What is a doula’s role at birth?
A doula…
- Recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life.
- Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labour.
- Assists the women and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for the birth.
- Stays by the side of the labouring woman throughout the entire labour.
- Provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, an objective viewpoint and assistance to the woman in getting the information she needs to make good decisions.
- Facilitates communication between the labouring woman, her partner and clinical care providers.
- Perceives her role as one who nurtures and protects the woman’s memory of her birth experience.
What is a birth photographer’s role at birth?
A birth photographer…
- Recognises birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life.
- Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labour.
- We will act in accordance with the highest standards of professional and personal integrity, regardless of birthing options or medical opinions.
- We provide photography services that are considerate to the needs of a birthing woman and respect the dignity of our clients
- We respect a woman’s right of informed choice and consent in birthing.
- We apply our best efforts towards providing exceptional birth photography services to our clients
- We provide continuity of care from building a relationship with our clients pre birth and continue to be available to our clients after birth.
Where is the overlap?
These are our ideas of why the quality of our presence in the birthing room is so important. The overlap between a doula and a birth photographer is contingent on recognising how much our presence impacts the birthing process.
We encourage you to contemplate this concept and reflect on your own personal experience of it.
- We offer a continuity of presence during labour and birth that can help the labouring mother feel safe.
- We have often developed a relationship with the parents beforehand.
- They often hire us because they connect with who we are, as much as for our technical skills.
- We honour the precious moments after birth.
- Parents often hire birth photographers to capture what they have hired a doula to support them in creating
Questions for contemplation and journalling
Question 1.
How has your presence in a birth room changed the quality of the atmosphere?
Question 2. How do you see this training impacting on your presence in a birth room? Why do you think this is important?
