Long story short, I fired my doula at 39.5 weeks pg. It's been a great decision judging by how incredibly relieved I am to have her off my labor support team! But, it leaves me without a doula, which was #1 on my wish list for this pregnancy.
During my last pregnancy, my husband and I took Bradley classes, which helped get him in the mindset to support me during labor. We're going to go over the materials this weekend and I'm trying to do a "gap analysis" - write down all the places where we were hoping a doula would be inserted in our birthing game plan. For example, I'm thinking of making him some cards with specific things he can say to me, suggestions for positioning, comfort measures, etc.
Anyone have any other ideas? The reason I'm looking for suggestions is that I'm a VBAC and I didn't get fully dilated or to the pushing stage. I was really counting on the doula's experience to help me through the hard bits. In many ways, I'm more like a FTM when it comes to L&D than a seasoned pro.
(BTW, for those curious readers, why fire the doula so late in the game? We hired her last summer in the early weeks of pregnancy based on awesome references and a promising interview. As we started working together during these final weeks, we were blown away by her lack of professionalism. And, 2 people I spoke with have had less-than-favorable birth experiences with her recently and it started out with the behaviors we were seeing. Frankly, we can use the money on something better than a substandard doula.)
During my last pregnancy, my husband and I took Bradley classes, which helped get him in the mindset to support me during labor. We're going to go over the materials this weekend and I'm trying to do a "gap analysis" - write down all the places where we were hoping a doula would be inserted in our birthing game plan. For example, I'm thinking of making him some cards with specific things he can say to me, suggestions for positioning, comfort measures, etc.
Anyone have any other ideas? The reason I'm looking for suggestions is that I'm a VBAC and I didn't get fully dilated or to the pushing stage. I was really counting on the doula's experience to help me through the hard bits. In many ways, I'm more like a FTM when it comes to L&D than a seasoned pro.
(BTW, for those curious readers, why fire the doula so late in the game? We hired her last summer in the early weeks of pregnancy based on awesome references and a promising interview. As we started working together during these final weeks, we were blown away by her lack of professionalism. And, 2 people I spoke with have had less-than-favorable birth experiences with her recently and it started out with the behaviors we were seeing. Frankly, we can use the money on something better than a substandard doula.)
