Super excited that with 5 weeks left we have found our perfect doula match!!! Yay!…

What is a doula I kinda know but I don’t lol

@marielovely a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible.

https://www.dona.org/what-is-a-doula/

My husband actually wanted to hire her the most to help guide us both through the most natural positive labor experience possible! :)

@marielovely I have a really intense trauma history , no familial background knowledge, and this is our 1st baby. So having a person we click with that is on the same page as us with utilizing aromatherapy, no epidural or meds, different labor positions and techniques, as well as understanding about my intense fear and anxiety over men that she is ensuring the hospital staff treating me is only women the entire time is a MIRACLE and God given blessing for me. Also she is so supportive and just keeps telling me she wants to make sure I have a positive birth experience, I have had enough bad stuff in my life....which just makes me so very happy too! I highly recommend looking into doulas. She stays in the room with me the entire time and even after labor until everything calms down and is sorted out. :)

@heilwife317, oh Woow sounds nice!! Do they cost to hire one?

@marielovely yes. It ranges but we actually hired through our hospital and it was very well priced. Sometimes private doulas can be more expensive. I don't know what area you live in but you can do a general search to see cost estimates, also check and see if your hospital has a program for them (as ours was substantially cheaper through the hospital than local)!

@heilwife317, dang I don’t have money for that lol

@marielovely I did some extra work just to save for our doula...i knew she was essential...and after finding the 1 today...i already see she is totally worth the investment. We also budgeted what baby stuff we actually needed vs fun stuff to make sure we could put the money towards our hospital needs. (I went in for severe pain on Monday and a man went to transport me before the nurse could stop him and I nearly had a panic attack and couldn't stop crying. The nurses apologized because she didn't know he was coming up and had left my room...my doula will be there the entire time to stop any man and that alone is a HUGE relief for me which will help us have baby without potentially stunting my labor from fear)