November 22, 2024 • 20 mins
How can the right combination of people, place, and policy create a birth experience that feels empowering and supportive? Join us on The Ordinary Doula Podcast as we unravel this essential trio that shapes your birthing journey. Discover how assembling the perfect support team of partners, family, friends, and healthcare providers can have a transformative effect on your birth, and learn about the invaluable role a doula plays in bridging any gaps in empathy and experience. I’ll share insights on how the nursing staff's influence can vary and why building rapport with your nurse can make a significant difference.
Also on the agenda is the critical choice of hospital or birth center. We’ll explore the ways that familiarizing yourself with your birthing environment can reduce anxiety and boost comfort. From virtual tours to personalizing your space with sensory items like lighting and floral arrangements, you'll hear tips on setting a positive atmosphere. We’ll also take a closer look at hospital policies, which can differ widely and affect your experience. Armed with knowledge about people, place, and policy, you’ll feel more prepared to navigate your chosen birthing environment.
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Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice Helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:40):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
I am Angie Rozier and I'm yourhost and I'm so glad to be with
you here on today's episode.
So today I want to talk aboutthree P's.
I'm going to call them People,place and policy.
So, in regarding your upcomingbirth experience, anyone's
(01:09):
upcoming birth experience, thosethree things the people, the
place and the policy are goingto have a pretty significant
impact on the type of optionsthat are presented to you and
the type of experience that youmay be having.
(01:33):
It's, it's interesting toarticulate kind of what is
missing in some hospital systemsand illustrate why people
recognize the need to bring intheir own dedicated support.
That's why I have a job, that'swhy doulas exist, is because
something is missing in systemsand there's.
There's kind of they've droppeda piece of care that people
need to create for their own.
(01:53):
Hence we have labor support,professional labor support, as
well as family and friends laborsupport.
So, people, place and policy.
Your experience will definitelybe impacted by people, place
and policy.
Let's talk first about people.
The people involved with yourexperience, of course, are going
to be you and your chosensupport person or persons.
(02:15):
Maybe that's going to be apartner, a sister, a mom, a
friend.
Your people will also include aprovider, whether you have
selected a midwife or a doctorto be your main caregiver, and
the people are also going to bethe ancillary staff at whatever
you've chosen to give birth,whether that's a hospital, um,
(02:36):
or a birth center or home.
So hopefully you've chosen somegood support people.
If you know that your innercircle your partner, your sister
, your mom, your friend is notgoing to be good in some aspects
of this, maybe you want toconsider expanding your team a
little bit and getting thesupport that it that you are
(02:59):
looking for.
Just today I was speaking with afriend and client who's become
a dear friend and she herpartner has been with her and
been involved in all of herdeliveries.
But just today she said hesucks and he thinks he's doing a
great job, but he just you knowI need somebody who's been
(03:20):
through it.
While he's very attentive andvery intelligent and very
supportive, she finds the needto have somebody who has a
little bit broader vision aboutthat.
So she that's why she hiresdoula support.
So hopefully, have a goodpartner and if you don't, how
can you enhance that partner'srole or kind of accelerate that
(03:42):
partner's role, whether byeducation, by preparation,
that's certainly possible.
Learn a few things together,take a class, do some
preparation, study some appstogether, make sure you know
what's going on.
Read some books together, dosome preparation, pull this
partner on board.
So to their comfort level.
(04:03):
Some of them are going to bereally good about the technical
stuff.
Others will be really goodabout you and connecting to you.
You know who you're workingwith.
So and hopefully you have anidea of what it is that you want
.
Other people, providershopefully you have a provider
that you like.
Hopefully you have a providerthat you trust and can build a
relationship with like.
(04:24):
Hopefully you have a providerthat you trust and can build a
relationship with.
So many times now we haveprovider groups where you might
cycle through and see differentproviders throughout a pregnancy
and you're not building thatconnection and having that
continuity of care.
But hopefully you're able tokind of get a touch points with
the people who may be there theprovider that might be there to
deliver your baby.
But understand that, know thatthat that people, that important
(04:46):
people that you've chosen aprovider might not be the one
who is there to manage yourlabor or to deliver your baby
very common and then otherpeople are going to be.
Your nurse is going to be yourmain liaison between you and
your labor and your provider,who's going to be kind of
watching from afar until the end.
So that person is kind of awild card, because we have no
(05:08):
idea who your nurse is going tobe until the day you go into
labor, the day you get induced,whatever the case may be, until
you are actually in process, andthat could change, right?
Nurse shifts they're generally12 hours.
Sometimes some places haveeight hour shifts.
So if you're there for verylong or you overlap a shift,
you'll get a new nurse.
You'll have a different people,a different people involved,
(05:30):
but the nurse, other than yourpartner, is going to be the one
who spends the most time withyou, right, they're going to be
taking care of you, they'regoing to be watching you closely
, they're going to be meetingyour needs, answering your
questions, and you have to builda pretty quick relationship
with that person.
Our partner we get more time,right, we've chosen them and our
nurse, even our provider wehopefully choose and get more
(05:51):
time with them.
The nurse we get, who we get onthe day of, and it can change.
So make good friends with yournurse, get to know them,
appreciate them for their role.
Another people that might beinvolved is other family members
, whether you have a mom, asister, a neighbor, a friend, a
child.
Maybe you have a child that youwant to be there at the
(06:13):
delivery.
Those are other people andconsider how they're going to
impact your situation and youwant to.
Obviously you want people'simpact to be positive.
And then a doula Hopefully adoula is someone that can be on
your team as well.
A doula is an incrediblypivotal role to the team because
they can bring it together.
They can make up for where thepartner might be missing some
(06:34):
experience or empathy or, youknow, in body experience even.
Hopefully you're fortunateenough to be able to have a
doula on your team.
They can be a liaison betweenwhat you want and some hospital
staff.
They can help you articulatewhat you want, help you
understand and know your options.
They can involve your otherteam members as you want them
involved.
(06:55):
As far as like, if you have asister, mom, friend who might be
there, they can accentuate andenhance their roles as well and
then hopefully they can alsohelp you with your staff.
I always like when I'm at abirth, to make a really friendly
space like a really amicablespace for the entire team.
So we welcome everybody ontothe team.
(07:15):
That that you know.
Of course, we got a mom on theteam and her partner, and then
when the nurse comes on, wewelcome her onto the team and
appreciate everyone for theirrole.
You might have like somebodydrawing labs who comes in, you
might have a housekeeper changethe garbage.
There's going to be other touchpoints that might come on.
But people are important toyour experience.
(07:36):
So consider who it is you havearound you and what you expect
from them and if they can dothat.
We can't have unrealisticexpectations of folks.
So sometimes we need to shiftor create roles in order for our
expectations to be possiblewith the people we have around
us.
Next P is place.
So the place you're going to bewhen you're in labor and
(07:59):
delivering a baby has a lot todo with the experience of it.
It definitely impacts what yourexperience will be like.
So if you're at home, you'regoing to have one type of
experience where it's quiteautonomous, like people having
giving birth at home are veryindependent.
They kind of know what theywant.
(08:20):
They have a lot of autonomy tomake a lot of choices and they
invite their team into theirhome.
We also have birth centers.
Birth centers, we know, aremuch more comfortable and
home-like than a hospital, butyou're still going into another
space or traveling somewhere,right, traveling somewhere to go
(08:41):
deliver, and usually with birthcenters you're not there very
long afterwards.
They like you to come in anactive labor.
They don't take you extremelyearly in labor.
In most cases they're not gonnawhat they call labor sit or
labor watch when early labor ishappening, and a lot of that can
be done at home.
And then, of course, we havehospitals is our most common
(09:01):
place in the United States thatpeople are delivering to the
tune of 95 plus percent.
It depends on what state orwhat region you live in, but
anywhere from 99 to about 92% ofdeliveries are in hospitals, so
extremely common.
Now you may have differenthospitals available to you by
(09:22):
insurance or by geographicallocation and get to know that
place, like ask about the peoplewho work there and kind of get
to know the place.
If you can take a tour, awesome.
Sometimes it really helps ifyou can visualize where you're
going to be.
If you can envision the laborand delivery unit or the
postpartum unit, maybe somehospitals have them combined and
(09:44):
it's both.
But if you can see in your mindwhere you're going to be,
sometimes that is helpful.
Some hospitals have virtualtours where you can get online
and kind of do a virtual tour.
So again, walking in, you kindof have an idea of where you're
going, what it's going to looklike.
But that place has a lot to dowith your experience and you
(10:04):
want to be comfortable in thatplace.
Some people are much morecomfortable at home.
Some people are much morecomfortable in a hospital.
Everyone's a little bitdifferent about that.
Some people want to be at homein early labor and then, you
know, shift to their birthcenter or hospital in later
labor.
And place of course has a lotof physical representation to us
(10:26):
and I always encourage myclients to make that space their
own, whether they're at ahospital generally, especially
in hospitals like home, that isyour space, right, you've chosen
a lot of the environment ofyour home and but the birth
center.
Birth centers are generallyquite beautiful.
They have a really niceaesthetic component to them.
(10:47):
On purpose, they want to feelvery comfortable, look very
comfortable and have some prettygood amenities, if you will.
Specific to childbirth and labor, some hospitals do that as well
.
They might have certain roomsthat they reserve for people who
are going unmedicated.
They might have certain roomsand I've seen that in many
(11:08):
different hospitals wherethey'll have, you know, these
awesome tub rooms.
We kind of save those for ourpeople going unmedicated, or in
those rooms I'll have extra cuteaesthetic things which I think
they can make everything, everyroom, kind of cute and aesthetic
, but they might have.
I have seen hospitals wherethey have plants or cute pillows
(11:30):
or oil diffusers in specificrooms to kind of create a better
ambience and give clients moreoptions.
So kind of be aware the placeyou're going and what they have
available, and then feel free totake with you to that space,
that place, anything to makethat your own, whether that's
think of the five senses, if youwant to, you know, put a
(11:54):
different blanket on the bed.
That changes the room a lot.
If you want to bring your ownlighting, you have pretty good
lighting options in hospitals.
But some people just this weekI met with a couple who, as we
were, creating their comfortmeasures and their coping plan,
they have a gorgeous lamp thatthey got on their honeymoon in
Istanbul and it's blue.
(12:16):
Both of their favorite colorsare blue and it's this
absolutely gorgeous.
It's small, it's verytravelable.
That's what they want to bringto their hospital room to help
it be their own space.
So make that space your own,kind of.
Consider the space and how youcan personalize it.
When you do that, you set thetone for the room you're going
(12:36):
to be in.
Even in a big hospital system,even in a place where we feel
like we don't have much control,where there's a lot of policies
around people's behaviors andparameters around which we can
practice, and rules, lots andlots of rules.
Set the tone for your room.
How do you want your room tofeel Like.
Give some intention to yourimmediate place and space and
how you want that to feel, andyou can bring music or scents or
(13:01):
colors or items Some peoplewill bring.
I had a couple years ago thismom brought floral arrangements.
She had four differentbeautiful floral arrangements
that at the end she gave to hernurses, her midwife and to her
doula, which was super sweet andit just changed the room.
So consider what you want totake to make that place your own
(13:23):
.
And then our next P is policy.
So we got the people, we gotthe place and then we have the
policy.
Now the place can be veryimpacted by the policy.
The policy can be very impactedby the place.
Likewise, policy can beimpacted by people and policies
(13:45):
impact people.
So, depending on who makesdecisions at the place you have
decided to give birth at willdetermine policy, and you it's.
It's wild to me how policychanges from one hospital to the
next.
Where they can be, you know, 10minutes apart from each other
driving, but years apart.
(14:05):
In policy, some policies arevery archaic.
Some policies are really up todate and evidence based, but be
aware of the policies, of whereyou give birth and how do you
find out policies.
So I call this also culture,right?
The culture of a place is thepeople, the place and the
(14:26):
policies, how they allintertwine and are going to
impact the experience.
I was speaking with a sameclient who's become a dear
friend.
She is deciding she would loveto do a home birth and that's an
option she's keeping in herback pocket.
But she's deciding between twohospitals and in North Carolina,
both of which I've worked atmany, many times, and, as we've
(14:49):
talked about the nuances betweenthese two hospitals.
That's helping her kind of makea decision.
She has also done some extrahomework.
Her baby is going to be bornduring the winter time so that
would be considered flu seasonfor well, most everywhere
anywhere has flu season anymore.
So this baby will be bornduring flu season and she's
(15:10):
asking about the policy theyhave around flu season.
So she's got two hospitalsshe's looking at.
She has a younger child.
She would like the option ofthis child coming to the
delivery.
One hospital says during fluseason, nobody under 12.
The other hospital sayingduring flu season, nobody under
14 except siblings.
(15:30):
During flu season, nobody under14 except siblings.
Some hospitals may have amasking policy around flu season
.
I remember years ago the H1N1year I don't remember when that
was, I don't know 10, 15 yearsago something.
There was really restrictivepolicies.
We're used to restrictivepolicies now after COVID, right,
like that, got us really usedto restrictions.
(15:52):
But the H1N1 year of rough fluthey restricted visitors like
how many people could go in.
They and a lot of hospitalscreated policies, different
policies, around that.
Um.
So this, this client of mine,is deciding which hospital,
which hospital policy, am Igoing to?
(16:13):
Um be okay with Same situation.
We were looking at hospitalpolicies around anesthesia.
So there's an anesthesiadepartment in labor and delivery
and they have certain policies.
One of the hospitals she'slooking at has they.
They kind of kept this fromCOVID and haven't let go of it
four years ago, but they kept apolicy where no one can be in
(16:35):
the room while an epidural isbeing administered.
The anesthesia department hasset that policy.
They're very firm about it.
So even the doula gets kickedout of the room, the partner
gets kicked out of the room,just the nurse remains in the
room while the epidural is beingplaced.
I think that's rough.
I think that's a super strictkind of ridiculous policy.
That might be the moment ormoments that that client needs
(16:58):
the most support and when wehave a policy that eliminates
that support, that's super notcool and people have chosen not
to give birth there because ofthat policy.
Some hospitals will have widelyvarying policies around eating
and drinking during labor.
So do your homework, like whereyou're going to have a baby,
ask.
You can call labor and delivery, ask what's your policy on this
(17:21):
, what's your policy on that.
If you got digging, you'd besurprised what policies really
are.
You could talk to a nursemanager and get different
questions than the receptionistwould give you, than a nurse
would give you, than infectiouscontrol would give you, than the
marketing department would giveyou, than administration would
give you.
So kind of dig around and askyour provider.
(17:42):
That's a good place to startand ask around at the hospital.
Ask people who've been there,ask friends or relatives, family
, family or neighbors who havedelivered at this hospital, what
their experience was likesurrounding certain things.
And, honestly, policies are notupheld perfectly.
You might have someone enforcea policy very differently in one
case and then the next weekenforce it, you know, totally
(18:06):
opposite.
So there's hospital policiesaround eating and drinking.
There's hospital policiesaround the OR.
Can you take one person intothe operating room?
Can you take two?
There's hospital policiesaround when to break the water,
or how long the water can bebroken, how to treat that.
There's policies around beingin the hallway with your baby.
(18:26):
There's policies around allkinds of things.
You'd be surprised all thepolicies, the procedural things
that happen in labor anddelivery.
So become familiar with that.
Ask a doula who's busy andfamiliar in your area and goes
to the hospitals that you'reconsidering.
So, considering people, placeand policy, we have control over
some of those and, consideringpeople, place and policy, we
(18:48):
have control over some of those,we have influence on all of
those, and so consider for yourexperience, what it is that you
want from your labor.
From your experience, how canyou best be set up to get that
for success, for enjoyment, forempowerment.
And go about putting thingsinto place, making shifts, so
(19:08):
that you can get the type ofbirth experience that you are
hoping for, considering people,place and policy, because
they'll have a big impact.
I hope you have the type ofbirth that you're hoping for.
I, for my clients, always hopefor a positive birth experience,
and a bonus is an empoweringbirth experience and, of course,
(19:29):
a safe birth experience as well, and that can come in.
So, so, so many differentpackages.
Um, every situation is a littlebit different.
So consider your situation.
What is important to you.
That wraps it up today for theordinary doula podcast.
Again, this is angie rosier.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today.
Hopefully you can go, reach outand connect with another human
being today, find somebody toconnect with and share a little
(19:53):
piece of joy today.
Hope you have a good one and wewill hear you, see, you feel
you next time.
Thanks and bye.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice Helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:40):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
I am Angie Rozier and I'm yourhost and I'm so glad to be with
you here on today's episode.
So today I want to talk aboutthree P's.
I'm going to call them People,place and policy.
So, in regarding your upcomingbirth experience, anyone's
(01:09):
upcoming birth experience, thosethree things the people, the
place and the policy are goingto have a pretty significant
impact on the type of optionsthat are presented to you and
the type of experience that youmay be having.
(01:33):
It's, it's interesting toarticulate kind of what is
missing in some hospital systemsand illustrate why people
recognize the need to bring intheir own dedicated support.
That's why I have a job, that'swhy doulas exist, is because
something is missing in systemsand there's.
There's kind of they've droppeda piece of care that people
need to create for their own.
(01:53):
Hence we have labor support,professional labor support, as
well as family and friends laborsupport.
So, people, place and policy.
Your experience will definitelybe impacted by people, place
and policy.
Let's talk first about people.
The people involved with yourexperience, of course, are going
to be you and your chosensupport person or persons.
(02:15):
Maybe that's going to be apartner, a sister, a mom, a
friend.
Your people will also include aprovider, whether you have
selected a midwife or a doctorto be your main caregiver, and
the people are also going to bethe ancillary staff at whatever
you've chosen to give birth,whether that's a hospital, um,
(02:36):
or a birth center or home.
So hopefully you've chosen somegood support people.
If you know that your innercircle your partner, your sister
, your mom, your friend is notgoing to be good in some aspects
of this, maybe you want toconsider expanding your team a
little bit and getting thesupport that it that you are
(02:59):
looking for.
Just today I was speaking with afriend and client who's become
a dear friend and she herpartner has been with her and
been involved in all of herdeliveries.
But just today she said hesucks and he thinks he's doing a
great job, but he just you knowI need somebody who's been
(03:20):
through it.
While he's very attentive andvery intelligent and very
supportive, she finds the needto have somebody who has a
little bit broader vision aboutthat.
So she that's why she hiresdoula support.
So hopefully, have a goodpartner and if you don't, how
can you enhance that partner'srole or kind of accelerate that
(03:42):
partner's role, whether byeducation, by preparation,
that's certainly possible.
Learn a few things together,take a class, do some
preparation, study some appstogether, make sure you know
what's going on.
Read some books together, dosome preparation, pull this
partner on board.
So to their comfort level.
(04:03):
Some of them are going to bereally good about the technical
stuff.
Others will be really goodabout you and connecting to you.
You know who you're workingwith.
So and hopefully you have anidea of what it is that you want
.
Other people, providershopefully you have a provider
that you like.
Hopefully you have a providerthat you trust and can build a
relationship with like.
(04:24):
Hopefully you have a providerthat you trust and can build a
relationship with.
So many times now we haveprovider groups where you might
cycle through and see differentproviders throughout a pregnancy
and you're not building thatconnection and having that
continuity of care.
But hopefully you're able tokind of get a touch points with
the people who may be there theprovider that might be there to
deliver your baby.
But understand that, know thatthat that people, that important
(04:46):
people that you've chosen aprovider might not be the one
who is there to manage yourlabor or to deliver your baby
very common and then otherpeople are going to be.
Your nurse is going to be yourmain liaison between you and
your labor and your provider,who's going to be kind of
watching from afar until the end.
So that person is kind of awild card, because we have no
(05:08):
idea who your nurse is going tobe until the day you go into
labor, the day you get induced,whatever the case may be, until
you are actually in process, andthat could change, right?
Nurse shifts they're generally12 hours.
Sometimes some places haveeight hour shifts.
So if you're there for verylong or you overlap a shift,
you'll get a new nurse.
You'll have a different people,a different people involved,
(05:30):
but the nurse, other than yourpartner, is going to be the one
who spends the most time withyou, right, they're going to be
taking care of you, they'regoing to be watching you closely
, they're going to be meetingyour needs, answering your
questions, and you have to builda pretty quick relationship
with that person.
Our partner we get more time,right, we've chosen them and our
nurse, even our provider wehopefully choose and get more
(05:51):
time with them.
The nurse we get, who we get onthe day of, and it can change.
So make good friends with yournurse, get to know them,
appreciate them for their role.
Another people that might beinvolved is other family members
, whether you have a mom, asister, a neighbor, a friend, a
child.
Maybe you have a child that youwant to be there at the
(06:13):
delivery.
Those are other people andconsider how they're going to
impact your situation and youwant to.
Obviously you want people'simpact to be positive.
And then a doula Hopefully adoula is someone that can be on
your team as well.
A doula is an incrediblypivotal role to the team because
they can bring it together.
They can make up for where thepartner might be missing some
(06:34):
experience or empathy or, youknow, in body experience even.
Hopefully you're fortunateenough to be able to have a
doula on your team.
They can be a liaison betweenwhat you want and some hospital
staff.
They can help you articulatewhat you want, help you
understand and know your options.
They can involve your otherteam members as you want them
involved.
(06:55):
As far as like, if you have asister, mom, friend who might be
there, they can accentuate andenhance their roles as well and
then hopefully they can alsohelp you with your staff.
I always like when I'm at abirth, to make a really friendly
space like a really amicablespace for the entire team.
So we welcome everybody ontothe team.
(07:15):
That that you know.
Of course, we got a mom on theteam and her partner, and then
when the nurse comes on, wewelcome her onto the team and
appreciate everyone for theirrole.
You might have like somebodydrawing labs who comes in, you
might have a housekeeper changethe garbage.
There's going to be other touchpoints that might come on.
But people are important toyour experience.
(07:36):
So consider who it is you havearound you and what you expect
from them and if they can dothat.
We can't have unrealisticexpectations of folks.
So sometimes we need to shiftor create roles in order for our
expectations to be possiblewith the people we have around
us.
Next P is place.
So the place you're going to bewhen you're in labor and
(07:59):
delivering a baby has a lot todo with the experience of it.
It definitely impacts what yourexperience will be like.
So if you're at home, you'regoing to have one type of
experience where it's quiteautonomous, like people having
giving birth at home are veryindependent.
They kind of know what theywant.
(08:20):
They have a lot of autonomy tomake a lot of choices and they
invite their team into theirhome.
We also have birth centers.
Birth centers, we know, aremuch more comfortable and
home-like than a hospital, butyou're still going into another
space or traveling somewhere,right, traveling somewhere to go
(08:41):
deliver, and usually with birthcenters you're not there very
long afterwards.
They like you to come in anactive labor.
They don't take you extremelyearly in labor.
In most cases they're not gonnawhat they call labor sit or
labor watch when early labor ishappening, and a lot of that can
be done at home.
And then, of course, we havehospitals is our most common
(09:01):
place in the United States thatpeople are delivering to the
tune of 95 plus percent.
It depends on what state orwhat region you live in, but
anywhere from 99 to about 92% ofdeliveries are in hospitals, so
extremely common.
Now you may have differenthospitals available to you by
(09:22):
insurance or by geographicallocation and get to know that
place, like ask about the peoplewho work there and kind of get
to know the place.
If you can take a tour, awesome.
Sometimes it really helps ifyou can visualize where you're
going to be.
If you can envision the laborand delivery unit or the
postpartum unit, maybe somehospitals have them combined and
(09:44):
it's both.
But if you can see in your mindwhere you're going to be,
sometimes that is helpful.
Some hospitals have virtualtours where you can get online
and kind of do a virtual tour.
So again, walking in, you kindof have an idea of where you're
going, what it's going to looklike.
But that place has a lot to dowith your experience and you
(10:04):
want to be comfortable in thatplace.
Some people are much morecomfortable at home.
Some people are much morecomfortable in a hospital.
Everyone's a little bitdifferent about that.
Some people want to be at homein early labor and then, you
know, shift to their birthcenter or hospital in later
labor.
And place of course has a lotof physical representation to us
(10:26):
and I always encourage myclients to make that space their
own, whether they're at ahospital generally, especially
in hospitals like home, that isyour space, right, you've chosen
a lot of the environment ofyour home and but the birth
center.
Birth centers are generallyquite beautiful.
They have a really niceaesthetic component to them.
(10:47):
On purpose, they want to feelvery comfortable, look very
comfortable and have some prettygood amenities, if you will.
Specific to childbirth and labor, some hospitals do that as well
.
They might have certain roomsthat they reserve for people who
are going unmedicated.
They might have certain roomsand I've seen that in many
(11:08):
different hospitals wherethey'll have, you know, these
awesome tub rooms.
We kind of save those for ourpeople going unmedicated, or in
those rooms I'll have extra cuteaesthetic things which I think
they can make everything, everyroom, kind of cute and aesthetic
, but they might have.
I have seen hospitals wherethey have plants or cute pillows
(11:30):
or oil diffusers in specificrooms to kind of create a better
ambience and give clients moreoptions.
So kind of be aware the placeyou're going and what they have
available, and then feel free totake with you to that space,
that place, anything to makethat your own, whether that's
think of the five senses, if youwant to, you know, put a
(11:54):
different blanket on the bed.
That changes the room a lot.
If you want to bring your ownlighting, you have pretty good
lighting options in hospitals.
But some people just this weekI met with a couple who, as we
were, creating their comfortmeasures and their coping plan,
they have a gorgeous lamp thatthey got on their honeymoon in
Istanbul and it's blue.
(12:16):
Both of their favorite colorsare blue and it's this
absolutely gorgeous.
It's small, it's verytravelable.
That's what they want to bringto their hospital room to help
it be their own space.
So make that space your own,kind of.
Consider the space and how youcan personalize it.
When you do that, you set thetone for the room you're going
(12:36):
to be in.
Even in a big hospital system,even in a place where we feel
like we don't have much control,where there's a lot of policies
around people's behaviors andparameters around which we can
practice, and rules, lots andlots of rules.
Set the tone for your room.
How do you want your room tofeel Like.
Give some intention to yourimmediate place and space and
how you want that to feel, andyou can bring music or scents or
(13:01):
colors or items Some peoplewill bring.
I had a couple years ago thismom brought floral arrangements.
She had four differentbeautiful floral arrangements
that at the end she gave to hernurses, her midwife and to her
doula, which was super sweet andit just changed the room.
So consider what you want totake to make that place your own
(13:23):
.
And then our next P is policy.
So we got the people, we gotthe place and then we have the
policy.
Now the place can be veryimpacted by the policy.
The policy can be very impactedby the place.
Likewise, policy can beimpacted by people and policies
(13:45):
impact people.
So, depending on who makesdecisions at the place you have
decided to give birth at willdetermine policy, and you it's.
It's wild to me how policychanges from one hospital to the
next.
Where they can be, you know, 10minutes apart from each other
driving, but years apart.
(14:05):
In policy, some policies arevery archaic.
Some policies are really up todate and evidence based, but be
aware of the policies, of whereyou give birth and how do you
find out policies.
So I call this also culture,right?
The culture of a place is thepeople, the place and the
(14:26):
policies, how they allintertwine and are going to
impact the experience.
I was speaking with a sameclient who's become a dear
friend.
She is deciding she would loveto do a home birth and that's an
option she's keeping in herback pocket.
But she's deciding between twohospitals and in North Carolina,
both of which I've worked atmany, many times, and, as we've
(14:49):
talked about the nuances betweenthese two hospitals.
That's helping her kind of makea decision.
She has also done some extrahomework.
Her baby is going to be bornduring the winter time so that
would be considered flu seasonfor well, most everywhere
anywhere has flu season anymore.
So this baby will be bornduring flu season and she's
(15:10):
asking about the policy theyhave around flu season.
So she's got two hospitalsshe's looking at.
She has a younger child.
She would like the option ofthis child coming to the
delivery.
One hospital says during fluseason, nobody under 12.
The other hospital sayingduring flu season, nobody under
14 except siblings.
(15:30):
During flu season, nobody under14 except siblings.
Some hospitals may have amasking policy around flu season
.
I remember years ago the H1N1year I don't remember when that
was, I don't know 10, 15 yearsago something.
There was really restrictivepolicies.
We're used to restrictivepolicies now after COVID, right,
like that, got us really usedto restrictions.
(15:52):
But the H1N1 year of rough fluthey restricted visitors like
how many people could go in.
They and a lot of hospitalscreated policies, different
policies, around that.
Um.
So this, this client of mine,is deciding which hospital,
which hospital policy, am Igoing to?
(16:13):
Um be okay with Same situation.
We were looking at hospitalpolicies around anesthesia.
So there's an anesthesiadepartment in labor and delivery
and they have certain policies.
One of the hospitals she'slooking at has they.
They kind of kept this fromCOVID and haven't let go of it
four years ago, but they kept apolicy where no one can be in
(16:35):
the room while an epidural isbeing administered.
The anesthesia department hasset that policy.
They're very firm about it.
So even the doula gets kickedout of the room, the partner
gets kicked out of the room,just the nurse remains in the
room while the epidural is beingplaced.
I think that's rough.
I think that's a super strictkind of ridiculous policy.
That might be the moment ormoments that that client needs
(16:58):
the most support and when wehave a policy that eliminates
that support, that's super notcool and people have chosen not
to give birth there because ofthat policy.
Some hospitals will have widelyvarying policies around eating
and drinking during labor.
So do your homework, like whereyou're going to have a baby,
ask.
You can call labor and delivery, ask what's your policy on this
(17:21):
, what's your policy on that.
If you got digging, you'd besurprised what policies really
are.
You could talk to a nursemanager and get different
questions than the receptionistwould give you, than a nurse
would give you, than infectiouscontrol would give you, than the
marketing department would giveyou, than administration would
give you.
So kind of dig around and askyour provider.
(17:42):
That's a good place to startand ask around at the hospital.
Ask people who've been there,ask friends or relatives, family
, family or neighbors who havedelivered at this hospital, what
their experience was likesurrounding certain things.
And, honestly, policies are notupheld perfectly.
You might have someone enforcea policy very differently in one
case and then the next weekenforce it, you know, totally
(18:06):
opposite.
So there's hospital policiesaround eating and drinking.
There's hospital policiesaround the OR.
Can you take one person intothe operating room?
Can you take two?
There's hospital policiesaround when to break the water,
or how long the water can bebroken, how to treat that.
There's policies around beingin the hallway with your baby.
(18:26):
There's policies around allkinds of things.
You'd be surprised all thepolicies, the procedural things
that happen in labor anddelivery.
So become familiar with that.
Ask a doula who's busy andfamiliar in your area and goes
to the hospitals that you'reconsidering.
So, considering people, placeand policy, we have control over
some of those and, consideringpeople, place and policy, we
(18:48):
have control over some of those,we have influence on all of
those, and so consider for yourexperience, what it is that you
want from your labor.
From your experience, how canyou best be set up to get that
for success, for enjoyment, forempowerment.
And go about putting thingsinto place, making shifts, so
(19:08):
that you can get the type ofbirth experience that you are
hoping for, considering people,place and policy, because
they'll have a big impact.
I hope you have the type ofbirth that you're hoping for.
I, for my clients, always hopefor a positive birth experience,
and a bonus is an empoweringbirth experience and, of course,
(19:29):
a safe birth experience as well, and that can come in.
So, so, so many differentpackages.
Um, every situation is a littlebit different.
So consider your situation.
What is important to you.
That wraps it up today for theordinary doula podcast.
Again, this is angie rosier.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today.
Hopefully you can go, reach outand connect with another human
being today, find somebody toconnect with and share a little
(19:53):
piece of joy today.
Hope you have a good one and wewill hear you, see, you feel
you next time.
Thanks and bye.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
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