A doula is not a medical professional. They cannot offer medical advice, prescribe medications or manage your pregnancy. They are ONLY A SUPPORT PERSON. They cannot interpret blood results, ultra sounds, NST’s. You may have a doula and a doctor but if you choose to go with only a doula you are choosing to manage your pregnancy without any sort of medical oversight. A potentially catastrophic event for both you and your baby.

You wouldn’t choose a doula over a doctor. You would choose a doula to enhance the experience that you’d have regardless of the doctor or not. We provide comfort measures throughout labor, advocacy, and informational support.

I attribute my doula to be the sole reason why I didn’t end up in an emergency c section. The nurses had me propped up like a Buddha 🧘‍♀️ saying my baby would come down w/ gravity. My doula has delivered over 1000 babies in her life time, in natural, non machine monitored births. The nurses hooked me up to a monitor and left it at that. Not once did they physically FEEL where my baby was positioned…. Then my baby ended up ASCENDING back up, and was having a lot of heart rate variability 🧵

A doula is unqualified and unregulated. They’re more like a paid friend/support person and shouldn’t be relied on for medical advice of any kind

A certified nurse midwife could me someone chosen over a doctor to support a home-birth. A doula is a support person; someone there who can help advocate for and support you. And to stay with you the whole time - most sectors (and even nurses) are in and out They’ll usually meet with you several times in advance also, help you learn different positions to try laboring in, breathing techniques. They might apply counter-pressure to help through contractions etc.

A doula and a doctor are not interchangeable. A doula is an advocate and emotional support during labour, delivery and postpartum. They don’t do anything medical. A certified nurse midwife is an alternative to a doctor for women who don’t have any extreme risk factors. Midwives are the most knowledgeable professionals when it comes to physiological birth. They support you physically and emotionally and can provide most medical procedures needed in a standard delivery.

Douglas are supportive. MDs, DOs and CNMs are the provider professionals. RNs are also professionals who assist the provider professionals. We all can work together as a team to help mom give birth.

A doula is a non-medical support person. A doctor is a medically trained professional especially for when things go wrong. I've had neither at my births. I've had medically trained nurse-midwives instead. The best option!

You don’t replace a doctor with a doula—you add a doula. You have both.

Choose a doctor