What is a doula?

In short, a doula is a trained professional who is employed to provide guidance and support to a pregnant woman throughout pregnancy and during labor.

How much does a doula cost?

It’s easy to find different price points for different doulas. There are a number of factors to consider when you’re budgeting for labor support:

- Training - whether your doula is certified, seeking certification, or a lay-doula

- Experience - number of years your doula has been professionally practicing, and the different types of births they’ve attended

- Approach and additional services - the scope of a doula’s services can vary widely, so make sure when you’re considering the cost, you’re looking at the value. For instance, does this doula bring along specific tools to help you in labor or things that help with your birth environment, do they help connect you to resources, have a backup doula, or specialty areas that are important to you?

*As of 2020, in the greater Nashville area, the average cost of birth doula support is between $800 - $1,500.

Why do I want a doula?

Where do I begin?

For those of you that like stats, with doula support you have a 25% (up to 39%) decreased risk of cesarean birth. There is a 10% decrease in use of pain medications, a shorter labor on average, and a 31% decrease in dissatisfaction with birth experience.

If you’re on the fence, the best advice I can give you is to start by scheduling a consultation to learn more. During a consultation, you have space to discuss more specific questions and concerns, as well as to understand in depth what your journey with a doula would look like.

Is a doula different than a midwife?

Yes! Us birth workers see a lot of confusion about a doula’s role, especially if you’re planning to have a midwife attend your birth.

A doula is there for the emotional and physical support of the birthing person and their partner, whereas a midwife uses their medical training to focus on the delivery of a healthy baby. Even with a midwife-supported birth, midwives won’t necessarily be with the families continuously throughout labor, whereas a doula’s goal is to provide continuous birth support.

What’s the process of working with a doula?

The first step to finding the right birth support is picking the person that you click with. Once you’ve signed on, standard birth doula support includes one or more prenatal visits, continuous labor support, and a postpartum appointment.

Make sure to check the terms outlined in your doula’s contract to see what you can expect as far as communication throughout labor, the process of calling your doula in early labor and some of the nitty gritty logistics, like payment terms and more.