Agape Love Doula Services LLC
Labor with confidence, birth in awareness, enter parenthood with grace
You want a great birth. What does that look like for you? This is your birth, your baby, your voice. I support all your choices. Birth is an intense, amazing journey, and I’m here for you, step by step.
From hospital, birth center, or home birth, to un-medicated to a planned epidural, inductions and cesareans, I will meet you exactly where you are at and help you to achieve your goals. I believe all approaches to childbirth matter and highly value the importance of non-judgmental support
What's a birth doula?
“DOULA\DOO-LUH\
Greek origin: a woman who serves, a woman's servant
"A calm space creator, labor tour guide, advocate, hip-squeezer, sister with all the right skills.”
Your doula is like a guide through new terrain. A birthing Coach and expert really helps you make the most of this experience — sharing insider tips, helping you think through your priorities, and leading you to hidden gems. You know your body and your priorities. Your partner (if you have one) knows you. Doulas know birth. Your nurse, midwife and doctor will be in and out, and you can't predict who'll be there on the day your labor begins. Shifts change, energy and attitudes change. Your doula is steady and familiar, and she'll be with you every step of the way.
What does a Doula offer?
Nurturing Care
·Physical support.
Your doula will help you be as physically comfortable as possible throughout your birth. This might include hands-on massage, heat or cold in just the right spot, suggestions on when and how to use the bath in labor, ideas for position changes, and techniques to help bring your baby down and out (that includes tips to get your baby into a great position for birth). The doula is always thinking about how to help you be as physically comfortable as possible, whether it's a natural birth or if you choose medication — birth is physically intense.
·Emotional support.
When birth is straightforward, it's one of the most emotionally intense things we ever go through. And when things get complicated, you can take that up another notch or three! Your doula is the only person on the team who is always thinking about your emotional experience and wellbeing. We want the medical staff's attention to stay focused on the health and safety of mom and baby. Even if things get complicated, your doula is focused on helping you stay positive and centered, with great nurture and support from someone who understands the emotional experience of birth.
·Information and advocacy.
There is so much to know about birth! Your doula doesn't replace great childbirth education, but we can connect you with evidence-based information and resources to help you prepare. When you're in labor, I'll encourage you to ask questions about what's happening, and I'll give you a heads up when things might be straying from your plan. I'm always thinking about options, and encouraging you to explore them and figure out what feels right for you. Your voice matters in this birth, and I'll lift you up to use it.
·Partner support.
Your partner always plays the most important role in loving and caring for you. I will be there to help support your partner through the birth journey, modeling specific comfort measures, offering reassurance and being a teammate in the big role of labor companion. Many partners have shared that the presence of a doula allowed them to show up more fully throughout the process.
Some women have a whole birthing team, including friends, their mother, sister, grandmother, father, etc. Whoever you want as part of your birth team will be honored and welcomed. We will all work together to ensure that you feel joyful and well supported throughout your journey.
·A focus on your most important goals.
Your doula will know your heart. I spend time connecting with you before the baby comes, and we go into your birth ready to do everything we can to make this a positive experience as you welcome your baby. I remember that you want the lavender on your pillow. I know that it makes you anxious when people try to push things on you. I won't forget how important it is for you to have skin-to-skin on the operating table if you have a cesarean. And that special song that makes you feel so calm and connected? Your doula's on it. This is your birth, and research tells us that people remember their births in great detail, for their whole lives. This will be a formative memory, and it's your start in parenting this little one. However things unfold (exactly according to plan, or totally unexpected), I'm focused on helping you have your best birth.
How Doulas Make a Difference in Modern Maternity Care
Numerous clinical studies have found that a doula’s presence at birth
tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications
reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience
reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction and cesareans
reduces the mother’s request for pain medication and/or epidurals
Research shows parents who receive support from a doula can:
Feel more secure and cared for
Are more successful in adapting to new family dynamics
Have greater success with breastfeeding
Have greater self-confidence
Have less postpartum depression
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48 hr
1,000 US dollars
12 hr
Different Packages
1 hr
150 US dollars
1 hr 30 min
75 US dollars
2 hr
100 US dollars
30 min
25 US dollars
3 hr
300 US dollars
