As anon as I acquaint bodies that I am a doula, a lot of them anon accept that I can “catch” or bear their baby. Already I explain to them that I can’t do that because I am not a midwife, they become confused. “Aren’t they the aforementioned thing?” They ask. No. The two jobs are actual altered from one another. Yes, we both accommodate affliction to women that are expecting, so we accept that this can be confusing. However, our roles are absolutely different. This is a accepted misunderstanding, so I capital to explain it a little further.

Midwives are the acceptable affliction providers for mothers and infants. Midwives are accomplished professionals with ability and abilities in acknowledging women. They advice advance advantageous pregnancies and optimal births and recoveries during the postpartum period. They accommodate women with abundant affliction abnormally ill-fitted to their physical, mental, emotional, airy and cultural needs. Midwifery is a woman-centered allotment archetypal of maternology care. — mana.org

Doulas are accomplished professionals who accommodate connected physical, emotional and advisory abutment to a mother before, during and anon afterwards accouchement to advice her accomplish the healthiest, best acceptable acquaintance possible. — dona.org

The better aberration amid the two is one provides medical affliction and monitors the bloom and abundance of you and your babyish during your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum (a midwife). The added offers physical, emotional, and advisory abutment like a bearing drillmaster during your pregnancy, birth, and anon postpartum (a doula).

Midwives

A midwife is a affliction provider that replaces the affliction that you would accept from an OB/GYN. They do your prenatal visits with you, analysis on the baby’s affection amount and growth, accomplish abiding that aggregate is advanced well, and more. I accept explained in detail the aberration amid an OB/GYN and a midwife in a antecedent column HERE. So if you are advantageous and accepting a healthy pregnancy and are low-risk, you are able to accept medical affliction from a midwife.

What a lot of bodies still don’t understand is that you can accept a midwife as your affliction provider for a hospital bearing (if your hospital has a midwifery convenance there) or a home birth or a birth center birth. They aren’t alone acknowledging women at home births. They can abutment women wherever they adjudge to accord birth.

NOTE: It is encouraged that you consistently accept medical affliction during your pregnancy, labor, and bearing by either an obstetrician or a midwife. We do not acclaim abandoned births alike back you accept a doula present because doulas do not accommodate medical support.

Doulas

A doula is not addition who replaces the affliction of an obstetrician or a midwife. The doula’s role compliments theirs. This is why you can appoint a doula whether you adjudge to accept affliction from an OB/GYN or a midwife. Doulas appear births in all settings and all types of births (natural, epidural or c-section) because her role is to accommodate connected activity abutment (physical, emotional, and information) to the active woman and her partner. Your midwife or doctor has a actual important role and is active blockage on you and your baby’s bloom and safety. Your doula helps you with position changes, breath techniques, abundance measures, allegorical you on your options forth the way, accouterment connected in-person support, and more. Alike back hiring a doula, you charge accept a midwife or a doctor acknowledging you. Your doula does not alter their care.

There you accept it! That’s the aberration amid a midwife and a doula. So if addition tells you that they are hiring a doula, it does not necessarily beggarly that they are having their babyish at home or accepting a accustomed birth. It agency that she wants added abutment through her birthing experience that her doctor or midwife ability not be able to provide. And if addition is cogent you that she has assassin a midwife, it does not consistently beggarly that she is accepting her babyish at home. It agency that she is low-risk, healthy, and is not accepting affliction from an obstetrician for her abundance and birth. This allows her to accept her babyish at a hospital, bearing center, or at home, depending on who she selects as her midwife.

A ancestors can appoint both a midwife and a doula for their bearing experience. The affliction that they both accommodate is actual different, but both actual important. 🙂