Koyuki is currently on extended maternity leave from birth doula work.
Please contact Birth Day Presence for a birth doula.
For general information about doulas, please click here: About Doulas
As your doula, it is my job to provide you with the physical, emotional, and informational support that you and your partner need throughout the perinatal period. Here is how I do it:
Initial Consultation
To begin with, I offer a free “meet-and-greet” consultation. This is a time for you to get to know me and to decide if we are good match. I can tell you about myself and my services, and also answer any preliminary questions you might have about your pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
Prenatal Support/Prenatal Meeting
If you decide that you would like to work with me, we will schedule a prenatal meeting at your home, most likely 4-6 weeks before your estimated due date. The specifics topics that come up vary from situation to situation, but typical strands of discussion include:
- Your personal hopes, wishes, and fears about the birthing experience.
- Your preferences for pain medication and other medical interventions, and the corresponding techniques and approaches that will best support these preferences.
- How we can work effectively with your medical caregiver's and/or medical care facility's policies and procedures.
- What you can do to prepare your body for a healthy birthing experience.
- Different paths that your labor could take and what we might do to cope.
- Ways to prepare yourself and your household for your early parenting days.
In the months, weeks, and days leading up to your labor, you and your birth partner are always welcome to call, email, or text message me with questions or updates – or just to chat! If the need arises, we can also schedule a second prenatal meeting. I will allow you to dictate the amount of contact that is best for you, and I will always be there whenever you need me.
Labor Support
When you believe that you are going into labor, you will call me. I will begin by giving you support and suggestions over the telephone. When you are ready, I will join you at your home. I will labor with you at home for as long as possible, and I will accompany you to the hospital. (There are also some situations in which I might meet you and your birth partner at the hospital.) The specific ways in which I support labor depend upon each client's situation and needs, but might include the following:
- Providing massage and counterpressure to help ease the pain of contractions.
- Suggesting positions that can alleviate pain, turn a malpositioned baby, or speed a slow labor.
- Helping you and your birth partner interact with your medical staff in order to give you maximum opportunity to follow your birth plan.
- Seeing to routine household/logistical details that might otherwise distract you and your birth partner from the process at hand.
- Providing your birth partner with the opportunity to rest, eat, and drink, so that s/he can continue to offer you strong, present support.
- Providing the encouragement, perspective, and information needed to prevent anxiety from overtaking your birthing experience.
Postpartum Support/Postnatal Meeting
After your baby is born, I will work to ensure that your medical staff complies with your postpartum requests, such as allowing you to have immediate skin-to-skin contact with your baby or delaying newborn medical procedures. I will also help you establish breastfeeding, answer any questions about postpartum care and procedures, and give you strategies for coping with the immediate postpartum period. When you, your birth partner, and your baby are ready, I will leave you to enjoy some quiet family time together.
When you are ready – usually 1-4 weeks after the birth – we will schedule a postnatal meeting at your home. At this meeting, we will discuss the birth and your early parenting experiences. I can also answer questions and provide you with information about any other resources you may need, such as lactation consultants, postpartum doulas, or new mothers' support groups.
As in the prenatal period, I invite you in the postpartum period to call, email, or text message me with questions, concerns, updates, surprises, information – anything that you would like to share. I will always be your doula, and I am always ready to provide you with the support that you need in your journey as a mother.
