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Doula dilemma at Mary Birch
I have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for 25 years and I have NEVER told a patient they had to get an epidural. I have encouraged it as an option for pain control when my patient has exhausted all of her own coping skills. NONE of our anesthesiologist will perform an epidural on a woman who does not give verbal or written consent. While you clearly are a proponent for an unmedicated birth, I cannot remember a time where a woman said "Take the epidural out, I'd like to feel that pain again." While I consider myself to be one of the best at helping a woman have an unmedicated birth, I also just want my patient's to have a safe delivery with a healthy baby. As for separating doulas and fathers.... We currently have NO visitor restrictions at Mary Birch, I know of no doulas who have been turned away. As for eating and drinking in labor, a large percentage of our patients desire an epidural, anesthesia is a risk, so to decrease the risk of complications, our patients may not eat solid food. This article is ridiculous and only serves to further incite animosity between health care professionals and the community we serve. I personally love having doulas with my patients because it tends to go with a patient who has educated herself on the labor process, more than "reading an article on the internet, watching a video on youtube, or consulting Dr. Google and Dr. Wikepedia." I think that currently, less than 25% of our patients do any type of childbirth education. While we all have freedom of speech, articles like this do more harm than good. Now maybe you could do a survey of how many women had a great birth experience at Mary Birch, with or without an epidural.— August 7, 2015 12:52 p.m.