Interviews with people about doulas, birth and babies - 4. Father of an 11 year old

Do you know what a doula is?

Not entirely, I would compare it with a midwife, but it's more like a birth partner. I'm not sure if there is a philosophy behind it that makes someone a doula more than just a birth companion. Someone to help you with the birth process in general

Would you hire a doula if you had another child?

It feels like its not my decision and I would leave it to the woman. I think it's a nice idea.

Would you hire a doula for your first birth/s if you now could do? 

Yeah I think it would have been a good idea. It was quite a traumatic birth. I think it applies to people who have clear ideas of what they want to do and people that have the least education (like me) wouldn't know about doulas to get one. They might end up being the most susceptible to trauma but are the hardest to reach.

If you think it would have, how do you think a doula would have made a difference?

Yes, partly purely with information, I don't think we had any idea what would happen. We vaguely mentioned after we'd been induced "we've heard about water births" and were told it was booked or busy. We had lots of midwives and liked some of them. We had some conflicting information and miscommunication between midwives on handover. I think a doula would have helped us think through options beforehand and would be there with us and support us.