When I was pregnant, a woman from my church called and offered to be our doula for FREE. I turned her down because I thought that doula's were only for women who wanted to have a natural birth (SO not true) and I thought it would be weird to have someone I knew in the room with me (looking back I wouldn't have cared and I ended up knowing my nurse that was there!). I didn't understand what a doula did or why I would need to have one. Currently doulas attend 3% of births in the United States and 1 out of every 3 births results in a C-Section. Here are some stats I wish I would've known before birth!
Numerous clinical studies have proven that when a laboring mother has a doula by her side:
- 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
(From the DONA website)
Stats were taken from Childbirth.org. Having a doula present results in:
- 50% reduction in the cesarean rate
- 25% shorter labor
- 60% reduction in epidural requests
- 40% reduction in oxytocin use
- 30% reduction in analgesia use
- 40% reduction in forceps delivery
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