When people think doulas, they often picture someone attending their birth alongside them and any other support people, in person. I’ve chatted in a previous blog post all about full spectrum doulas, and how we offer more than just birth support. But did you know you can hire a doula even if you don’t live in the same place? There are number of reasons why this might be a good fit for you. In this blog post I will specifically discuss how virtual birth doula support functions. That being said, there are plenty of ways to make multiple forms of doula support work virtually!

1. Perhaps you live in a remote or rural area, and there simply aren’t any doulas nearby! Well, the world if your oyster. One benefit of the covid-19 pandemic is that more and more doulas all over the world are offering virtual support, regardless of where you might live.

2. Maybe there are plenty of doulas nearby to you, but there aren’t any who feel like the right fit for you. Maybe this is because you’re queer or trans, and you want to hire a doula with shared lived experience. Maybe you can’t afford the doulas who are local to you. Or maybe you would simply prefer to work with someone else!

3. During the covid-19 pandemic, we have seen restrictions pop up in various birth locations intermittently, restricting the labouring person to just one support person. If you know this is going to be the case for you, or that it might be, maybe you prefer to hire a doula who offers virtual or remote support so that you know that you will have access to their services no matter what restrictions might come up.

4. Some folks are more private than others, and sometimes you already know that you’d like it to be just you and your loved one(s). Some people want just themself and their partner, or their friend, or someone else, and prefer to access doula support virtually.

So, now that you understand why you might want to hire a virtual doula, how do virtual doula services work?

The great thing about technology these days is that there are so many different ways to make virtual doula support work well, and make it work for you. While it might look different from doula to doula and client to client, generally, prenatal visits will be held via a video calling platform, or perhaps even by phone. Video is generally helpful so that your doula can share their screen to show you resources, and/or demonstrate positions or techniques with their own body. Then, much like an in-person doula agreement, you would have access to your doula via multiple channels of communications to ask them questions, etc. as your pregnancy progresses.

For birth itself, your doula will be available to you as if they were with you in person; during labour, you are your doula’s priority. When I support a client virtually I clear my schedule, set myself up in a spot in my home, and hunker down for the hours to come. We might video chat during your labour, maybe we have phone calls intermittently or consistently, or maybe I am texting you or your partner tips and tricks to try! Sometimes, my clients opt to call me and put me on speaker phone while the doctor or midwife is in the room, so that I can hear what is going on. The wonderful thing about virtual support is that it is so versatile. It can be adjusted until it fits your needs just right! Whether virtual or in person, a doula can offer you a plethora of knowledge, ongoing emotional support, and physical support too- this just tends to take the form of demonstration and education when applied virtually. And even if you hire a virtual doula, they will be your advocate—by helping you and your birth team prepare to advocate together, and by helping to find the find questions to ask in order to get all the information that you need and want.

As with any form of doula care, the most important thing when choosing a virtual doula is that you feel safe, comfortable and supported.

The Planted Doula, a.k.a. Lara Esrey, is a full spectrum doula, childbirth and postpartum educator, integrative lactation and infant feeding specialist, and community herbalist located in Hamilton, ON, offering services both virtually and in person. They support all families, regardless of where they are at in their reproductive journey. Lara is a queer birthworker, and especially passionate about supporting queer and LGBTQ families. You can find out more about Lara’s doula support services here.