Letters to the Editor
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Doula, pronounced 'dew-la'
What on earth is a doula? -- Anonymous
A doula is a birthing coach, usually an older woman experienced in everything that's going to happen. People who work as doulas can be nurses, or midwives as well. Their role is something akin to a patient advocate, seeing to the mother's physical and emotional comfort when the medical professionals are more concerned with her and the babies' health.
Our birthing class was taught by one. My snarky opinion from our one time through the whole deal was that a doula is a stand-in for a woman whose partner and mother are both either uninterested or not competent to hold her hand during labor. They are not to be confused with a doulie, which is a pickup truck with double tires on the rear axle for hauling heaving loads.
They say the baby has to go to the nursery now, or the mom has to rest, or the baby has to go to NICU [neonatal intensive care unit]. And the baby doesn't have to go to the nursery."
When they sent our daughter off to the NICU immediately after she was born, my wife propelled me out of the room to follow, which was *not* where I wanted to be. My top two choices at that point were 'be with my wife for the first moment of peace in 48 hours' and 'sleep in that really uncomfortable chair-thing'. 'Follow the thing was expelled' was not something I had contemplated.
One of the memories I'll keep forever of that day is of walking the little tupperware cart with the baby in it down the hall and thinking, "I didn't follow her appendix when they took that out. Why am I walking away now?"