Education is absolutely the key Kelly.

I don't wish i'd had a doula but i do see that my then-DP and my friend fulfilled the role the doula would have (support, especially in early labour before the midwives were there, made such a difference to how i coped later on, as i'm sure you know). Even knowing you as little as i do through the website i would WELCOME you at my births, because i think you could really have a positive impact. But i do think midwives need to understand that just as their role has changed (in that they CAN do procedures etc.) this creates a space a doula can fill. And also though many women have older female friends who have given birth, not all of us have women around who would be supportive of the briths we want. The friends who were nearby (one of whom was with me for birth) had no children. There were also those who had had hard and brutal hospital births and didn't believe i could have a baby WITHOUT an epidural, and episiotomy and a set of forceps. My mother was dead already, but even she hadn't been i think she'd have been to worried about HER baby to support me having mine at home.

In a society where birth is surrounded by fear and horror stories, midwives are over-stretched and constrained by regulation and Obs are scalpel-happy and terrified of litigation we NEED strong, knowledgeable women who can be with us for our births. Doulas have a very important role to play.

Although you realise Kelly, if you'd been MY doula you'd have ended up catching DD since only 4 hours from birth did i think it was getting "a bit much" and maybe a midwife would have been helpful. With a doula there i'd have been even more laid back! Unless you'd run out and called her yourself i'd have hit transition and pushed DD out before i'd got to worrying about any of it.

Bx