Doula to help women give birth
Taranaki’s first doula often has to explain what her job is before she can talk about what she does.
Luckily Carol Burroughs, of Midhirst, is used to an adventurous life.
She and husband Nic have eight children, and she has homeschooled them all, using a small bus as the family car.
‘‘I sometimes get a bit of a jaw drop reaction when I say I’ve had eight kids,’’ she said. ‘‘It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but you find your passion in it.’’
But as the children all reached their teens and began leaving home, she decided it was time for a new role.
‘‘An acquaintance said I’d make a good doula. I didn’t even know what that was but I spent a couple of hours online that night and found a course in Palmerston North,’’ she said.
A doula is a special support person who supports and advocates for a woman during her pregnancy, labour and birth, and works alongside her midwife.
‘‘It is a traditional role, women have always helped each other to give birth. I don’t do any interventions like taking blood pressure. My role is completely different to a midwife; I am there for the woman and her physical and emotional well-being, and I’m there for her partner as well, for both of them.’’
Her doula ‘tools’ include colourful Mexican birthing shawls called rebozo that can be used to support a labouring woman and take weight off an aching back, aromatherapy oils, massage, help with positioning and breathing, techniques using the mind to ease pain, and lots of encouragement.
‘‘All these statistics show that if you have continuous support through birth, there are less interventions, and better bonding with the baby,’’ she said.
The confidence that having good support gave also helped set women up to cope better with parenting, she said.
‘‘As a doula, I can’t promise she’ll have a pain-free, completely natural birth but I promise to be with her every step of the way and I’m not there to watch her brush her teeth, it’s an honour and a privilege to be at a birth, totally.’’
After doing her doula training in 2014 she set up Freedom Births and works as a freelance doula.
She has also organised birth preparation courses for Parents Centre and takes Birthing with Passion workshops showing pregnant women ways to ease pain, relax and make their births easier.