Today I want to talk about how our process works and how to go about meeting and hiring us to support you either as a birth or postpartum doula. A question we often get is do you work for a hospital or an agency? No! We work entirely for the families hiring us. There are some hospitals and agencies that do employ doulas. We prefer to run our own business and make sure our families best interests are always in mind!
How the birth doula process works
First we have a free consultation to get to know each other. We let you know what we do and you let us know what you are looking for. This is done over zoom.
If you decide we are a good fit for you, we will send you a contract to sign and intake form to fill out. A deposit of 50% of the total is due at the time of signing the contract and will be put towards your final cost.
We will be available throughout your pregnancy through 6 weeks postpartum via phone, text, or email to answer any questions and provide resources or referrals you may need.
The first prenatal meeting is usually around 30 weeks at our office. During this meeting we go over a birth plan, comfort and labor progression techniques, what your choices are and how to advocate for yourself.
At around 37 weeks we come to your home to make sure we know where to go when you are in labor (if you would like us to come to your home). We check in and see how you are feeling about everything and if the plan is still the same. The rest of the payment is due at this time.
We provide on-call birth support starting at 37 weeks. Once you are in labor we can come to your home to support you if you would like or we can meet you at the hospital. We provide continuous support during labor until 2 hours postpartum. There are 2 of us so typically we switch on and off about every 12 hours so you always have a fresh doula. Our support includes emotional support, physical support, supporting your partner, answering questions and helping you advocate for your choices.
We will do a postpartum visit about a week after birth to answer questions, talk through your birth experience and check in on how you are doing with everything.
How the postpartum doula process works
(The first few steps are similar to a birth consult)
First we have a free consultation to get to know each other. We let you know what we do and you let us know what you are looking for. This is done over zoom.
If you decide we are a good fit for you we will send you a contract to sign and intake form to fill out. A deposit of 50% of the total is due at the time of signing the contract and will be put towards your final cost.
We will be available throughout your pregnancy through 12 weeks postpartum via phone, text, or email to answer any questions and provide resources or referrals you may need. If you need an extra set of hands getting things ready for baby, organizing, shopping, etc we can help with that too!
We like to have a prenatal meeting around 35 weeks at your home so we know where to go and to meet you in person. At this time we go over a postpartum plan with you and a schedule of when you would like support from us.
The rest of the payment is due 2 weeks prior to your due date.
Once the baby is born you would let us know and we would start providing in-home support on the days and hours previously discussed. We can provide support for up to 12 weeks. If you decide after the baby comes that you want more hours than previously discussed just let us know and we can see if we have the availability to accommodate you. We can help with things like taking care of your baby so you can get some rest, laundry, organizing, light cleaning, light meal prep, helping with sibling(s), providing tips on newborn care, sleep, breastfeeding, and providing evidence based information and referrals if needed.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions doulasandbeyond@gmail.com
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