policy for collecting doula payment after missed precipitous birth?

[starbarrett]

I had a precipitous labor and I didn't have time to call my doula for the actual birth. I had been having peek-a-boo contractions for weeks and had been in early labor for several days. The evening before the birth, my contractions felt a kick stronger, and I called her to come up. She lives an hour away, but shortly after sho got there, my labor seemed like it was going to stall again the way it had been the previous 3 nights. We agreed it was probably best just to go to sleep and see what happened and she went to stay a couple minutes away at a mutual friend of ours. I went to sleep, and woke up 3 hours later in transition, though I didn't know it. I convinced my husband to call the midwife, just to let her know I was in labor, maybe for real this time. When she heard me vocalizing through a contraction in the background of the call, she rushed over, and good thing 'cause 45 minutes later, our little boy was born. Her student assistant didn't arrive in time, either.

My doula was a great resource during my pregnancy. She was "on-call" for 5 weeks while I went a full two weeks past due and she called me every few days during those two weeks to check in. She missed work the next day at her day-job due to not having slept waiting for the call.

I feel like i should pay her in full, as it wasn't her fault she missed the birth itself, and I know she was counting on the money. But she's a friend of mine and i just have a feeling that she's not going to accept it. Plus my husband thinks I'm a bit nutty for wanting to pay full price for a service I didn't receive. I feel maybe somewhat less than the agreed upon amount might be fair, but I don't want her to feel like I'm haggling with her.

It's touchy handling money issues with friends, and I just don't know how to broach it with her. I imagine she may feel the same way. I feel it might be easier if there is an industry standard protocol for dealing with a case like this-- is can't be that uncommon that a doula misses a precipitous birth. What is the standard policy for collecting payment for those situations?

[Persephone]

In my contract, which I copied from another doula, it says that I take half the payment for the time I spend prenatally with the clients. I should already have that amount anyway, because I require half to be paid at the last prenatal, and half to be paid at the postpartum.

[KateMary]

I had a similar situation and I paid my doula half the fee. I had already paid it as a deposit, the other half was to be paid postpartum. She suggested it after the fact and I felt it was fair. She had done two prenatal visits, a few phone calls, including the morning of the birth, and a postpartum visit within a week of the birth. So I felt like it was money well spent but I didn't pay for a service I didn't recieve. Especially since I didn't know my birth would be so quick. If a person had ample time to call the doula and just didn't for whatever reason, I would think they should pay full price. But doesn't sound like that is what happened with you, you just were not able to call her in time.

[pamamidwife]

I dont' refund if I miss the birth because clients dont' call in time or if it happens too fast. I still provide postpartum care, I'm still on call for the birth (which limits what I do personally out of town), etc. :)

Talk with her and go with your heart.

[Maggi315]

I have charged 1/2 the fee. That covers my being on call and the postpartum visits, plus the ones I already did. Now, if I found that they just decided not to call because they didn't want to pay, that would be a different story. But if that was the case, I think getting the money would be impossible anyway.

[starbarrett]

Thanks for the great advice. I'll talk with her and see what she feels is fair. I'll make sure I at least pay her half.

[lunadoula]

I haven't actually had it come up but in my contract it says they must pay in full. For the reasons Pam said.