Based on everything you’ve heard, the only time you should hire a doula is when you’re planning on an unmedicated labor in a deep porcelain birth tub surrounded with lit candles, essential oils, flowers and listening to whale sounds, right?
Nope.
For example, a doula won’t be able to help you if you end up having to get induced, right?
Wrong.
As much as you’re hoping you will go into labor on your own, sometimes it just doesn’t go that way. It can be the case where your bag of waters ruptures well before your baby is ready to start their journey, so in order to keep them safe and infection-free your care providers recommend taking proactive measures to get labor started under their care. Or maybe you go 2 weeks past the guess date and it’s time to send baby their eviction notice; or another medical concern has arisen that warrants labor be induced (e.g., preeclampsia or gestational diabetes). Regardless of the circumstances, a doula will be invaluable to you if you need to have an induction.
So imagine you’ve just had an appointment with your care provider and it’s been decided you will be scheduling a time to come to the hospital later that night to get the induction started. You’re feeling excited because it means you’ll imminently be meeting your baby (yay!), but all the same you’re uneasy about the idea of it. This isn’t how you envisioned it happening. What’s going to happen exactly and how long will it take? You have so many questions and feelings swirling around in your mind. But you have a doula, so not to worry.
When you have a doula, you have a support person who knows their way around an induction. Even before you leave for the hospital,
you can have a conversation with them in which they will help you shift gears emotionally and move forward in this new, sometimes unexpected, direction. Once you’re feeling mentally prepared, they will give you an overview of the entire process and what to expect. Knowing what each step is and why it’s being done is so important to understand before you arrive at the hospital or birth center. It gives you the opportunity to formulate the right questions to ask your care provider and be part of the decision-making process instead of walking in and having things done to you without understanding what the procedures are and why they’re being performed. Whether your doula is with you in person or virtually for the induction, it makes a big difference having someone in the mix who is three steps ahead of what’s going on who can explain what’s going on and why at any given moment.
An induction can be an empowering experience when you walk into it informed, educated and confident in what your choices are during the process. Your doula will be instrumental in providing you everything you need to know in order you to have the best experience possible. She’ll even remind you to bring the (battery) lit candles, essential oils, flowers and whale sounds.