Any interested community group, such as school, CCD classes, church organizations, or any other human interest group is eligible for this service.

The Stork Support also offers a Doula Program for Mothers-to-be.

What is a Doula?

It comes from the Greek word meaning "in service of" and has come to mean the woman "who mothers the mother". Doulas are professional labor support providers.

A doula is a qualified and educated labor assistant who has completed the necessary courses and training, including assisting in deliveries, to receive certification as a Doula.

A doula stays with the laboring woman throughout her entire labor and birth experience, helping her to cope with this life-event. When doulas care for a laboring woman, they are her friend, her shield, her teacher, part of her strength and most of all, her anchor in a sea of confusion, pain and fatigue. Doulas help the medical and nursing staff provide the mother with positive birth memories.

She recognizes that your birth experience is an important event that you will remember all of your life. She can help you write a birth plan of your preferences. She provides emotional support before, during, and after your labor and birth. She provides or suggests physical comfort measures that your partner can give during labor and birth, such as back rubs, breathing patterns and position changes. She gives an objective view of your labor from her experience of many labors, and can help you understand how yours is progressing. She knows what to do during long and difficult labors. She communicates with your birth partner and caregivers giving helpful ideas. She gives you one-on-one attention and her total role is to "be there for you".

Emotional support during labor can shorten first time labor, reduce the need for Cesarean sections, reduce the use of drugs, reduce the requests for epidurals, reduce the need for forcep deliveries.

The doula we have servicing our community is Joanne, the director of AALC. Joanne is a CNA and a Doula. She has 10 years of volunteer experience with pregnant women and has been working as a Doula for 3 years. Currently, she only travels a reasonable amount of miles to provide these services. However, if you would like further information on Doula services, fees, contact information in your area, or any other information, please feel free to email Joanne.