BIRTH SERVICES
Meet Chelsea (again) | Birth Week 2017
Another aspect of doula work is helping mothers after their baby has arrived. Postpartum doula work is so important! Many women tend to plan so much for their birth and forget about the delicate period right afterward. I’m so glad Chelsea agreed to talk a bit about her postpartum doula services and why it’s important to pay your doula a living wage. Doulas do such important work and deserve to be compensated accordingly.
Hello, again! Chelsea here. After writing my last post about what it means to be a birth doula, I’m following up with more information about how I help women AFTER baby arrives. I hope you’ll find this post (and the last one) very helpful!
After Baby Arrives
Once your baby is earthside, if you need help with bonding and breastfeeding, we are trained to assist with that. If you birth your baby via cesarean section, we will stay by your side until you are settled in recovery and you are ready for us to leave. We can help answer questions on what recovery will involve (for any type of birth) and will also remind you of your postpartum preferences and newborn procedures. Our doulas will help you make any decisions that deviate from your initial plan.
La Bella Birth and Baby offers a variety of other services. These include Postpartum Doula Services, Pregnancy Doula Services, Birth Video Creations, Birth Planning Sessions, and Placenta Encapsulation. We are also proud to offer in-home placenta encapsulation services. The reason we only encapsulate in our client’s home is because since there is no governing body regulating sanitary and safety standards among Placenta Encapsulators. We want to be able to ensure our clients that their placenta is being handled safely and appropriately. You also get to watch the entire process (if you want to, it’s not for everybody!), and your placenta never leaves your sight. We are OSHA blood borne pathogen certified and practice universal precautions. We are passionate about placenta encapsulation and fully believe in the benefits that the Traditional Chinese Medicine method can offer for a healing postpartum experience!
Classes We Offer
At La Bella Birth and Baby, we are also childbirth educators. We teach our clients how birth works, how to prepare for their birth, and help them create a postpartum plan. We’ve spent many hours researching current ACOG recommendations and different ways to support our clients and their needs. Our childbirth education curriculum is detailed and informative so our clients feel prepared and confident. We also offer a variety of other classes such as Comfort Measure, where we teach some of our doula tricks to help cope with the intensity of contractions, Birth Partner 101, where we focus on the support person and how to help them prepare for their role during the birth, VBAC/CBAC Education, Newborn Care, Postpartum Prep and more.
The Cost of a Doula
Last, but definitely not least, let’s talk about the cost of a doula. You should ALWAYS pay your doula a living wage. Being on call means that we stay within close proximity to our clients. That way if you need us, we are easily accessible. This means we don’t go out of town or do anything that would cause us to miss your phone call. If for some reason we’re unable to assist you (for example, a family emergency), a portion of our fee goes to our backup doula. We don’t want you to be left without support during one of the most vulnerable times of your life.
When you are ready for our in-person birth support, we drop EVERYTHING we are doing to be there for you. That could mean leaving one of our children’s birthday parties, family Christmas dinner, or missing a school play. Many birth professionals also have children and must pay for childcare while we are gone. On-call childcare is much more expensive than a typical nanny or babysitter. The fee for this is incorporated into the price for our services.
It’s Worth the Cost to Hire a Trained Doula
The typical cost for a birth doula training is anywhere from $600-$1000. That doesn’t include materials such as books, paper, computer programs to finish exams, gas/lodging to attend said training, and childcare during the training. That is just for a birth doula training. There is a separate training for postpartum doula, childbirth educator, Spinning Babies workshops, Rebozo Techniques workshops, Placenta Encapsulation Trainings etc. Most of these also require additional trainings within the training, such as OSHA blood borne pathogen training for Placenta Encapsulation, and Adult/Pediatric First Aid and CPR training for the Birth and Postpartum Doula Training.
If you’re interested in hiring a doula, or have questions about whether or not a doula is right for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can reach Chelsea at one of the following contacts:
www.facebook.com/
Instagram/Twitter: @labellabirthandbaby
Also find Chelsea on Pinterest & YouTube.
“Although birth is only one day in the life of a woman, it has an imprint on her for the rest of her life.” – Justine Caines OAM