While friends and family can be great at supporting you, they are typically not trained in current evidence based information and familiar with difficult situations that may arise in labor and delivery. Doulas are committed to continuing education and are trained to react calmly and professionally in any situation that arises.

I encourage you to have whoever you wish in attendance at your birth, and I will work with them as a team, to support you in having the best birthing experience possible.

Your nurse and care provider are focused on keeping you and your baby safe, while I am focused on your educational and emotional needs, as well as your comfort. Your provider and nurse have other patients and responsibilities to attend to, but my sole purpose is to support you.

Absolutely! While a doulas role is not to advocate for you in birth, but rather to help you and your partner feel empowered to advocate for yourselves, I will make sure you feel your voice is heard. I can suggest options or questions you might talk over with your primary care provider or nurse. If a suggested procedure or course of treatment is unclear, I will encourage you to get the information you need to make an informed choice. Whatever decisions you make, know that I will support them 100%.

No. I will help to empower you to seek the information you need to make your own decisions and will support them without judgment.

Partners can participate in birth in a variety of ways. I will listen to you and your partner since my desire is to support each couple in the way that is best for their individual family. My goal is to foster a feeling of inclusion with your partner. I will support your partner as he/she participates in whatever capacity you are both comfortable with. I am dedicated to working seamlessly with them in order to help you have a positive birth experience, and am dedicated to enhancing your partners’ role, not replacing it.

No, of course not. At least not when you are working with professional doulas! The word doula translates to, “A woman who serves.” A person who is serving does not insist that things should be a certain way. They simply serve.

Any decisions about medical procedures, such as pain medications or interventions, are made between you and your midwife/doctor. I would never try to prevent you from making a choice that you felt was in your best interest. The only agenda I have is to provide you with the unconditional, unbiased support that you deserve.

I am dedicated to supporting you regardless of your pain management preferences. Your need for physical and emotional support does not end when you receive an epidural, and I will help you navigate and assess your options for pain medication so you may choose what is right for you.

Even if you’re planning on having an epidural during your labor, there are still many benefits to having a doula to support you. I will be there to help you interpret your labor, to help you physically in the time before you receive the epidural, and I will also help coach you during the pushing stage. Most importantly, I can support you emotionally and provide encouragement. Just because you don’t feel the same pain you would without an epidural, doesn’t mean you won’t feel the same emotions.

Sometimes, labor progresses too quickly to receive an epidural and for women wishing to have one, that can be scary. If this is the case, knowing that you will have the continuous support of a doula can make all the difference.

Yes! Doulas are experts in supporting birth; all types of births, including surgical ones. Here are just a few ways I can support you during your cesarean birth:

• Help you to feel more calm and relaxed prior to surgery

• Explain procedures in terms you understand

• Accompany your partner while they wait to meet you in the OR

• Help you manage the physical and emotional challenges of surgery

• Encourage you to share your birth plan and wishes with the staff

• Update family members at your request

• Stay with you if your baby (and partner) must to go to the nursery

• Help you initiate breastfeeding (if that is your choice)

I will join you in pre-op, possibly in the OR (depending on facility policy), and after the birth, so that you are never left unsupported. Additionally, you may be surprised to know that planned cesarean births have options that will allow for a more gentle, “family centered” experience. There are many decisions to be made, and I will help you to identify your priorities, find out what is available in your birthing facility, and create a birth plan that reflects these preferences.

Yes! I am available and happy to support you in your choice to birth at home.

Yes, I provide doula services to clients in the Rio Grande Valley, including but not limited to:

• Mission/Palmhurst

• Edinburg/McAllen

• Elsa/Edcouch

• Pharr/San Juan/Alamo

• Weslaco/Mercedes

• Brownseville/Harlingen