The Power of Birth Support
Birth support is crucial for several reasons, and it plays a significant role in ensuring positive childbirth experiences for women and their families. Both your primary birth support (a spouse, partner, family member, or close friend) and your birth doula play key roles in providing you with strong birth support. Here are some key reasons why birth support is important:
1. Emotional Support: Giving birth can be a highly emotional and intense experience. Having a supportive presence, whether it's a partner, family member, friend, or a professional birth attendant like a doula, can provide emotional reassurance, encouragement, and comfort during labor and delivery. Your primary birth support can help you feel safe and nurtured like no one else can, providing you with a stronger release of oxytocin - the labor hormone that keeps things moving! Your birth doula help assist in this by, as mentioned before, providing emotional reassurance, encouragement, and comfort during labor and delivery that only their experience and expertise can provide.
2. Reducing Anxiety and Fear: The presence of a supportive team can help alleviate anxiety and fear associated with childbirth. This support can help the birthing person feel more secure and confident, which may contribute to a smoother labor process. Reducing fear is one of our main roles as doulas and can help you have a more empowered and smooth birth experience.
3. Advocacy and Communication: A birth support person, especially if they are familiar with the birthing person's preferences and wishes, can serve as an advocate. They can communicate with healthcare providers on behalf of the birthing person, ensuring that their desires and concerns are addressed. Your primary birth support will help you advocate, or advocate for you. We help make sure you and your birth partner remember your wishes and that they are being honored! We are extra eyes and ears to help ensure this happens.
4. Physical Support: Practical assistance, such as providing comfort measures, massage, and helping with position changes, can be crucial during labor. Physical support can help manage pain and discomfort and contribute to a more positive birthing experience. At Bloom and Grow, we like to think of ourselves as coming in and “filling the gaps”, and providing you with physical support and reminders of position changes is one key way we do that! Movement during labor is crucial and can help ensure baby has space to descend and continue putting pressure on your cervix, which is what helps release oxytocin to continue contractions and help you progress! We are there to support you in this!
5. Information and Education: Birth support persons, especially trained professionals like doulas, can provide information and education about the birthing process, various interventions, and coping techniques. This knowledge empowers the birthing person to make informed decisions about their care. Our prenatal meetings and our support during labor is designed to ensure you are empowered and informed before, during, and after birth!
6. Promoting a Positive Environment: Creating a positive and supportive birthing environment can positively impact the birthing experience. Having someone present who understands the birthing person's needs and preferences can contribute to a more relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. We love to help you prepare a birth space (no matter where you birth) that promotes peace, security, and joy. Candles, diffusers, items from home if you are away… all these can play a strong role in creating that environment for you!
7. Reducing Medical Interventions: Studies have shown that continuous support during labor, such as that provided by a doula, is associated with a lower likelihood of medical interventions, including cesarean sections. This suggests that having support may contribute to a more natural and uncomplicated birth. DONA states that findings show doula-supported women were 28% less likely to have a cesarean birth, 31% less likely to use Pitocin to move labor along, 9% less likely to use pain medication, and 34% less likely to rate their birth experience negatively.
8. Postpartum Support: Birth support is not limited to the labor and delivery process. It extends into the postpartum period, where having a supportive network can help with the challenges of recovery, breastfeeding, and adjusting to parenthood. Our postpartum support is expanding - stay tuned for an exciting announcement regarding postpartum support offerings coming soon!
Whether it's from a partner, family member, friend, or a professional birth attendant, having someone present who understands and supports the birthing person's needs contributes to a more positive and empowering childbirth experience. We are here for you!! We offer free initial consultations and would love to meet with you and find out how we can support you and your birth partner best! Contact us today!
