What's a Doula?

Yes. We have trained, full spectrum doulas who can support you in navigating your right to choose what is best for your physical and mental well-being. If you reside outside of Illinois and need assistance getting to Chicago, please click here for additional details and resources.

You’ll build a trusting relationship with your team of birth doulas from day one. That means you’ll have an experienced, caring companion available by phone or text to ask questions throughout your pregnancy. Once you’re in labor, your birth doula can help with comfort measures at home, answer questions and give you peace of mind about the process ahead. She’ll provide continuous labor support at your chosen birth location, which usually means some combination of hands-on comfort measures, emotional support and offering support to the birth partner, if needed. Your doula will stay with you immediately after birth, to make sure you’re settled and to help with any lactation questions you might have. And she’ll also make a home visit, within the first few weeks, to check on you and your baby.

Nope. Birth doulas don’t replace doctors or nurses. Think of them more as a trained complement to your birth team, so you have ample support and guidance during the magical, exhausting, thrilling, scary, empowering process that is childbirth. While your medical team will likely be popping in and out, as they check on other patients and make rounds, your birth doula is present for you 100 percent. For most clients (and the nervous partners with them), that’s wildly reassuring.

Our team of experienced birth doulas has partnered with dozens of medical providers at most hospitals across the Chicagoland area. We have yet to meet a medical provider who is unhappy that a doula is attending the birth. Remember, you, your doctor or midwife, and your doula all want the same thing: For you to feel empowered and as comfortable as possible during your labor and delivery.

We don’t think so. A birth doula offers hands-on help and emotional support, epidural or not. She can assist with comfort measures during early labor, provide emotional and informational support during labor’s later stages and, once it’s time to push, help with everything from keeping you calm and focused to holding your legs in the easiest position. Once the baby arrives, she can help with skin-to-skin bonding and baby’s first latch. And if you’re worried at all that you’ll feel pressured to forgo medication, fear not: Third Coast Birth + Baby is a no-judgment team that firmly believes there is no “right” way to have a baby.

No doubt, the pandemic has changed a lot—but it doesn’t have to mean skipping the support you deserve. Birth doulas are considered essential workers, meaning they are welcome to attend and actively support births at Chicagoland hospitals. As healthcare workers, most of our team was vaccinated in early 2021. We’re happy to chat through specific questions, concerns or needs you might have about all things COVID. Or, if you’re interested in going the virtual route, we offer virtual doula support as well.

Yes. A dedicated sibling doula can be 100 percent focused on the needs, questions and curiosity of your older kid while you’re laboring and delivering. This person would be on call to respond when needed (so no worrying that your neighbor who offered to babysit will be at work when your water breaks) and is trained in both childcare and fielding kids’ tough labor-related questions. You’ll have a chance to introduce the sibling doula to your child in advance and, because most Chicagoland hospitals do not allow children to be present during childbirth, you’ll have peace of mind that the sibling doula will stay with your child as long as your labor and delivery last.