Erin Luben, MPH, CD(DONA)

Birth Doula Services

Durham, NC 27705
ph: 919-358-5808
alt: 919-381-1415


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We have a secret in our culture, it's not that birth is painful, it's that women are strong.

Laura Stavoe Harm

What is a doula?

A doula is a woman who accompanies a woman in labor mothers the mother, taking care of her and her partners emotional needs throughout childbirth. A doula also provides support and suggestions for partners that can enhance their experiences of birth.

 

Why a doula?

Historically in the west and still in most cultures, women give birth surrounded by their mothers, sisters and other women family and friends.  When our culture moved birth out of the home and into the hospitals, we took away individual support from the laboring woman’s female community.  We left women alone to labor in a highly medicalized environment.  In the 1970s, women began to ask for their partners to be present.  Families had moved away from one another, and there was much less focus on extended family, so it made sense that the woman wanted her partner to be with her to fill that void.  However, for the partner, this is often a new and powerful situation, as well.  

 

 

 

 

Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers ~ strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.

Barbara Katz Rothman

Durham, NC 27705
ph: 919-358-5808
alt: 919-381-1415