Most women during their pregnancy are focused solely on getting through their birth. The childbirth education classes that most women go to concentrate on coping methods, the physiological changes during pregnancy and the birth and other “technical” subjects. But then what?

What happens the “day after?”  Your labor might have been long, but it certainly didn’t last more than a day or two. Now you and your baby have a lifetime of living together, learning together, coping together. How can we prepare ourselves during our pregnancy and labor for the long road of parenting ahead of us?

You can begin to develop your parenting values and style during your pregnancy and strengthen and hone them during your labor. How involved will you be in your birth? How much did you educate yourself about childbirth and coping mechanisms beforehand? How involved is your partner in this life-changing event? How assertive will you be in trying to have the birth that you envision?

Doulas, or labor coaches, can help us have a positive birth experience by giving the laboring woman and her partner continuous support, encouragement and care. They help us realize our inner strengths and allow us to be the strong capable women we are, especially when giving birth.

Birthing women need encouragement to trust their bodies and to be the stars of their own labors. Doulas help provide this encouragement. And the confidence a woman discovers in labor can help carry her through the demands of parenting and future challenges in life.

It has been shown through numerous studies that having a doula at your birth will not only help you have a shorter birth with less interventions and even pain, but it will enhance your bond to your baby and can strengthen the connection with your partner

Women who feel more in control of their birth have more confidence in their ability to parent and in the often difficult choices that parents need to make. Women who enter into their labor well-informed and confident of their choices will be able to cope better with the potential difficulties of breastfeeding and will be able to “read” the needs of their baby more effectively. By demonstrating our own capability and power to birth, we pass on this confidence to our babies.

Pregnancy and childbirth are just the beginning of a lifetime of connection to our children. By connecting to ourselves and our abilities during our birth, we can become the parents that we have the potential to be. Doulas can help us on this path.