why does it seem "trendy" to hire a doula
- mydoulahannah
- Sep 13, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 12, 2023
Women always have needed and always will need support during pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum. Doulas have been around pretty much since birth. They just were friends, midwife assistants, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and aunts supporting the birth and there wasn’t a name or label for them. They don’t belong to any race, every woman needs and should have support during birth. I will take you through some different cultures and backgrounds, showing you how women have been supporting woman for centuries, we just have a label for it now.
The first findings of women supporting or serving other women during birth are in ancient Greece and Rome, and are depicted in paintings and in the stories of their gods and goddesses. In the paintings, it often has one woman in labor surrounded by women supporting her. Birth stools and midwives are mentioned in the Bible as well in the first chapter of Exodus. They would observe birth by using birthing stones, women could be in different positions on them and the midwife could see what was going on and catch the baby.
One of the very first stories in the Bible is about Adam and Eve, we all know the story. I have never noticed, but it does mention labor pains being a curse from the fall and Eve. Some women believe that the pain they experience in labor is because of the fall, but in Gelation 3:13 and Isaiah 53:4-5, it talks about Christ taking away the curse of the fall which includes labor pain. We can accept the labor pains and know that they are bringing our babies into the world, and that Christ is bearing that pain for us. I love in Exodus 1:15-21 the story about the midwives keeping their covenants with God. The King of Egypt told them to kill all the boys that were born, and they didn’t. God blessed them for it. I love this because I feel like womanhood is being taken away in birth and the home, but if we keep our covenants and follow Christ and do what He needs us to do, He will bless us and guide us.
In ancient Egypt, birth support depended on what class you were in. Women who were poor had friends and family to help them through birth. Rich women and royalty had a midwife, but usually that was just a servant that was already serving her. They were also caring for the physical and spiritual sides of a woman while she gave birth. The midwives would call on different gods and goddesses to protect the woman she was serving during childbirth.
African American women apprenticed to learn midwifery. They would start when they were young doing household things like sewing, cleaning and staying with the mother after delivery. When she was older and had her own baby she would be more involved by assisting the midwife in the birth and house calls. When the midwife retired, that’s when the apprentice officially became a midwife and the practice became hers. They also had rituals and midwives took care of the spiritual and physical sides of birth.
Midwives were assisting birth in America before hospitals. Like the women before them, they would pass down the information from generation to generation. Doctors started out going to homes to deliver babies and then hospitals were created. Doctors made the midwives look dumb and so it slowly became “bad” if you didn’t go to a doctor/hospital. Eventually, rich women would go to hospitals and poor women would be served by African American midwives.
In the 1960ish in America, there was something called the coalition of birth. It was a time when the midwives wanted to make birth more centered on families. They were the ones that started to make it a norm that dad was in the delivery rooms. This is kind of the time that doulas started to become a thing. They are now becoming more popular and more women are becoming them. So, really it's come full circle. Every woman deserves and should have someone to support them in their birth.
links to websites that I used to research
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