If I have a cesarean Birth, will a Doula be beneficial?

Yes! A Doula can be so helpful during a cesarean, scheduled or not!

Many pregnant people believe that a Doula is most beneficial if they will be laboring and having a vaginal birth. Once they hear the word cesarean they feel a Doula is no longer necessary and will think about terminating services or decide not to hire one. I would like to explain how a Doula is beneficial during a cesarean and what that support looks like.

Prenatally. Your Doula will educate you on the cesarean process, share evidence-based resources to help educate you along the way, help you think of questions to ask at your appointments, support you emotionally, and help you prepare better for postpartum; since you will also be healing from surgery. We can also help you create a birth plan because yes, you still can have a birth plan for a cesarean birth.

Unplanned cesarean birth. Some cesareans start off as labor and end with cesarean due to a specific event that happens during labor; Let me remind you that hiring a Doula decreases your chance of a cesarean by 25%. Here is a great article from Dona International about how a Doula can lower your chances of a cesarean; A Doula in this case would support you during labor physically, with touch, massage, acupressure, and aromatherapy, and emotionally with affirmations, guidance through decision making, holding space for thoughts and feelings, guide you on questions to ask, and help you process the information given to you. We would create the atmosphere in the room you would like prior to and after the surgery. We would then accompany you to the surgery with your partner for continued support and guidance if allowed. If only one support person is allowed to the surgery, we would meet you back in your room immediately after the surgery. We can then assist you with breastfeeding, hold the baby so you and your partner can rest, get you food, take photos, help communicate information to loved ones, and help you process the events that had occurred.

If your Doula is allowed to the surgery we will support you by helping you follow your cesarean birth plan, which may include, playing music to help block out sounds, aromatherapy to help mask the smells and help keep you calm with words of encouragement, and affirmations. If your baby needs to be evaluated and can’t be skin-to-skin right away a Doula can stay with you while your partner accompanies your baby or vice versa, and no one is left alone.

Scheduled cesarean birth. If your provider decides to schedule a cesarean prenatally for medical reasons Doula prenatal support would be the same as I mentioned above.

On the day of, your Doula would meet you at the hospital. We will help create the atmosphere in the room you would like before and after the surgery. We will help keep you calm and allow you to process the steps up to surgery. If allowed we will accompany you to the surgery with your partner. If only one support person is allowed to the surgery, we would meet you back in your room immediately after the surgery. Our support during and after surgery looks the same as above except in scheduled cesareans your Doula will usually stay longer postpartum to help you with your new baby since the surgery itself is usually under 60 minutes. You could decide this time frame with your Doula prior to the day of your surgery.

Postpartum. Your Birth Doula will schedule a visit to check in on you and your family. At this visit we can assist you with breastfeeding, breastfeeding positions for comfort while you are healing, newborn care, talking and processing your feelings, light household duties, meal prep, or anything in our scope as a doula that will help make this transition easier. If you decide you would like more help postpartum, hiring a Postpartum Doula is very beneficial, especially after a cesarean. Taking care of a new baby while healing can be challenging, if you have other children to care for, it can be even more challenging. Usually, partners do not get the same amount of time off from work and you will still be healing when they go back. In order to heal properly, you need to be able to rest, eat well, stay hydrated, and not do any heavy lifting, which can make household chores and taking care of a little one difficult. Hiring a Postpartum Doula after a cesarean will make your postpartum transition easier and more enjoyable.