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Jenna Edgley
Certified Birth Doula (CBD)
Placenta Encapsulator
Independent Childbirth Educator
Rebozo Practitioner
Servicing Maryborough to
​Hervey Bay, QLD

How Much Is A Doula Worth?

30/9/2014

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Ever wondered what you are actually paying for when you hire a doula? Or even if a doula is worth what you pay? Wondering how much your doula is worth? Well here is a list of what the average doula, needs, and what we miss out on too, and what it is worth at a basic living wage of $17 an hour, because even though every doula is worth more than just money, we need to put food on the table too!

  • Initial Interview – This usually lasts for 1 hour but sometimes lasts longer, free of charge

  • Phone, email, facebook, online support – can be anywhere from 10 hours to 50+ hours, if charged at the minimum decent living wage of $17 an hour this can be worth anywhere from $170 to $1000!

  • Prenatal Meetings – each meeting typically lasts one hour, but sometimes last longer, and doulas offer anywhere from 1 prenatal meeting to 6 prenatal meetings. Using the above mentioned minimum decent living wage this can vary in value from $17 to $170.

  • Postnatal Meetings – same as above, these can vary in value from $17 to $170

  • Research time – this varies from client to client. Some clients don’t want to know anything about risks or pros/cons while other clients need to know everything. A doula cand spend anywhere from 1 hour to 30 hours researching information for a client during a pregnancy and post birth, valued between $17 and $510.

  • Prenatal and postnatal meeting preparation time – generally most doulas will spend time in the week prior to a meeting preparing notes and information to be discussed with a client at that meeting, along with any information that was requested at a prior meeting or during a phone call/email/facebook message. Times can vary from 1 hour to 5 hours depending on what a particular client needs, valued between $17 and $85.

  • The Labour and Birth – yep that’s right, your labour and birth is included as well. A labour can last anywhere from 8 minutes (yes it’s true, this actually has happened!) to 70+ hours, and sometimes even longer if intervention isn’t done to try and speed it up before then (long labours are completely normal too by the way, they don’t always mean that something is wrong and they don’t need to be sped up) and this also includes the immediate post birth support of a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 4 hours. Using the above methods to work out the value it can range from anywhere between $19 and $1190, or more if labour is even longer.

  • On Call Period – This is the most labour intensive part of our job. We are on call for you from approximately 37 weeks gestation to whenever your baby is born, whether that is at exactly 37 weeks or 44 weeks gestation, that means that we are focused completely on you, we have our phone with us 24/7, we have a baby sitter or daycare lines up ready for a moments notice, we don’t leave town during that time (unless it’s a true family emergency and we will inform you if that happens), we don’t take holidays or travel far from home. During this waiting period we are on call for you every hour of every day for up to 7 weeks, if you need us we will drop everything and be there, day or night. If we were working in any other industry for 7 weeks straight with no breaks, this period of time alone would be worth almost $20,000 dollars, so really you’re getting yourself a real bargain.

  • Daycare/Babysitter fees (if we have young kids) – Not all doulas have children of their own, some doulas children have already left home or are able to stay home on their own and look after themselves, but for those of us with younger children we need to have someone looking after them while we are with a client for a prenatal/postnatal or at a birth. Prices vary from center to center and babysitter to babysitter, however from when my own children were in daycare 3 days a week early last year it was costing me a flat rate of $129 a day for each child even if they were only there for half a day! Now if you are in Australia like me and receive a parenting payment or family tax benefit you do get some of that back through the child care benefit and child care rebate, bringing the cost back down to between $25 and $40 a day depending on your benefit and rebate percentages, but that still adds up quickly if you are putting your children in care regularly to see clients and attend births. On average for a doula who is hired by a client at 30 weeks gestation the daycare fees during that time can be as little as $225 or as much as $1200, or even more than that if the doula doesn’t get the rebate or benefit.

  • Time away from family – this is probably the most difficult thing for a doula, and any other working mum for that matter as well, not being able to spend as much time with our family. The value of this is of course priceless, no true value can be put on it.

  • Office costs – this covers printing, diaries, paper and all other office supplies. Sometimes our laptop/computer/phone/tablet might break and we need to get it fixed or buy a new one, or maybe our printer has died and we need a new one, we might have run out of ink for the printer or we may need to buy a new office chair that supports our backs better. It can cost us as little as $20 while we’re with a client, or as much as $1000 depending on what we are asked to do and what equipment we need.

  • Our health – Our health is really important when we are supporting clients regularly, we need to be in the best health possible in order to do  best we possibly can at what we do. This may mean that we need to supplement with vitamins and minerals or herbs, we may need to see a chiropractor to put our back into alignment again after spending 24 hours straight on our feet or crouched down at a birth, we may need to see an osteopath or a physio, we may develop a non-contagious illness that needs to be treated by a specialist doctor, we may need antibiotics or other medicines, we may become pregnant ourselves and need to be more mindful of our limitations and health, or we may even injure ourselves unexpectedly and need treatment to get back on our feet again. These things can cost anywhere between $5.80 for prescription medicine on the PBS scheme to $10,000 for specialist treatment if we have injured ourselves badly.

  • Advertising/marketing costs – this is a cost for every doula, and part of all of our fees are put towards this. This can cover fees for having a professional website, getting new uniforms with our logo’s and contact information on them, advertising on facebook, in magazines, newspapers, on parenting websites etc. Depending on how much the doula in question spends on advertising each year this value can range from as little as $5 from every birth fee to $100 from every birth fee.

  • Training – while the majority of doulas have already paid for or finished their training that doesn’t mean that we stop there and leave it at that. We might be hired by a client who wants a certain type of support (eg reiki, hypnobirthing, pregnancy massage, aromatherapy, herbal tinctures etc or rebozo) and decide to do some extra training so that we can better help that client during her pregnancy and labour. The prices of these courses vary and can cost anywhere from $100 to $4000.

  • Immunisation Boosters – Some clients insist on their chosen doula getting immunisation boosters. Not every doula is willing to do this (for personal and other reasons) but others will happily do it with no issues. Some boosters are free, while there are others that cost money to get. For myself personally I won’t get the flu immunisation as it only covers 4 strains of the flu and there are far more strains than that floating around the place and it mutates very quickly, and yet I will happily get the whooping cough booster because I know how serious that can be due to my husband contracting it when I was 16 weeks pregnant with our second child, that one in particular is just not something that I will avoid. These immunisation boosters that aren’t free can cost from $50 to $150 depending on where you  get them done and which immunisation it is for.

  • Books – we buy birth and pregnancy related books regularly, not only to increase our own knowledge but also to add them our lending libraries (if we have one). Some doulas spend upwards of $400 a year on brand new up to date books, while others only spend $50. The initial outlay for a small quality lending library is about $500 if a doula is buying brand new books, and then there are the accidents that can happen as well – a client may misplace a book she has borrowed, or her child may draw all over it or rip the pages out, or food or drink may be spilled on it, or in rare cases a client just may not return the book at all. When things like that happen we have to replace the book in the lending library, just like your local library does, and that usually means buying another copy brand new which can cost upwards of $20 per book. On average a doula may have to replace between 2 and 6 books a year and will buy between 2 and 6 other new books to add to her lending library.

  • Insurance – Some doulas have Third Party Insurance, others don’t. Currently there is only one company in Australia that insures doulas and it is expensive when compared to normal house or even basic car or motorbike insurance and can cost upwards of $400 a year.

In conclusion, when you hire a doula what you are getting in support is worth a heck of a lot more than what you are paying him or her. What your doula is worth in monetary value is huge, starting at $21,092.80 and ranging up to $40,455 and may even go higher than that the more that a doula offers in his or her packages! That’s an average yearly wage for the average working person. Aren’t you glad we don’t charge that much?

So as you can see, $750, $1000 or even $2000 really isn’t all that much to pay with everything that you are getting, it’s a bargain, and real value for money to have someone who is there only for you from the moment you hire them until your last postnatal meeting and in some cases even after your last prenatal meeting Your obstetrician who you don’t even get to see very often gets paid more than that just to see you up until your baby is born, your wedding photographer may have cost the same amount or more depending on what photographer or what package you chose, and your wedding itself, if you are married, may have cost over $10,000 (I know my wedding cost us $3,500 and we did everything ourselves).

For those who are wondering if it is really worth spending $750-$2000 to hire a doula, the answer is “Yes it is!”. Apart from independent midwives there is no one else who can offer you support and answer questions every single day of the week until your baby is born and afterwards, there are no others who can be there for you continuously for over 24 hours during labour (hospital midwives have to clock off after 12 hours and independent midwives have a back up so they can get some sleep). While some doulas have back ups available for long births or if we can’t attend a birth for some reason out of our control for the most part we will stay with you your entire labour if that is what you want us to do.

And that concludes this blog post.
As always feel free to share and if you know of anything that I have accidentally left out or forgotten please do let me know.

Jenna Edgley
Student Birth Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS
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Hyperremesis Gravidarum - My Story by Jenna Edgley

16/9/2014

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Today’s blog post is inspired by the news that Princess Kate is expecting again, a recent blog about Hyperremesis Gravidarum that I read and of course my own personal experience with this horrible condition.

Hyperremesis Gravidarum is only experienced by approximately 2% of the population in the western world, making it rare, and is generally described by the medical world as “severe morning sickness leading to extreme weight loss and severe dehydration that in extreme cases without treatment can become fatal”. Yep, that’s right, it can be deadly if it isn’t treated correctly and while many of us mums would jump at the chance to lose a whole heap of weight in a short period of time I can honestly say from personal experience that this is not the way to go about it and it’s downright nasty to experience it!

In this blog post I will be sharing my own experiences with Hyperremesis Gravidarum, my goal is to help promote awareness of this condition and to let others experiencing it know that they are not alone. The one thing that I would have loved to have when I went through it was a support network of other mums-to-be who were experiencing it too, to know that I wasn’t alone and that I could get through it and survive and find a way to eat properly and drink enough without vomiting like normal people do.

For those who have never followed my pregnancy journeys on BellyBelly.com.au in the forum there (under the forum name of JennaJayen) or on one of the many pregnancy and parenting groups on Facebook that I have been in and am currently a member of here’s my experiences of Hyperremesis Gravidarum, shortened to make it quicker for you to read, otherwise this could easily turn into a novel (warning, this will be rather long so make yourself a coffee/tea/hot chocolate/cold drink, sit down in a comfy chair and make sure you have a yummy snack on hand).

I have had 3 full term pregnancies, and in each one I experienced this awful condition called Hyperremesis Gravidarum.

Essentially from very early on until approximately 18-22 weeks into my pregnancy I would vomit repeatedly every morning, in the afternoons, after a drive in the car, in the middle of a drive in the car, in the evenings, after eating food, while brushing my teeth, while on the toilet, in the shower, in the middle of the night if I smelt something funny... basically it could be set off by anything at all and once it began it would not stop for at least 30 minutes, and the worst part was that I had no control over it at all.

Between 18-22 weeks of my pregnancies it would start to decrease and mostly disappear for a while.

In my first pregnancy I managed to get a break from it for 10 whole weeks before it started up again at 28 weeks gestation. I was in heaven for those 10 weeks, and then was brought smack bang right back down to earth when it started up again and continued until my son was born at 41 weeks and 5 days gestation by emergency cesarean.

In my second pregnancy it began at exactly 4 weeks and 2 days gestation, the day after I got the first positive pregnancy test. I was bummed, it sucked, it was horrible, I felt awful and for a while there I even wished that I wasn’t pregnant and whinged and whined to my husband that I “was never having another baby ever again” (yeah, I didn’t stick to that obviously as I now have 3 beautiful children earthside). Finally it stopped for a while at around 20ish weeks, and started up again around 27-28 weeks, woohoo! 7-8 weeks without vomiting continuously every morning and afternoon! I was overjoyed until it came back again.

Sadly I had discovered that I was allergic to Maxalon (the most common anti-nausea drug given to women here in Australia) the day after my emergency cesarean with my first child (it made me projectile vomit everywhere and that is not something that I would recommend when you’ve just had major abdominal surgery and your belly is only being held together by a series of dissolvable stitches) and it was the only option given to me to treat the vomiting at the time with my second child so I couldn’t take it.

It wasn’t fun at all and during that pregnancy I had lost 16kg by the time I was 16 weeks pregnant and had been admitted for fluids for dehydration 3 times by that stage, and I felt horrible, weak, was regularly dehydrated, got sick very easily and was hospitalised at least once a month to get fluids pumped into me, and was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes at 30 weeks to boot, and believe me throwing up regularly with Gestational Diabetes is not fun and it can stuff up your blood sugar levels for the rest of the day which results in either having to give yourself insulin injections when it raises your blood sugar levels above the limit (hyperglycaemic) almost every day of the week and needing to keep some glucose jelly beans or other lollies with you at all times for the occasional morning where it made your sugar levels drop down to the dangerous really low (hypoglycaemic) levels.

Then with my 3rd full term pregnancy I got lucky in the beginning, while I had the nausea from 2 days before I had my first positive pregnancy test (I had nausea start literally 7 days after ovulation, with the first positive pregnancy test at 9 days after ovulation, this I know as I actually know the day she was conceived lol not many mums can tell you the exact day that they conceived their baby unless they went through IVF of course) it was easily manageable by avoiding the foods that triggered it and the vomiting itself didn’t start until just after 7 weeks gestation. I had thought that I would finally get lucky and have the “perfect” minimal sickness pregnancy (yep, I do really consider a no vomiting pregnancy to be the “perfect” pregnancy for me) but I was of course wrong. I did get very lucky in my choice of general practitioner (GP or general doctor) at the time however who took me seriously when I told him I was vomiting most of the day (and nearly vomited in his office while talking to him) and happily prescribed Zofran (ondansetron, an anit-nausea drug used by cancer patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy to help with the nausea) in a 4 wafer pack (you stick them under your tongue and they dissolve quickly and start providing relief in about 5 minutes) that was actually covered under the PBS scheme which meant that I would only have to pay $5.60 per 4 wafers instead of the $89.90 that a pack of 10 wafers cost (the 10 packs were not covered under the PBS scheme unless you were actually a cancer patient unfortunately). I can’t describe accurately how much the wafers helped, and I did try the tablets as well but found them to not be as effective as I would always end up vomiting them back up before they could work, the relief that I received is beyond words to express. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get them all the time, twice a month the doctor was able to give me a prescription for 1 pack of 4 wafers, and I found that if I broke them in half I could make them last longer and for just over half the month the vomiting would be reduced to manageable levels. Fast forward to 22 weeks gestation and it had tapered off again, although it didn’t completely go away this time as there was still at least 2 days a week where I would spend the morning either with my head in the toilet bowl or hunched over in the shower dry retching. By this point I had discovered that brushing my teeth was a trigger for the vomiting, and it wasn’t just the toothpaste that caused it, both the toothpaste and toothbrush on their own (aka separately) would cause me to vomit uncontrollably, and looking back on my previous pregnancies it was a big trigger then too, it eventually reached a point where I would only brush my teeth once a week after taking a full Zofran wafer just to avoid the vomiting, and even then it didn’t always work. I had 4 weeks mostly free from vomiting until it started again at 26 weeks gestation and continued until she was born at 40 weeks and 3 days gestation. During that time I managed to avoid being hospitalised for fluids until I hit 35 weeks gestation and was so severely dehydrated that I could hardly move, could hardly stay awake, and had no saliva being produced in my mouth anymore. I was getting very close to going into a coma, very close to losing not only my unborn baby but also my own life. I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance while my husband arranged for our older 2 children to be cared for by family. What little urine I produced was a very dark brown and registered ketones as 4+ (extremely high) and protein as 4+ (extremely high and usually indicative of preeclampsia which luckily I didn’t have). My blood pressure was up and I was tacchycardic, and they had a lot of trouble finding a vein so that they could attach the drip because my veins were collapsed due to the dehydration. My baby wasn’t moving and when monitoring was started her heartbeat stayed the same, between 140 beats per minute and 147 beats per minute, it didn’t change from between those 2 numbers, it didn’t drop and it didn’t go up for the next 12ish hours and I was told if it didn’t improve I would be rushed in for my second emergency cesarean to get her out of there because otherwise she was at risk of going into distress and dying.

We were very lucky, I had arrived in the hospital right in time and 6ltrs of fluids over 12 hours rehydrated me enough to be able to go home and avoid another cesarean.

Early labour with my 3rd child and second daughter was awful as I was continuously vomiting with every contraction. I will repeat again that it was not fun at all, and I was seriously considering a cesarean (those who know me personally will know that I am deeply terrified of having surgery of any kind and was even an anxious mess who struggled to function when I needed my gallbladder taken out 4.5 months after this birth) just to make it all stop throughout the entire labour.

Hyperremesis Gravidarum is no laughing matter, it is a serious condition that can have devastating consequences if it isn’t treated properly and if the woman experiencing it isn’t taken seriously. I was very lucky in my first two pregnancies that it didn’t reach the point of severe life threatening dehydration that I went through at 35 weeks with my third child, it could have very easily gone that way all three times and I believe that my regular visits to the ER and L&D wards at least once a month for fluids with my first two children whenever I started to get dehydrated prevented that from occurring, I only wish that I had gone in sooner with my third child and avoided all the fear and anxiety that I experienced during those 12 hours.

Today my children are aged 5 years old, 3 years old and 2 years old. They are healthy and happy and while my oldest child has sensory processing disorder and may be on the high end of the Autism spectrum it wasn’t caused by the Hyperremesis Gravidarum. I am thankful that I had the chance to research Hyperremesis Gravidarum after my first child was born when no one else in the medical world would tell me anything about it or even admit that I had it. I am grateful to have had the chance to have Dr Dennis Danso at Latrobe Regional Hospital in Victoria (he has now returned to his home country unfortunately, at least the women there will now benefit from his wonderful care) as my obstetrician with my second and third children and that he took my concerns seriously and officially diagnosed me with Hyperremesis Gravidarum (although it would have helped if he had known that Zofran was a good alternative to using Maxalon with my second pregnancy, he learned from having me as a patient and was able to help other mothers with Hyperremesis Gravidarum afterwards). If more doctors were like him and willing to learn not only for themselves but learn from their patients a lot less women would have to suffer from this awful condition and would get the treatment that they need.


For more information on Hyperremesis Gravidarum visit www.helpher.org


Have you experienced something during the conception journey, pregnancy, birth and/or post partum that you would like to share on this blog? Send me an email at footprintsandrainbows@gmail.com with your story, if you would like your first name shared or would prefer to remain anonymous, and a link to your blog or website or facebook business page (if you have one).


Jenna Edgley
Student Birth Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS

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"Why Can't I Have A Birth Only Package If I Want/Need It?" I SAY YOU CAN!

2/9/2014

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This particular subject came up today in a Doula Group discussion, although instead of being why/why not it was on the pro's and cons of having a package like this on offer.

I personally have such a package listed here on my website, and mentioned this and what was involved in it. After much discussion and a lot of negativity placed on such a package by the "more" experienced doulas involved in the discussion I was eventually told that I should give up charging fees for my services and just join a not-for-profit group that offers free doula support to avoid lowering the value of Doulas in my area.
Fair enough, I thought, if I had finished my certification and had 20+ births behind me then yes I might as well be working for a not-for-profit organisation for free, that is if such an organisation even existed in my country in the first place! (As far as I am aware no such thing currently exists in Australia, though feel free to share details with me if I am wrong!)

But sadly for me that isn't the case, At the time of writing this I have 2 in person births behind me (as of July 2017 that number had increased to 6 births) at the moment, and have also supported several women online during their labours. I am not an experienced doula with "200+" births under my belt having to turn away or refer clients on to avoid being burned out by my work or to avoid having 2 clients go into labour at the same time, I am a relatively new doula and I am completing the last few parts of my studies in order to become certified. When I first started studying over 2 years ago it was the norm for a new doula to offer her services for free in exchange for her first 2-3 certifying births and the experience that comes with it. These days if you charge for free you are "frowned upon" and in some cases even ostracised from the Doula Support groups on Facebook.

And that is where the Birth Only package could come in very handy for new doulas, and a good option for potential clients who cannot afford to pay for a full package even when it is offered on a payment plan (which I do offer as well by the way, though it isn't listed here on the website or on the Business Page).
For some families it is impossible to be able to afford the full package of an experienced doula ($1000+ for a full package), or even a newer doula ($500+), even when the doula offers a weekly/fortnightly/monthly payment plan, and a Birth Only package could fit their needs quite nicely.


So what is involved in a Birth Only Package?


This varies from Doula to Doula among those who do offer this package.
All doulas who offer this particular package include an initial interview. This is to allow you to ask the doula questions, and for her to ask you questions as well. It gives you both a chance to get to know each other and see if you mesh/get along well. If you don't mesh or get along well in the first interview then that doula is not for you!
Some doulas include a prenatal appointment in the Birth Only package, while others only include the initial interview and use the interview as a chance for the client to get to know the doula and vice versa as mentioned above (this is what my Birth Only Package includes, with no prenatal appointment although they can be purchased separately if needed at $25 per prenatal).
Some Doulas also include taking photo's of you during labour and of baby being born, or provide a camera for partner/midwife etc to use to take photo's.
The majority of Doulas offering Birth Only support also offer the usual unlimited phone, email and/or facebook support as well (although this may have to fit around other births as well so it could be up to 48 hours until you get a reply, unless it is a medical emergency and then we do everything that we can within reason to reply ASAP).
Some even provide regular (weekly/fortnightly) email updates with information on pregnancy (related to what gestation you are at) and birth in general for you to read through in your own time, these may also include visual aids and links to websites that can help with optimal positioning of baby during pregnancy/birth.

And of course they all attend your birth as your support person. Contrary to common belief you do not always have to see someone in person regularly in order to bond with them or get to know them. Around 50-80% of meshing/bonding is done at the first meeting where you get to know each other and find out if the doula is a good match for you, the rest can be done either with prenatal appointments or by phone, email, facebook and/or text message. It doesn't matter which method you use as long as it works for you and suits your particular needs.


What are the Pro's and Cons of Using this kind of package?

I will start with the Cons, as there are a few more of those than there are of the Pro's.
  • You don't get as much face-to-face time. Some people like more face-to-face time, others don't, and that is ok. If you prefer more face-to-face time then this type of package is probably not for you.
  • The doula doesn't get to meet your care providers. This isn't really necessary in most cases anyway, but some doulas like to meet the other people who will be supporting you and baby during this time so that they can get to know them a little bit. Of course in the public system here in Australia there is a chance that you won't get the person that you see at your prenatal appointments when you are in labour anyway so this issue can sometimes be a moot point.
  • It is low cost. This is both a pro and a con, but for the purposes of this current point I am listing the cons of it which include - that you are forgoing some of the other benefits of having a doula like prenatal appointments and physical support during pregnancy, seeing the doula face-to-face more often and learning comfort measures in person.
  • This package is also not recommended for first time mums, because it doesn't include a lot of the support that is offered in the full package there is not enough time to fully prepare a first time mother for labour and birth, so this package is not for you if you are a first time mum.
  • This package is also not recommended for those who need lots of support. If you have anxiety or are having a high risk pregnancy that requires more in person support then please choose another package.


The Pro's are the following:
  • It is low cost and can save you money. Enough said there. Most doula packages cover all the extras included like the prenatal appointments, daycare/babysitting fees if the doula has a child/children and the travel costs involved in getting to and from prenatals, birth and postnatals and other costs involved in being a Doula. By removing the prenatals and postnatals from this package it reduces the costs for the doula as well as the fee for you.
  • You don't have to juggle your life around prenatals and postnatals, this can reduce your stress if you lead a very busy life or have older children that keep you so busy that you barely have time to put your feet up during the day let alone fit in one more appointment (I know that feeling all too well some days!). And to be completely honest this can be good for the doula as well, less prenatals/postnatals to fit into the diary can leave a bit more time for us to spend with our own families between seeing clients.
  • You can ask the doula any question, at any time, regardless of how weird it may be. Sometimes we may not be able to reply for up to 48 hours (or more if we are at a particularly long labour) but we always get back to you as soon as we can, usually within 24 hours. If you have a medical emergency then please go straight to your closest hospital.
  • This package can be beneficial for those who are well educated about birth or who are experienced with birth from having had children before. It offers you the extra support during labour that you may need, and allows you to do your own thing the rest of the time.



So as you can see the cons are slightly more than the pro's, but for women with more than one child, a woman who leads a very busy life, a woman who cannot afford the full package of the doula that she knows is the right one for her even with a payment plan or a woman who is very well educated in the ways of birth the pro's can outweigh the cons.
This option has been labeled as "non-viable" for doulas to offer at a reduced rate, something about reducing the value of a doulas work was mentioned and something else about reducing business for other doulas in the area, I won't go into specific details but I can say that this option would benefit everyone, current clients, future clients and doulas as well if it was available in every town, state and country. Not everyone needs all the extra's that a doula can offer, just as not everyone can go without them. It is up to the individual client to decide what she needs and what she doesn't need and that is why I have this option available for any client who may need it.

It is always a good idea to research your options, and this particular package may not be the right one for you, but if it is the right one for you then Congratulations! You've found yourself a doula that you can afford and you are also helping him/her to keep food on the table as well :)


Jenna Edgley
Student Birth Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS
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    Author

    Jenna Edgley is a Certified Birth Doula, a Placenta Encapsulator, a student of both Childbirth Education and Rebozo practitioner training, a mum of 3 children, a small business owner, a potty mouth & a self-admitted coffee addict.
    Gemstones and plants are her weak point!
    ​And she collects them with the same dedicated passion that she applies to Pregnancy and Birth Support.

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