Did anyone benefit from having a doula?

I had a doula when I had my oldest 18 years ago. She was great to have in the delivery room, very supportive. But it did end up in an emergency csection and she wasn't allowed into the operating room. She was allowed into my recovery room though and she helped me nurse my baby for the first time...I was shaking so badly I was afraid to hold her. I didn't choose to have one with my next two, which were planned csections, but I think it's worth it if you can.

I had one and it was worthless. She didn’t come til I was in active labor. I never dilated past 1 cm so she wouldn’t come. Check their policy. That was hers. Stupid! She was always too busy for me because of her you get daughter. I’m not sure how I was suppose to know that would be the case. She offered postpartum visits and she was worthless still because she couldn’t find child care. Ask lots of questions before you hire someone and see how they plan to help. Honestly mine projected onto me a lot of natural birth ideas and I was okay with that but in the end I had a c section. Most hospitals only allow 1 person in the OR room during a c section. And they have lactation consultants for breastfeeding. Make sure they are in line with your ideas and birth plan. Lesson learned through this whole process is keep an open mind. Your baby has a plan just hard because you don’t know their plan.

I had a doula to support us during the birth of my now almost 2year old boy and I highly recommend it. She was very experienced and the preparation included many different courses (hypno birthing, spinning babies, breast feeding, videos of births etc) and she was also there the entire 1.5days after my induction until the delivery in the hospital. I had a complicated birth and nearly needed a C section but we were able to deliver naturally in the end. Overall very positive experience, I don’t think I will need a doula for the delivery of my second baby but it surely helped a lot for my first (even though I am a physician myself).

I had one and she had another client due around my time so she showed up for only a a few hours. I was in labor for three days before I had an emergency C section and she did happen to come at the toughest part of my labor which was really helpful. I was in so much pain I though I couldn’t move but she got me up and in the shower which really helped. I would ask her if she has any other clients that might have a baby around that time , I didn’t think to ask this and was super disappointed when she wasn’t with me the entire time I needed her.