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    • About Karen
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Heart and Hands Doula Care

Heart and Hands Doula CareHeart and Hands Doula CareHeart and Hands Doula Care

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City, Oklahoma

"If a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it. 

The power and  intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it IS YOU."  - John Kennel

What is a doula?

The  word "doula" comes from the ancient Greek meaning "a woman who serves"  and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who  provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the  mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional  and practical support during the postpartum period.


Studies  have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer  complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.


 A Birth Doula

  • Recognizes birth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life 
  • Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor 
  • Assists the woman in preparing for and carrying out her plans for birth 
  • Stays with the woman throughout the labor 
  • Provides  emotional support, physical comfort measures and an objective  viewpoint, as well as helping the woman get the information she needs to  make informed decision 
  • Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her clinical care providers 
  • Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting the woman's memory of the birth experience 
  • Allows the woman's partner to participate at his/her comfort level 

A birth doula certified by DONA International is designated by the initials CD(DONA).

Why use a doula?

DONA International doulas mother the mother

Women have complex needs during childbirth and the weeks that follow. In addition to medical care and the love and companionship provided by their partners, women need consistent, continuous reassurance, comfort, encouragement and respect. They need individualized care based on their circumstances and preferences. 


DONA International doulas are educated and experienced in childbirth and the postpartum period. We are prepared to provide physical (non-medical),  emotional and informational support to women and their partners during  labor and birth, as well as to families in the weeks following childbirth. We offer a loving touch, positioning and comfort measures  that make childbearing women and families feel nurtured and cared for. 

 

Numerous clinical studies have found that a doula’s presence at birth

  • tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications 
  • reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience 
  • reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction and cesareans 
  • reduces the mother’s request for pain medication and/or epidurals, as well as the incidence of cesareans 

Research shows parents who receive support can:

  • Feel more secure and cared for 
  • Are more successful in adapting to new family dynamics 
  • Have greater success with breastfeeding 
  • Have greater self-confidence 
  • Have less postpartum depression 
  • Have lower incidence of abuse 

 

When  a doula is present during and after childbirth, women report greater  satisfaction with their birth experience, make more positive assessments  of their babies, have fewer cesareans and requests for medical  intervention, and less postpartum depression.


Studies  have shown that babies born with doulas present tend to have shorter  hospital stays with fewer admissions to special care nurseries,  breastfeed more easily and have more affectionate mothers in the  postpartum period.


Doulas  do not replace nurses or other medical staff. Doulas do not perform  clinical or medical tasks such as taking blood pressure or temperature,  monitoring fetal heart rate, doing vaginal examinations or providing  postpartum clinical care. They are there to comfort and support the  mother and to enhance communication between the mother and medical  professionals.


A  doula does not make decisions for clients or intervene in their  clinical care. She provides informational and emotional support, while  respecting a woman’s decisions.


A doula  is supportive to both the mother and her partner, and plays a crucial  role in helping a partner become involved in the birth to the extent  he/she feels comfortable.

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