Rachel Gurevich - The Doula Advantage: Your Complete Guide to Having An Empowered and Positive Birth With the Help of a Professional Childbirth Assistant

If youre expecting a baby, you owe it to yourself to read this book! With a friendly tone and practical examples, Rachel Gurevich explains what doulas are, what they do, and how these special caregivers can help you have a better birth. With words of wisdom from perinatal, birth, and postpartum doulastogether with feedback from the moms they have helpedThe Doula Advantage is a must for any pregnant woman.

NANCY PRICE
Editor-in-Chief, ePregnancy.com
and ePregnancy magazine

This book shows the powerful and beneficial role of the doula in todays maternity care scene. It contains a wealth of information and practical suggestions that can be used while hiring and employing the services of a doula.

PAULINA G. (POLLY) PEREZ, BSN, FACCE, CD
Author of Special Women: The Role of the Professional Labor Assistant and Doula Programs: How to Start and Run a Private or Hospital-Based Program with Success

As a childbirth professional since 1989, I would highly recommend The Doula Advantage to anyone considering using a doula or becoming one. The book is well written, easy to read, and includes an excellent list of resources for doulas and families.

TRACY WILSON PETERS, ICCE, CLD, CLE
CAPPA Founder and Executive Director
www.cappa.net

The Doula Advantage is a must-read for any woman thinking of using the services of a doula. The book is comprehensive, thought-provoking, and highly moving. Rachel Gurevich does an outstanding job of making the case for doula care and paying tribute to the very important work that doulas do on behalf of laboring women.

ANN DOUGLAS , author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and The Mother of All Baby Books

Copyright 2003 by Prima Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Random House, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Published by Prima Publishing, Roseville, California. Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

PRIMA PUBLISHING and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc., registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gurevich, Rachel.

The doula advantage : your complete guide to having an empowered and positive birth with the help of a professional childbirth assistant / author, Rachel Gurevich. 1st ed.
p.;cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-0-307-82327-4
1. Doulas. [DNLM: 1. Allied Health Personnel. 2. Labor. 3. Midwifery.
WQ 300 G979d 2003] I. Title.
RG950 .G875 2003
618.45dc21

2002155156

Visit us online at www.primapublishing.com

v3.1

To my husband and very best friend, Eliyahu.
May we share many happy years together.

And to my children, Menachem and Eliezer.
May you both be blessed with health and happiness.

Contents

Appendix 1:
Interview Guide for Hiring a Labor Doula

Appendix 2:
Third-Party Reimbursement Letter

Appendix 3:
Interview Guide for Hiring a Postpartum Doula

Appendix 4:
Interview Guide for Hiring an Antepartum Doula

Appendix 5:
Organization Contact Information

Foreword

T HE D OULA A DVANTAGE exquisitely outlines the role of the doula in labor, delivery, postpartum care, and breastfeeding and discusses how to hire a doula. Homefirst Health Services, the medical group I founded, has used doulas for more than 10 years.

The primary problem with American obstetrics is the inordinately high cesarean section rate, which is approaching 30 percent of all births. Cesarean section has a 5 to 10 times greater morbidity and mortality rate for both newborns and mothers than does vaginal delivery. America ranks between 24th and 26th in the world in infant and maternal mortality. If you look at the countries with the best rankings, you will also notice that they have the lowest percentage of cesarean sections.

As this book points out, the doula plays an integral part in the labor and delivery process, bringing emotional, physical, and practical support to the laboring woman. Medical studies have shown that women who require pain medication during labor will have a higher percentage of cesarean sections. Even though the doula does not play a direct medical role in the delivery and postpartum process, the comfort measures that she provides empower the woman to labor more effectively. This helps lessen the need for pain medication, and many times no pain medication is needed, thereby reducing the percentage of cesarean sections. I have always liked simple analogies that have profound effect. Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, once stated, Quality is when the reality exceeds the expectation. It has been my personal, as well as professional, experience that having doulas present at birth meet this definition of quality. The presence of a doula helps the reality of labor and birth exceed the laboring mothers expectation.

I highly recommend The Doula Advantage for women who are thinking about getting pregnant, are pregnant, or who have just given birthas well as for anyone interested in how to become a doula. Kudos to Rachel Gurevich for bringing such an important topic to the public forum.

Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.
author of The Home Birth Advantage

Preface

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED the feeling of being pregnant and thought of the entire process of pregnancy through birth to motherhood as an exciting journey. Of course, pregnancy and birth come with challenges. Im the type of person who suffers from morning sickness from conception to birth! But this never stopped me from loving the concept of having a little person grow inside me.