Allison Hicks Labor and Post Partum Doula Care

Is a Doula For You?

A labor doula provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, and an objective viewpoint, as well as helping the woman educate herself to make informed decisions. A labor doula stays by the side of the woman throughout the entire labor and facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner, and clinical care providers. A labor doula assists the woman and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for the birth. A labor doula is a nurturer and protector of the woman's memory of the birth experience.

The labor doula is educated in the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor. She works with local OB/Gyn practices and midwives to facilitate your birthing experience. She is not a medical provider.

Thinking about Water Birth?

Waterbirth is the renewed discovery of our ancestral affinity with water applied to birth. It is a search for comfort in a state that is different from our normal state of consciousness, where the need for privacy, intimacy and protection is intense. Water is gentle on the mothers' body and the baby's entry into the world. Waterbirth prepares you for a fuller use of the power of water to alleviate pain during labor and to ease birth.

Water is a medium especially suited to pregnant women and wonderfully soothing to those who have just given birth. It is therapeutic and supportive, allowing safe stretching and breathing far beyond that which is achievable on dry land. It has been suggested that water can help reduce the pain of labor, ease the birth and open your pelvis in preparation for delivery.

• Water has a relaxing effect on both mother and baby
• Mothers experience less pain when they labor in water and therefore have less need for pain relief
• Water can help facilitate the woman's body to achieve more comfortable positions
• Water massages, supports and envelopes the laboring mother