Tips for Hiring the Right Doula for You
Having a doula at your birth is a very personal decision. It might feel overwhelming to reach out and ask all your questions or share personal details with someone new, but we promise, finding the right doula can be a fun journey and one that you and your support partner can do together to help bring this baby into the world. It can truly be a valuable time of connection and reflection about your hopes and fears around your upcoming birth.
What Do You Want?
The first step is to sit down and think about what your goals are for having doula support. This will help you make the best decision for you and ensure that you have the best possible experience. You may want someone to teach you private childbirth classes, someone with exceptional comfort measure skills, someone that focuses on practicing with inclusivity, or even someone with specialized training and experience with a particular topic, such as VBACs or working with people with disabilities. What you need and want from your doula will be unique to you, so take some time and really think about your top three priorities and how a doula might be able to help you achieve those.
Interviewing Potential Doulas
Second, take some time to search doula databases (Doulamatch, Bornbir, Meela, Be Her Village, etc.) and contact the ones in your area that have availability and meet your basic criteria. You’ll want to see if they offer free consultations or are open to an interview. Sometimes doulas will want to meet in person, but virtual meetings work great for this too and are quite common for this initial visit.
You will obviously want to find someone you feel comfortable with and who you feel will best support you during your birth experience. In order to do that, below is a list of questions to ask potential doulas when you are interviewing them. You will likely want to pick some that stand out to you the most, so write those down ahead of time. You may also want to interview more than one doula to find the best fit for you and your unique family, especially since this is such an important relationship and someone that will be with you on one of the most important days of your life.
Doula Interview Questions
What is your professional training?
Where were you certified and why did you choose that particular organization?
What influenced you to get into doula work and how does that show up in a client relationship?
What services do you offer and what are your packages?
What is a typical schedule for when I'll meet with you prenatally and when I go into labor?
How will you support and involve my partner?
What are my payment options?
Do you offer a sliding scale or economic justice pricing?
Do you accept payment plans, bartering, OHP/Medicaid?
Do you have any deal breakers that would prevent you from working with a client?
What are your thoughts on interventions such as induction, epidural, or planned cesarean?
What are your thoughts on home birth or birth centers?
Can you tell me your experience supporting gay/lesbian/trans/adoptive families?
What are your policies if I go into labor early or my labor is longer than expected?
Who is your partner or back-up doula in case you are unavailable and will I be able to meet them ahead of time?
What kind of training do you have in lactation support?
Do you also offer postpartum doula support or postpartum support packages?
Trust your Intuition
While this list gives you some great starting points, there’s also something to be said for following your intuition. When you get a good vibe from someone, or you have a good feeling about a situation, it’s worth paying attention to. We often discount these things as being “just a feeling,” but there’s so much more to it than that.
Our intuition is our inner knowing, and it’s a connection that we have to the world around us. It’s a way of understanding things on a deeper level, beyond what our logical mind can comprehend. There is no better time to start tapping into your intuition and really allowing your gut to help guide your decision-making than during pregnancy and childbirth -- after all, there is no "right" or "wrong" in parenting; parenting is often simply a daily exercise in following your own intuition and just doing the best you can, so why not start practicing that now?
Have fun!
It might feel a little intimidating to start the doula shopping process, but doulas love answering questions and they are eager to connect with new clients! Your interview doesn't have to be formal or stuffy; it can be fun to learn more about doulas, childbirth, and even yourself through this process, and you just might find that one special doula that resonates with you and who will help make your "big day" one of the most magical and memorable days of your entire life.