Doula's get a bad reputation:

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=330a4153-641f-4ce8-ac73-3cbea48422c6&k=55538&p=4

Here is the article I mentioned in my last post. I don't know how to do links (bad I know), so you have to copy and past the address into the search thingy at the top.

It's articles like this getting out to the public that give us doula's a very difficult hurdle to overcome. Truly, if Doulas are certified by a reputable organization (which clients should all question their doulas about before hiring them), none of these negative things should be happening. The article talks about Doulas convincing moms to not take pain medication, or causing friction between the mother and the caregiver, or giving medical advice. When certified, doulas must sign pages and pages that state what their scope of practice involves and what it doesn't. At my first appointment with a client I always start out by saying what I DON'T do as a doula such as speaking FOR the patient, and giving medical advice. Doulas are non-medical, non-clinical, so they should never be speaking to a client and advising them to go against their doctor's suggestions: only teaching them the right questions to ask to be sure they are getting ALL of the information that they need before making decisions. Once a client makes a decision, the doula's job is to stand behing them 100%, even if it's not the decision she herself would have chosen.

I recall one of the activities we did at doula training was to look at our biases to know where we are coming from and to decide how we will support women who make choices that aren't in line with our preferences. Personally, I know that most women that hire doulas are hoping to have a natural birth, but I don't think it's ever okay to try to talk a woman out of having pain medication. If I knew before the birth that the mom was VERY determined to labour without it, I may suggest waiting a few more contractions or trying a different position or comfort measure before making her decision, but I would never make her feel guilty for having it.

I know that a fellow doula friend of mine has been in hospitals where she was treated rudely by the nurse and she met her in the hallway to explain that she wasn't there to take the nurses job, or to step on any toes. I know I've felt the cold shoulder before, but all of the nurses I've worked with have warmed up to me when they realize that I am not there to turn my clients against their doctor or nurses, but only to support them and try to help them to have the best birth experience possible.

It's really sad to me that some doulas that overstep their boundaries give the rest of us a bad name. The doctors and nurses that experience doulas that do these things should be reporting them to their certifying organizations. For heaven's sake, why can't we all just work as a team that all aim to help the mother and her partner to have a good and safe birth.

I'm proud to say that our local hospital here in rural Ontario is absolutely wonderful to work with. The nurses all love it when a woman comes in with a doula. We work together to suggest different comfort measures and positions to try to ease the pain of labour. Another rural hospital I worked in was awesome as well, the doctor and nurses all introduced themselves to me and welcomed me to their hospital. They were warm and caring about the client. The one nurse even said she was hoping to learn some things from me: the woman who'd only been to 11 births :) It was such a wonderful environment to work in.

Hopefully we can start to rebuild a positive view of doulas in the news, and hopefully these doulas that are practising outside of their scope will learn that they aren't helping anyone by speaking for their client, or giving medical advice etc.

Mel