A doula is a professional support person trained to provide non-judgemental emotional, physical and informational support to families and individuals during their pregnancy, birth, and postnatal period.
 
Lifetime of Love Birth Doulas provide email, text, phone and Ssupport from the moment you hire us in your pregnancy. Your birth doula offers you support for your birth as soon as you need her and will provide continuous support throughout the entire birth process, as well as immediately after the birth. She can assist with skin-to-skin care, baby’s first feed (breastfeeding or bottle), and ensuring that you settle in after the birth before she leaves.  

As a part of our birth doula services, our support also includes postpartum follow ups (depending on your purchased package) to check in on how you are recovering from birth, how infant feeding and care is going, and to answer any questions you may have pertaining to your birth experience or the challenges of parenting a newborn.

Our Postpartum & Infant Care Doulas (also known as Postnatal Doulas) provide on-going support for families after the birth of their baby. A postpartum doula helps with both your physical and emotional recovery from birth, as well as assisting with newborn care and completing household tasks such as light housework and meal preparation. Another important aspect of postpartum care includes offering in home parent companionship, help with establishing coping skills and offering practical advice on adjusting to life with a newborn.    

Though there are many certifying bodies within the industry, typically (and traditionally), doulas are trained to provide non-judgemental support with an in depth understanding of normal physiological birth, common interventions, medicated and non-medicated births, caesarean births, natural pain management techniques, birth choices, families’ rights, breastfeeding and bottle feeding support. Many doulas are also trained in a number of comfort measures such as massage, acupressure and counter-pressure techniques. It should not be overlooked that doulas are also a source of emotional and information support for the whole family.

We are proud to have doulas on our team with diverse and extensive training. Our doulas have trained with many multidisciplinary certifying bodies and continue to keep up with their education through the ongoing process of continuing education. Our training comes from excellent organizations such as DONA International, ProDoula, CAPPA, StillBirthDay, Childbirth International, The HypnoBirthing® Institute, INFACT Canada, Attachment Parenting International, and BEBO MIA.

All of our doulas are also members in good standing with the Association of Ontario Doulas and are certified in Standard First Aid & Infant CPR (Level C CPR & AED).

Many studies have shown that having a doula at your birth (a professionally trained and unbiased support person – as opposed to or in addition to a family member) lowers birth complications and the use of unnecessary interventions. It also increases parents’ overall satisfaction with their birth experience.
 
Some interesting facts about Doula Support:
39% decrease in the risk of Cesarean
15% increase in the likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth
10% decrease in the use of any medications for pain relief
Shorter labors by 41 minutes on average
38% decrease in the baby’s risk of a low five minute Apgar score
31% decrease in the risk of being dissatisfied with the birth experience
Source: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/the-evidence-for-doulas/
“Doula-assisted mothers were four times less likely to have a low birth weight (LBW) baby, two times less likely to experience a birth complication involving themselves or their baby, and significantly more likely to initiate breastfeeding.” 
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/ 

We respect your partner’s role and their level of involvement during the birth. A doula is there to support both of you. A birth doula will also make sure that your partner is cared for and is able to eat, use the restroom, and take breaks as needed without worrying about you or feeling guilty. 

A midwife and doula’s primary roles are quite different. A midwife is trained to be your primary health care provider whose main focus is on the medical health of you and your baby. A doula’s role is non-medical. Doulas do not perform medical exams or deliver (catch) your baby. A doula is a valuable part of your birthing team, available to you any time throughout your pregnancy to answer questions. During labour, your doula offers continuous emotional, informational and physical support to both you and your partner during the entire birth helping you through every contraction while the midwife’s role is focused on the more medical aspects of birthing. In our experience, midwives and doulas make a great team! As the saying goes “a midwife takes care of you from the waist down [birth of baby, placenta, etc.] and doulas take care of you from the waist up [remember to breath, this is normal, you’ve got this]!”

"Doulas [...] are exclusively focused on providing non-clinical care. They are specialists in labour support and unlike midwives, do not have clinical obligations which could detract from their mission to continuous support to the family. Doulas are often present at a birth, quietly coaching a mother with breathing, assisting her with positioning or mobility, providing drinks, nourishment, cold cloths and encouragement throughout the process. Doulas also are often available to be physically present with families during the early labour stage, whereas midwives reserve their care for active labour. As a midwife, there have been many times that I am grateful for the presence of a doula to deliver this kind of support while I am occupied preparing necessary equipment or focusing on hands-on clinical skills necessary for a safe delivery. The type of care that doulas and midwives provide have important differences, but really can be quite complementary when used together." - Stephanie Aghajani, Midwife  

The “On Call” period is the time that a doula goes on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to you in anticipation of labour. Many doulas do not offer on call services until 37 or 38 weeks gestation, however, we are available to you from the moment you hire us. In our experience, babies come when they want and that may be weeks before or after their EDD (estimated due date). You will be given a “Labour Line” number to call when you suspect that you are in labour so that you can reach your doula team immediately, day and night.

Most doulas work solo which can leave you wondering “what happens if my doula can’t make it to my birth?”. The solo doula has to co-ordinate with a back up doula if they are unable to attend your birth. In most cases, this is usually someone you have not met or spoken to leaving the possibility that you won't know the doula who attends your birth. 
 
Our doula support is offered using the “Shared Care Model” which is new to the doula profession, but a model that midwives successfully use. In our company, shared care means that you will have two primary doulas that share an on-call schedule and a back-up doula who fills in as needed. Throughout the course of your pregnancy, you will have multiple opportunities to get to know your whole doula team during prenatal appointments and classes and well as through emails and phone calls. When you call the “Labour Line”, your call is directed to your team and whichever doula is on-call is the one who attends the birth. The biggest benefit of having a doula team is that you have the resources of their combined experience, training and knowledge and if you have a long birth (12 or more hours) another member of your team will relieve your tired doula and be able to provide you with fresh unwavering support.

Absolutely!

The common misconception (thanks to comedies and stereotypes perpetuated my media) is that a doula is only for people having non-medicated home water births – but this is just not the case! While we do attend many home births, the majority of the births we attend are in fact in hospitals. Remember, we are trained to support you wherever and however you choose to give birth. Local hospitals recognize the importance of doula support and allow patients to have a doula attend the birth as one of their support people.

With more and more Obstetricians working in larger collective groups, many times the OB that is on call and attends you on birthing day is someone you may not have met or only met briefly in your pregnancy. In many cases the OB only enters the birthing room to make recommendation or when you are ready to push your baby out. An OB’s primary role is your medical health and your baby’s medical health.

Nurses are typically unable to stay in your room throughout your entire labour (in fact in Canada nurses spend up to 75% of your birth outside of your room and have shift changes every 12 hours). Their primary role is to focus on your medical health as well as your baby’s medical health.
 
A birth doula, in many instances, is the only “constant”. We are there throughout your pregnancy, your entire labour experience as well as during the immediate and long-term postpartum period. We are filling a crucial gap in the maternal, parental and infant support system.

Of course – a Lifetime of Love doula will most definitely will support you if you want an epidural! Remember, our doulas support whatever type of birth you choose.
 
What many people are not aware of is that even if they are planning to get an epidural in labour as a form of pain management, you still have to get through early labour. Typically, a hospital will not admit a patient until they are at least 4 centimetres dilated. Keep in mind that epidurals do not always work and can be “patchy” in their pain management. A doula can help you throughout your whole labour no matter when you get your epidural, and a doula can be particularly helpful during the “pushing” stage of labour for those choosing an epidural. 
 
There is also still the aspect of emotional, physical and informational support that a doula continues to provide throughout the entire birth and immediate postpartum experience regardless of the epidural.

Our birth doulas are trained to support you through a caesarean birth. Depending on the circumstances and the attending OB, we may be in the operating room to support you and your partner or waiting in the recovery or postpartum room. In the case of a caesarean birth, we typically remain with you longer afterwards helping you recover and if you have chosen breastfeeding for your infant feeding plans, a caesarean section can sometimes pose a few challenges in establishing breastfeeding. It is important to us that you still meet (or reassess) your goals, and we are trained to support your breastfeeding journey and make referrals if needed to the best support within your community.