more.
• A birth doula does not act as a medical practitioner and is not used in place of medical care. Doulas do not provide exams, or offer medical advice.

Resources

• How to Hire a Birth Doula