i had a doula, but due to the hospital being pretty unkind to me while i was in labour, i barely got to use their help anyway as they put all sorts of limits of who could be there and when. my memory of the labour isnt that great but i dont remember that the doula really fought any of my battles for me either - most of my battles were early on before the doula was even there.. and it was up to me and hubby to fight them and and hubby was not a great advocate!. next time i have a bubs, am planning on having an independent midwife who knows and understands my birth plan and is happy to support it as much as possible.
Thank you for your reply. I think it would be very important to pick the right doula. How does it go with an IM in a hospital? Do they do the same things as the midwives in the hospital or just more a support person?