My name is Dooli Jolley. I've been fascinated with birth and everything that goes along with it since I was pregnant with my first child ten years ago. My friends and family describe me as empathetic and outgoing. I have an amazing husband and four beautiful children. They are wonderfully supportive of my work as a doula.
What is a Doula?
"Doula" is a Greek word referring to an experienced woman who helps other women. The word has now come to mean a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and after childbirth.
--Klaus, Kennell and Klaus, Mothering the Mother, 1993
Why use a doula?
Studies have shown that the presence of a doula improves birth in the following ways:
- 50% reduction in cesarean birth
- 30% reduction in requests for pain medication
- 60% fewer requests for epidural anesthesia
- 25% decrease in the length of labor
- Lower postpartum depression rate for mothers
- Increased breast feeding success
- Greater overall satisfaction from the mother about her birth
