Our Services
Birth Doulas of Marin provides 24 hour-on-call doulas to accompany our clients from the time they reach the hospital, through delivery, and for about one hour postpartum. Except in rare circumstances, the same doula will stay throughout this entire period. Our primary goal is to help the laboring woman and her partner or other support persons have a positive birth experience. We are hired by you, and we work for you.
We also hold a Prenatal Circle for registered clients on the fourth Sunday of the month. We invite you to come and meet other expectant families in the community while learning more about how doulas work to support your birth experience. We encourage you to bring your thoughts and questions to share.
Additionally, we will visit you at the hospital after the birth to see how you are doing and, if you desire, to talk about your birth experience.
We meet with you prior to your birth at our monthly meeting at Marin General, so that you can get to know us. You may attend these meetings as often as you like. And you'll fill out our "Getting to Know You" form so that we can get to know who you are as well.
How our collective works
We are trained and experienced in many ways to assist women through labor; we are also skilled in helping partners and other support persons to learn ways of helping a laboring woman. We DO NOT bring our own agenda to a birth; we work as a team with the doctors and nurses who care for our clients. We share their goal of supporting a healthy birth outcome, a healthy baby and a healthy mom.
Sometimes we will ask for clarification of a procedure so that we are sure our client understands it (only in non-emergency situations, of course). It is NOT our job to make medical decisions for our client. We may be asked to voice their concerns, questions or objections, because laboring women are often so inward-focused and have a difficult time expressing themselves. If a woman tells us ahead of time she absolutely does not want medication, we will work hard to help her achieve that goal; but we will NOT stand in her way if she and her partner change their minds.
Why use a collective rather than one private doula?
One of our primary goals is to ensure that you have a well-rested doula on hand when you need her -- no matter what. The only way to be completely certain of that is to provide several experienced, doulas on call, one for each day of the week, 24/7.
We provide comforting, informative and consistent telephone support, and will remain with you from the time you request our presence at the hospital until after your birth. We will stay with you until your baby is happily in your arms, breastfeeding is initiated, and you are ready for bonding as a new family.
