LJWorld.com

• Email
• iPod-friendly
• Print

When Loralee Stevens was pregnant, she knew just what she needed to get through the childbirth experience.

"Most women have their husbands or boyfriends there when they're giving birth. I wanted a woman," said Stevens, who gave birth to son Simon 11 months ago. "I didn't want to be there with a man you don't know how they're going to hold up under pressure. I wanted a woman."

Lawrence doula Brenda Frankenfeld, left, has a kiss for 11-month-old Simon Stevens. Frankenfeld assisted Simon's mother, Loralee Stevens, right, during childbirth. Doulas provide emotional, physical and informational support during labor.

So Stevens, who lives in Lawrence and works in the admissions office at Johnson County Community College, opted for a relatively new option in Lawrence. The person she chose to accompany her during labor was Brenda Frankenfeld, who is a doula (pronounced "DOO-la").

The word was originally used in ancient Greece to refer to a woman servant who assisted other women. Today, it refers to a woman who is trained to provide continuous emotional, physical and informational support during childbirth.

Bedside manner

Doctors and nurses are, by necessity, often called away from a pregnant woman's side to attend other patients on a busy ward.

But a doula never leaves a laboring woman alone, according to the Doulas of North America, an international nonprofit organization that trains and certifies professional labor assistants.

A doula understands the emotions and physiology of normal birth and is trained to help with relaxation, pain-coping techniques, positions and movements to help labor progress.

Doulas are becoming more popular with expectant parents and recognized as valued members of the maternity health care team, according to the doula organization.

However, doula training is not medical training. A doula is not a clinical practitioner, like an obstetrician-gynecologist. It's also different from being a midwife, which requires more extensive training. A nurse midwife can deliver babies and provide full-scope obstetric and gynecological care; a doula doesn't perform clinical tasks.

Lawrence is home to the Heartland Doulas, an association of eight women who offer support, guidance and information to pregnant women.

The practitioners who belong to Heartland Doulas come from a variety of backgrounds, including nursing, midwifery and childbirth education.

Some of the association's members are awaiting certification from the international doula group, while others have professional degrees in related health-care fields.

Cheryl Adams, R.N., helped found Heartland Doulas with Frankenfeld last year.

Adams is community education specialist for Lawrence Memorial Hospital's parenting program, and is a DONA member.

She also works part-time as a labor and delivery nurse at St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Overland Park.

"It really is wonderful when a laboring woman can have someone who is skilled in support measures like comfort techniques, and has the knowledge of the physiology of birth so she can suggest positions to help the labor progress better," Adams said.

She cites studies that have shown that women who are attended by doulas while giving birth have shorter labors, experience less discomfort, request less pain medication, have fewer complications and report higher satisfaction with the birthing experience.

Spreading the word

In cities such as San Diego and Boulder, Colo., doulas are in such professional demand that they have waiting lists, Frankenfeld said.

"Especially on the coasts, doulas are used a lot," she said. "Here in Lawrence, it's sort of a foreign idea."

But one that's catching on.

"Just by word of mouth so far, we have been receiving clients," she said. "I already have three, within one month. Indeed there's a demand for it, to have a professional labor support person with you, wherever you choose to have your baby."

The enormity of the job isn't lost on Frankenfeld.

"It's real exciting, because it's just beginning here," she said. "It's such a rewarding job, guiding people through one of the most momentous moments in their lives."