Daddy Duty: What's a doula?

About two years ago, I looked at the cover of our health section and saw a word I wasn't familiar with: doula.

It's kind of a strange word. Say it out loud – doula. (It's pronounced doo-luh, if you're not sure.)

At the time, my wife wasn't pregnant, and when I saw the definition of doula, I moved on without reading the story.

What a mistake that was. I wish I would have read that story, and I wish I would have employed one during my wife's pregnancy.

For those of you not familiar, I'll let HealthFirst childbirth educator and doula Lydia Baker define it.

"A doula is a professional labor coach. We provide emotional, physical and informational support to women during pregnancy, during their labor and birth and during the postpartum period," the mother of four said.

However, as I found out recently, they're even much more than that.

My wife Charlotte had a long labor – about 16 hours.

We had a lot of questions, and we didn't have all the information we needed.

If we would have had a doula, it might have been different.

"Having that person who is there that wasn't going to let it go was important," said Amanda Peterson, whose daughter Annabelle was born under doula supervision. "When you didn't know, 'who am I supposed to ask?' She went and found out."

Jessie McCutcheon, whose daughter Olive was also born with doula consultation, added this: "I felt like she was my advocate through the whole process. She was 100 percent on my side. I can trust her to always give the best advice."

Of course, there's always the apprehension of cost.

Olive's father, Luke Henning, was cynical of employing a doula. But he was won over fairly quickly.

"I was very skeptical in the beginning, especially considering the price and things like that," Henning said. "Were we actually going to get the value out of this? Wow, was I so happy to be convinced otherwise. I think I would do it again in a heartbeat."

A doula's services don't stop once the baby is born. Once the baby has arrived, the adventure is just beginning.

"I do stay until the mom feels comfortable with breastfeeding and bonding at the hospital," Baker said. "I provide postpartum meetings to where I come and help with whatever it is they need around the house."

Those are some really important things.

When we were discharged after Isabella's birth, Charlotte's milk hadn't come in, and we were told to supplement with formula. Charlotte didn't want to do it.

With the help of our pediatrician, we got breastfeeding squared away, but a doula would have been able to help us immediately.

Also, when we were discharged, it was a scary time.

I had to strap this tiny creature into my car, drive her home, and then what? We brought her in the house, and wanted to sleep. But we were too scared too, even when Isabella was sleeping.

A doula could have instructed us on how to handle things.

If Charlotte and I decide some day to give Isabella a little brother or sister, we'll most likely hire a doula.

Sure, we've been through it before, but it was such a blur. It will be nice to have that calming, knowledgeable voice that is there just for us.

Even if we don't have another child, I'd advise other future parents to at least look into a doula.

It's one of those things in life that you don't know you need until you need it.

Walters can be reached at 321-242-3681, twalters@floridatoday.com or Twitter @twaltersinforms.