Interest from pregnant women in having home births have increased drastically since COVID-19 began. Despite this interest, many women are still going to hospitals to give birth. Doulas and the expectant moms they are supporting are facing new challenges in the birthing process. During this difficult time, doulas are working hard to take care of birthing moms and their families. Tikvah Wadley, who is a birth doula and leads HealthConnect One’s Community-Based Doula program, shares some tips she thinks are useful during COVID-19.
Tikvah’s Doula Tips:
- Wash your hands.
- Research online where you’re able to purchase your own personal protective equipment.
- Keep your phone charger on hand because many hospitals are moving toward virtual support. This can drain your battery quickly and we don’t need your phone to die during pushing. ?
- Share supportive and sometimes humorous text messages with your clients.
- Remember it’s not your fault if you’re not allowed to accompany her to the birth room.
- Share your non-touch comfort measure skills with her during COVID-19.
- Send virtual hugs.
- Try to get some rest.
- Be kind to yourself.
- Don’t forget to ask if you can have a picture of the baby to help remind you of why you continue to do this work. ?
Do you have any tips? Share them with us in the comment section of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or send them to info@healthconnectone.org and we will add them to this post.
Additional resource: Our friends at DONA have also created a toolkit for doulas that you can find here.