Doulas honor and celebrate the work of the midwife.
On International Midwives Day, the Metropolitan Doula Group, in cooperation
with the Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, is hosting its second annual
celebration of midwives in New York City. Five hundred midwives and birth
professionals have been invited to share an afternoon of massage,
refreshment and entertainment. The members of the doula group will massage
any midwife (or reporter) who attends, in an effort to demonstrate a
tangible part of the work that they do during labor.
The Metropolitan Doula Group is a support group for aspiring and
experienced doulas. This year the members of the group have provided labor
support to over 150 women. In a growing effort to reach out to the
communities, they have provided volunteer doulas to pregnant women who
would otherwise give their babies up for adoption. Volunteers also work
with women in need at Brookdale Hospital and at the Elizabeth Seton
Childbearing Center. The group is an active participant with Maternity
Center Association in the Mother/Baby Health Project for homeless women in
two shelters in Brooklyn.
The greatest challenge for both doulas and midwives is working with
families, care providers and institutions that fear birth. Since midwives
do not have privileges at many hospitals, doulas, who are accepted into
every hospital in the NY area, can offer their continuous calming presence
during labor to families who want something more than routine obstetrical
care. Doulas hope to give these families, and the institutions they give
birth in, a small taste of the value of the midwifery model of care.
Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (Vol 2 Issue 18 May 5, 2000)
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