Doulas at Home Births

A majority of the women I support are giving birth in the hospital.  I've been asked recently to support a few women who are planning to give birth at home under the care of a Licensed Midwife.  As I've considered what my role might look like in the home setting vs. the hospital setting, I posed the question to a few birth focused communities that I'm a part of on Facebook.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading responses that I received and thought that sharing them here might be beneficial to other women who are considering hiring a doula for their home birth team and/ or other doulas who are asked to provide support at a home birth.  Feel free to comment below with any additional thoughts or experiences.  

Thoughts from women who've birthed at home...

M- I did have a doula, yes. Her role was "whatever needed doing." She offered emotional support to the whole family, helped filling and emptying the pool, helped care for the kids, tidied up about us. I found her really good! I would suggest having a close friendship with your doula though, because women who don't bond well with them don't find them as helpful as I did!

S- Yes. I had my partner, a doula and 2 midwives (they come in pairs for safety reasons). It was extremely helpful especially at end with my long labor and pushing phase. My partner got really exhausted so I leaned on my doula for support. She also helped by taking care of all the little things like water/hydration, birth pool water temp, food, etc., so my partner could attend to me 100%. I would definitely have doula support at my next birth as well! Very helpful!