doula volunteering

I've set my dreams of midwifery on one side for the moment, it was
borderline whether a registration here would transfer to the UK, plus
we're not in a situation where I could start midwifery school right now,
so everything is on hold until it's clearer where we might be in the
long term.

A few events have made me realise I want to be with women in labour, I
had a friend go into labour whilst I was with her, she'd been having
false alarms, so she thought it wasn't the real thing, but there was a
point when she changed and I knew she had to do it according to the
plan, which was to go to a particular hospital and have the kids watched
by a family member nearby, but it was going to take some time for all
that to happen, so I said go to the hospital as soon as you can, the
baby was born 4 hours after I waved them off, 3 hours after they got to
the hospital.

Is anyone aware of any groups/agencies that have use for this, maybe
some of the prolife, pregnancy support charities. I'm aware of the basic
cerifications that a doula can have, so I need to figure out how they
fit into making me a reasonable volunteer.


Cheers
Anne

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
. ..
Is anyone aware of any groups/agencies that have use for this, maybe some
of the prolife, pregnancy support charities. I'm aware of the basic
cerifications that a doula can have, so I need to figure out how they fit
into making me a reasonable volunteer.

I was actually talking with some friends today about this(for myself), and
they suggested looking into women's clinics, and things like Health
Department where low-income women would go, because they can't afford
doulas. Also there are some pregnancy crisis centers to get some info from.
I've been with 2 women through 3 labors and I absolutely LOVE it. During the
last one I was basically a doula and had to go between the mom and the
nurses/OB and that's when I decided I am going to become a birth doula. I'll
volunteer for those who can't afford it and be paid from those who can.
Medicaid patients are still treated like low-lifes by certain doctors here
and I know they could benefit from having some support.
Marie

I was actually talking with some friends today about this(for myself), and
they suggested looking into women's clinics, and things like Health
Department where low-income women would go, because they can't afford
doulas. Also there are some pregnancy crisis centers to get some info from.
I've been with 2 women through 3 labors and I absolutely LOVE it. During the
last one I was basically a doula and had to go between the mom and the
nurses/OB and that's when I decided I am going to become a birth doula. I'll
volunteer for those who can't afford it and be paid from those who can.
Medicaid patients are still treated like low-lifes by certain doctors here
and I know they could benefit from having some support.

That's a good idea, Marie, thank you. I'm not likely to be doing
anything fast, but if I have the thoughts in the background I'm more
likely to notice things if I do come across them randomly and I can pull
information together when I have a spare moment. There was an open day
at a pregnancy crisis centre a few weeks ago, but I only found out about
it the day before, so I couldn't go, I need to be more organised do I
don't miss opportunities like that!

Anne

On Mar 7, 11:49 pm, Anne Rogers wrote:

Is anyone aware of any groups/agencies that have use for this, maybe
some of the prolife, pregnancy support charities. I'm aware of the basic
cerifications that a doula can have, so I need to figure out how they
fit into making me a reasonable volunteer.

Cheers
Anne

There is a real need for this. I don't know how or whether it is
being
filled in your area, but here is an example of a program that trains
and
uses volunteer doulas.

http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/?page=18

Maybe they would know who to contact in your area to find or volunteer
in this kind of program.

--Betsy