The Doula: Empowering the Birth Experience

Mullins said some doulas also provide prenatal classes in the home. Their entire fee might include a couple of prenatal visits, time in the labor room and a couple of post-partum classes. Some tools doulas can use for women in labor include birthing balls. They can help reduce their pain level. Comfort can also be administered by putting a wet cloth to her face or holding her hand. Mullins said a good doula will be a coach for the mother and a good support person for the father, too. A doula should know how to get the support person involved, she knows how to tell him what to do, Mullins said.

Welch agrees with Dodge, some doctors and nurses may see a doula as a hindrance while others may see them as help.

"A lot of it comes down to personality and some of the experiences doctor and nurses have had with doulas who didn't work well with them or had their own agenda," Welch said.

"It's working together and listening to the mom, that's who I am there for," she said.

Welch said sometimes at the 10 centimeter stage, between the hormones and other issues, some women can kind of enter a whole other state of mind. This is because of everything that is going on, including the pressure on certain parts of their bodies, she said. The process can scare them and that's when they can kind of disassociate or detach from their bodies. If they are detached from their bodies then they don't know when they should be pushing.

"The role of the doula is to bring her back and get her grounded again," she said.

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