Danielle Elwood
What support did you have during labor?
Midwife : 18.2%
Doula : 9.3%
Spouse/Partner : 90.7%
Family/Friend : 37.0%
Hospital Staff : 49.2%
I do not have very much to say about this in general, but there are a couple alarming trends with this.
One thing that I am not happy to see is women depending on hospital staff for support during labor. Unfortunately in hospital situations and settings we know that nurses as well as hospital staff are completely over worked, and there are some serious shortages across the nation. Depending on a hospital staff member could be a contributing factor to the cesarean rates.
Another issue I can see is the lack of professional support, like using a doula which is connected directly with lowered cesarean birth rates. Women are depending on their partner, or husband which is what I did with my first child. I thought that I could “train” him to be my doula during my labor, but I think we all know how that ended.
Women really need to know how valuable the support of a doula is. With more insurance companies starting to actually cover doula services I hope that more women start to utilize them for births in a hospital setting.
The Cesarean Feelings Survey was created by two cesarean moms; Danielle Elwood, birth advocate, doula, and aspiring childbirth educator,
Momotics.com and Theresa Shebib co-founder of
www.healthybabynetwork.com