When it comes to the one and only birth of your baby, experience is not too expensive, it is priceless!
The birth of a baby is a joyful event, filled with mystery, enchantment, challenges, stresses, great beauty, and joy, affecting women both physically and emotionally. We feel women benefit greatly during childbirth, from the one-on-one continuous care and support of another woman , a professional labor support doula. Kairos doulas believe childbirth is at once, both a spiritual and a physical process, and are committed to helping you trust and listen to, the deep feminine well of wisdom and strength all women possess. In the Native American tradition, one member of the tribe assumes the role of "Faithkeeper". This person's role is to remain at peace, centered in spiritual vision, no matter what events befall the tribe.
Even if everyone else in the tribe slips into pain, fear, or dissention, the Faithkeeper is the one person the tribe can rely on as a lifeline to the Presence. Kairos doulas act as Faithkeepers, holding a space for your vision of the birth of your baby, as well as a vision of our sister in perfection and strength, believing in your ability to achieve your dream birth, and carrying it in our hearts, even when you doubt or forget, reminding you, and allowing you to find your greatest power and potential. As labor support doulas, our job is to be a loving, supportive guide, who sees past doubt and fear, past challenges, to the victory ahead, pointing the way, illuminating the positive, reframing and redirecting, keeping you on paths of potential, success and victory, and the realization of the glorious, triumphant birth you so rightly deserve.In the second or third trimester of your pregnancy, you will meet with a member of our professional doula staff for a prebirth conference. During your conference, you and y our doula will discuss your current pregnancy as well as previous pregnancies, and/or pregnancy losses, and your medical history, to help her to understand any health related issues that may have a bearing on your pregnancy, labor and birth. She will go over an extensive client history with you, to assess your labor needs and desires, and to learn more about you. The client history has questions designed to help your doula learn about how you operate on a day to day basis, and how you deal with stress, fears and challenging or new situations. This will allow her to ascertain what type of coping skills you already possess, which will assist you during labor, and any skills that will need to be strengthened or taught. Learning your chosen methods of dealing with stress , challenges and pain, allows your doula to individually tailor support techniques and comfort measures specifically to you. Your doula will also address fears and concerns you and your husband/partner may have, help to educate you on your available choices and options, explain what you might expect when you go into labor, and work with you to create an individually tailored birth preference outline. Your outline will include your desires and preferences for your care during labor and delivery, as well as personalized coping skills and relaxation techniques, geared to your specific needs in labor.
We realize each of our clients, is a unique individual, having diverse strengths, desires and coping skills, and just as we are different as women, each woman’s pregnancy and childbirth support needs may be different as well. For many of our clients, the prebirth conference and telephone contact with her doula, throughout the remainder of her labor is enough support, until they meet in the labor room on the day of your birth. For others, who have experienced previous challenging or traumatic births, or who may be trying for a VBAC,( a vaginal birth after a previous cesarean birth), or who are experiencing difficult pregnancy complications, a higher level of support may be necessary in order to help you feel fully supported and prepared for your birth. Your doula will help you assess your personal needs and suggest the additional level of support needed ,such as an in home, private comfort measures class, accompanying on an obstetric visit of maternity tour, or pre and perinatal therapeutic massage session for enhanced health during pregnancy and postpartum. Knowing your doula will be there to support you , can be especially comforting to mothers facing unexpected pregnancy complications, or for mothers who are going through pregnancy without the support of a partner.
New fathers can breathe a bit easier as well, knowing that the doula is there not only for the support and care of the mother, but to help the father learn how to support his wife in labor , to teach support techniques, and to assist the father as well. The continuous one-on-one presence of a professional doula, with whom you have built a relationship of trust throughout your pregnancy, will enhance the birth experience for both mother and father, and allow the father to participate in the birth of his child, at the level he feels most comfortable. He will not need to worry that he may not do what she needs and she will not receive the support necessary, or that he will not know what questions to ask the medical staff. He can relax knowing that a plan has already been worked out between the couple and the doula for how the mother will be cared for and supported, and the doula knows just how to carry it out. The father and mother can them both relax and revel in the sheer happiness and beauty of the birth of their baby, wringing all the pleasure out of this magical day, and not allow anything to steal away the joy of the birth of their baby.After your initial pre-birth conference, you and your doula will remain in contact by phone, checking in often, to be sure your questions are answered, fears are being calmed, and building a foundation of trust and friendship, which will support you later in labor. When your labor begins, your doula will remain by your side throughout the entirety of your labor, employing massage, hot and cold therapies, suggesting the best laboring positions ,music therapy, breathing techniques, guided imagery and various forms of relaxation, using birth balls and other labor tools, which your doula feels will benefit you. If you choose to breastfeed your new baby, our doulas are happy to help you to initiate your first breastfeeding session.
Our doulas respect the significance of the birth of a new child, and subsequent life changes for all family members. The presence of our doulas will in no way infringe on the father, or diminish his role or participation in the birth. Kairos doulas are there primarily to support the mother through labor, but will also do all they can to support the father by offering suggestions for ways he can assist and support the mother, explain the mothers progress and stages of labor, and ensure the father is never left feeling helpless, wanting to support his loved one, and not knowing what is the best way to do so. It is our hope that the presence of a Kairos doula , will allow the father to participate in the birth of his child at his own chosen comfort level, whether that be hands on, actively participating in positioning techniques, massage, back labor techniques and etc. , or simply to be there with his wife, to hold her hand, support her lovingly and emotionally and witness the beautiful and miraculous birth of your baby.
Kairos doulas work as part of your maternity care team, in cooperation with physicians, and labor nurses, supporting and enhancing the medical care they give, by adding continuous one-on-one physical and emotional support, keeping lines of communication open, and helping to ask the right questions which will give you the information you need to make informed decisions. Although doulas do not provide medical care, it can be a great help to a busy labor nurse, attending multiple patients, to have the constant presence of a professional doula, attending to your support needs, and able to alert medical staff in the event a problem or emergency should arise when they may be out of the room. Working together, the team of physician, labor nurse and doula can provide the very best in care toward a joyful birth experience.
Kairos doulas understand that mothers, especially first time mothers, face a lot of unknowns in childbirth, which can tend to make them feel helpless, fearful, and out of control. It is our job to help you relinquish fears, and regain a sense of control through educating you to understand available choices and options, how your labor is progressing, what is being done and why, assisting you to communicate with and ask the right questions of the medical staff, so that you are able to make fully informed decisions about your care in labor. We will never take any measure of control away from you by making decisions for you, or by asserting any personal agendas about birth. In this we adhere strictly to our DONA codes of ethics and standards, which do not allow a doula to make medical decisions for her clients. We believe it is important and empowering for you to assert your own voice, thoughts, opinions, needs and desires, and to make your own decisions. Our goal and focus is to see YOU empowered, uplifted and glorified by your own wise and courageous choices. We gain immense satisfaction from watching the mothers we serve realize their greatest power and potential, inner fortitude, and ability to achieve their dreams and goals. As mentors and supportive guides, we journey with you on one of life’s greatest adventures, and at its conclusion, it is our great joy and honor to cheer and congratulate you for having climbed your Mount Everest and for having stood triumphantly at the top.
Kairos doulas are committed to helping you recognize and to use the skills and knowledge you already possess, and to trust and listen to your own feminine wisdom and intuition, by opening doors that may introduce new avenues of thought, seeing, exploration, creativity and self expression . Through supportive care which empowers the birthing mother, we know we are working as a team that helps to begin the life of your new baby and your new family, in an atmosphere of joy, love, caring and respect. Our professional, fully certified doulas, are women serving women, through non-judgmental, unconditional, nurturing; physical, emotional and educational support and love.
