STEFANY MILLS: Hi, my name is Stefany Mills. I'm with Touched By An Angel Childbirth Services here in Central Florida. We're a birth doula and postpartum doula services company, and I'm here today to talk to you about the benefits of having a doula in pregnancy and labor. Hiring a doula carries a lot of statistics with it that are very positive. Hiring a doula means that you have a 50% reduction in the C-section rate, 40% reduction in assisted deliveries, 60% reduction in epidural requests. This is very helpful whether you are planning a medicated or an unmedicated birth. Hiring a doula can make a big difference in the outcome of your birth experience. They offer informational support, physical support and emotional support. The informational support they provide often is stuff that you're not going to get in other places. We're often told when we go in to our doctor's office for our obstetric appointments: these are the tests you're doing; here's what you're going to do next time. And they only get about 15 minutes with you due to all sorts of factors. So having someone that you can call when you get home to discuss what these tests might be can often be very, very helpful. They can offer you factual information, using information such as ACOG which is the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology; the Cochrane Library, which is all evidence-based information; the American Academy of Family Practitioners; all of these are highly respected. So when you go to your practitioners with this information, they're going to have respect for you. They offer emotional support. Often, there are things that come up that we're not really sure about and we're not sure how to handle. Often, we're not sure if we're in labor and we kind of feel funny making that trip to the hospital, so having someone to call who knows what's going on, who can talk you through what's going on and ask about your contractions or how you're feeling can help you make those decisions as to what the next step is. They offer physical support such as massage, different kinds of back rubs; they know pressure points; all sorts of things that are going to make your experience much more comfortable. They're not there to take your partner or your support person's place, however; that person knows you emotionally in a way that we never will. But often, those support people don't know how to help you physically. So we're there to show them how to help you and to make your birth experience everything you dreamed it would be. Make sure that you call your doula after every appointment to your practitioner for your pre-natal appointments. It helps build that rapport. It also lets them know what's going on. Call them even if you're not sure you're in labor. Often, those phone calls are the first ones you make even before you call your practitioner because she can help you decide whether you need to call your practitioner. Important to remember, call your doula after every appointment, build that rapport. Call her after every appointment with your practitioner so that she knows what's going on. Let her know, even if you're not sure if you're in labor, that there are things going on so that she can be there you. Thank you and I hope this helps.
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