What does doula care look like in the postpartum period?  As in everything with doulas, it can look different in different situations! I’ll talk first about the postpartum meeting I include in every birth doula package, and then about postpartum doula services specifically. Postpartum Visits for Birth Clients I meet with every birth client I serve once after they have their baby. I visit them in their own home (so no trying to leave the house with a newborn!) usually around five to seven days after baby has been born. If the client has a partner, I try to find a time where all threeRead More →

Also be sure to read part one of my doula care series (What Does Doula Care Look Like? Part One: Prenatal Workshops)! The all-time most popular doula question: what does a doula do during labor? This question can take many forms, and has many shades of variation and nuance, including (but not limited to): Will a doula replace my partner/mother/family/friends/other support people? Will a doula make my other support person(s) feel excluded or unnecessary?  Why do I need a doula if I have a nurse at the hospital? What does it mean that a doula will advocate for me in the labor room? These areRead More →

Doula care is, by nature, a custom-made service. Each client has different goals and needs, and so care for each client might manifest differently. This fluid and flexible process can make it somewhat challenging for someone considering doula care to get a concrete idea of what hiring a doula might look like. Expecting parents might ask, How can I invest so much money in something so nebulous? Enter: this blog post series. Over the course of three posts, I hope to lay out what a prospective client might be able to expect in hiring me (Rebecca Haley). Please keep in mind that flexibility is oneRead More →

Dedicated to all the families bringing new little people into the world. The Day You Were Born The day you were born was a day like any other. People woke up and drove or biked to work. We dozed briefly on couches or beds made of vinyl after many midnight hours of holding hands and breathing. The day you were born people wrote emails and made lattes and poured concrete. We rubbed backs and caressed sweaty foreheads and dove again and again and again into the rhythmic, pounding, relentless waves of energy and muscle and pain. The day you were born people bought groceries andRead More →