The Role of a Midwife

Explaining health care options including routine care, care specific to the birthing client or baby, medications, and testing
Monitoring the health and safety of the birthing client and baby throughout pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum
Providing medical care and interventions such as fetal heart auscultation, vital signs, neonatal resuscitation, and medication administration
Responding in an emergency to resolve complications
Critical thinking, problem-solving, and task delegation during complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum

The Role of a Doula

Providing emotional, physical, and informational support to the birthing client and family
Offering ideas for position changes
Providing coaching for relaxation, breathing, and focusing during the sensations of labor
Facilitating conversation and questions between the birthing client and the healthcare team 
Reflective listening, processing, and other emotional support after the birth

Some ways midwives and doulas work together include:

A doula's prenatal and postpartum visits can happen in between midwife visits, to further reinforce information and facilitate informed decisionmaking about the options a midwife presents to the birthing client.
Doulas can provide support to a client during the early parts of labor, when medical surveillance and intervention are not necessary. This also allows the midwife to be well-rested for the birth and especially the immediate postpartum, when most of the hard work of a midwife actually takes place.
During times when the midwife needs to be focused on the safety of the birthing client or their baby, the doula is able to exclusively concentrate on the emotional and physical comfort of the client. An example would be during cervical exams when the midwife is focusing on acquiring information, suturing when the midwife is focusing on providing very delicate and precise care to the client's tissues. While every midwife at WHMS is communicative and responsive to the client's emotional needs, having a doula there specifically for support makes everyone's job easier.
Doulas come to births with a unique set of experiences in all sorts of settings a midwife may never encounter. The Doula may have ideas for different positions for labor, relaxation techniques, or ways to help labor be a more efficient and smooth process.

While the roles of a midwife and doula during childbirth have many differences, as a team they provide more substantial health benefits than having one or the other. ​

With a doula and a midwife, you are more likely to:
  • Look back on your birth as a satisfying experience
  • Breastfeed your baby more easily and exclusively
  • Have a vaginal birth
  • Give birth where you had planned to give birth (not transfer care in labor)