There's one 'job' surrounding birth that I would never formally pursue, and that's being a doula. If a friend asked me to attend her birth as a friend, that'd be one thing, but I don't see myself attending births for a fee as any sort of professional, whether certified or lay.
Despite that, I seem to find myself surrounded, of late, with people in various stages of pursuing training and/or certification as a doula, and I've been reading some of the thread about doulas and doula certification on MDC as well. So I've heard negative things about CAPPA as well as DONA, though, frankly, nothing really negative (so far) about ALACE or CBI (the latter of which I've only recently heard of, period).
The thing I found the most disturbing, however, was that for DONA certification, the doula has to verify that she attended the birth from 4 cm onward. I've seen it postulated that this is to ensure that the doula attends all or most of a woman's active labor, but I have a grave problem with defining it only through a measurement of dilation. I went to their website just to see what I could see. I did find the statement "For certification purposes, active labor will be considered 4 centimeters." I found the Birth Record Sheet that they have to use. By the way, though, "Every vaginal exam must be documented on the Birth Record Sheet’s Labor Progression Chart."
Ugh! This record sheet doesn't look much different than the birth record Heart & Hands has in it for midwives to use. I don't like this medicalisation of the doula.
Tonight, I get to tour Kennestone. Whee!
Despite that, I seem to find myself surrounded, of late, with people in various stages of pursuing training and/or certification as a doula, and I've been reading some of the thread about doulas and doula certification on MDC as well. So I've heard negative things about CAPPA as well as DONA, though, frankly, nothing really negative (so far) about ALACE or CBI (the latter of which I've only recently heard of, period).
The thing I found the most disturbing, however, was that for DONA certification, the doula has to verify that she attended the birth from 4 cm onward. I've seen it postulated that this is to ensure that the doula attends all or most of a woman's active labor, but I have a grave problem with defining it only through a measurement of dilation. I went to their website just to see what I could see. I did find the statement "For certification purposes, active labor will be considered 4 centimeters." I found the Birth Record Sheet that they have to use. By the way, though, "Every vaginal exam must be documented on the Birth Record Sheet’s Labor Progression Chart."
Ugh! This record sheet doesn't look much different than the birth record Heart & Hands has in it for midwives to use. I don't like this medicalisation of the doula.
Tonight, I get to tour Kennestone. Whee!