Thats a good point Sarah. I have had times where I have been at really long births, and my car got locked in the car park, so I had to get a taxi home and back the next day, and pay a huge parking fee! At times I couldn't get childcare (and pretty much 99% of doulas are mothers - they really get birth but thats not always the case of course!) so had to get an emergency nanny. So things do eat up your costs. There's meals during the birth, the day after recovering can mean a missed day of work for you or your partner, or childcare.... loads of things no-one can really see just like you explained Sarah The births that are short are few and far between and I never nick off right after, I make sure mum is okay and breastfeeding has started unless there is some huge reason why I can't.

There are aches and pains to deal with too from hours of doing something a woman loves you doing for hours on end hehehe , the on call aspect of course, which is different to a Mon-Fri, 9-5 job... which probably works out the same rate per hour.