Doulas & Birth Centers

[Need2read]

Has anyone ever tried volunteering for their local Birth Center? I was thinking of doing something like that to get some certification births. I was thinking of approaching them with the idea of offering my services for free, possibly just observing or sitting in on a few births. Does this sound plausible or do you think I would run into policy & rules because I don't actually work there?

What is your take on this, my dear doula women?

[DL]

I wish I knew more about birth centers, as there aren't any anywhere near me! It is my opinion, however, that "you can't win if you don't enter"! I don't think it would hurt to ask them if this is a possibility; the worse they can say is "no" or to explain to you why it isn't an option. The positive outcome in either case would be that you would be networking with others in the childbirth field! Maybe someone else with more experience with birth centers will have differing advice, but this is just what makes sense to me!

[delilahdr]

I teach CBE at a birth center, and I have done several births with the midwives there- birth center and homebirth. It's great to balance the hospital births with the out-of-hospital births, and work with different care providers to get a different sense of "the normal practice" so that you don't become subconsciously limited to "what is possible" in the hospital.

At least, that is my opinion. Our hospitals in my area are NOT mother/baby/natural birth friendly at ALL.

I have homebirth, birth center, and hospital birth stories on my website, if you want to read them. My role is kind of different depending on where Mom is birthing...

Anyway, I highly recommend networking with birth centers and homebirth midwives in your area. I think everyone should try to do out-of-hospital AND hospital births as part of their training. :-) Good luck!

I wish you were in the Dallas area- I get requests for pro bono doula work frequently, could get you certification births easy!

I think that's a great idea! I'm going to try and volunteer at a local teen pregnancy center in the new year. Good Luck!!

[Need2read]

Thanks a bunch for the words or wisdom. I think I will give them a call once I have finished my labor support course, and see if I would be able to set up some sort of meeting or interview.

I am very excited at the pospect of just speaking with the people running a birth Center.

One good thing about having moved to a large city is that I have a few birth centers to check out.

wish me luck!