Train to become a birth doula today!
Tracy Wilson Peters has been training doulas for over 15 years. Tracy loves teaching and doula trainings and childbirth educator trainings are her passion! Tracy is the CEO and founder of CAPPA! Students who attend Tracy’s doula trainings enjoy a relaxed atmosphere where they can gain knowledge, have fun and most importantly learn all the essentials of being a professional doula. Tracy’s classes are held at the CAPPA World Headquarters in the start of the art classroom. The classroom is even equipped with a fully featured simulated hospital room, with real medical equipment.
What is a Labor Doula?
A doula is a person who attends the birthing family before, during, and just after the birth of the baby. The certified doula is trained to deliver emotional support from home to hospital, ease the transition into the hospital environment, and be there through changing hospital shifts and alternating provider schedules. The doula serves as a labor coach and information source to give the mother and her partner the added comfort of additional support throughout the entire labor. She encourages and promotes self-advocacy, informed choice, and excellent communication between the mother and care providers. There are a variety of titles used by women offering these kinds of services such as “birth assistant,” “labor support specialist” and “doula”.
What does a doula do?
The following is a general description of what you might expect from a CAPPA certified labor doula. Typically, doulas meet with the parents in the second or third trimester of the pregnancy to get acquainted and to learn about prior birth experiences and the history of this pregnancy. She may help you develop a birth plan, teach relaxation, visualization, and breathing skills useful for labor. Most importantly, the doula will provide comfort, support, and information about birth options.
A doula can help the woman to determine prelabor from true labor and early labor from active labor. At a point determined by the woman in labor, the doula will come to her and assist her by:
- Helping her to rest and relax
- Providing support for the woman’s partner
- Encouraging nutrition and fluids in early labor
- Assisting her in using a variety of helpful positions and comfort measures
- Constantly focus on the comfort of both the woman and her partner
- Helping the environment to be one in which the woman feels secure and confident
- Providing her with information on birth options
A doula works cooperatively with the health care team. In the event of a complication, a doula can be a great help in understanding what is happening and what options the family may have. The doula may also help with the initial breastfeeding and in preserving the privacy of the new family during the first hour after birth.
How do I certify as a doula? Click here.
What will you learn at doula training?
- The doulas role and scope of practice
- What doulas don’t do
- Professional standards- how to communicate professionally with health care providers
- The CAPPA Certification process
- Early labor doula care
- Active labor doula care
- Transition phase doula care
- Pushing – how doulas can help
- The fear -tension -pain cycle
- Massage techniques for labor
- Breathing with clients during contractions
- Emotional support during labor
- How you can help the woman’s partner during labor
- Helping clients with birth plans
- Specific comfort techniques for labor
- Positioning for labor
- The doula and c-sections
- Medications used in labor
- Medical interventions in labor
- Rebozo uses
- Marketing your business (note** Tracy’s marketing skills are the reason that CAPPA is the largest birth org on facebook and the world’s largest childbirth organization)
- Client interviews
- Client contracts
- Postpartum follow up visits
