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(From
USA Today 10/7/2008)
"If
a doula could be put in an IV drip, everyone would get it."--family-practice
doctor Valerie King of the Oregon Health & Sciences University
in Portland
Many women
have never heard of doulas, whose name comes from a Greek word meaning
"women who serve." According to DONA (Doulas of North
America) International..."the doula's role is to provide physical
and emotional support and assistance in gathering information for
women and their partners during labor and birth."
"Labor
is an intensely psychosocial process. It's not just a physical thing
that happens in your body," King says. "I think what a
doula primarily does is put a social safety net around labor."
For millennia,
mothers, sisters and friends filled that role, and sometimes they
still do. But today, many women live far from their families, so
specially trained labor doulas step in. Research has shown that
doulas lead to shorter, less-complicated labors; a lower likelihood
of labor induction, pain medication or epidurals; and more favorable
memories of childbirth.
Some
doctors and patients don't see the need for such low-tech care,
she says. "If a doula could be put in an IV drip, everyone
would get it."
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