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Birth Companions Doula Service
Welcome to
BIRTH Companions
Labor Support Doula Services
Providing Birth Doula Services
to Families in Central Iowa
Including Des Moines, Ames, Newton, Marshalltown, and Pella
Phone: 515-270-6262
Diane Tinker, ICCE, CD (DONA)
Birth Companions is my private birth doula practice in Des Moines, Iowa.  I am an internationally certified childbirth educator (ICCE) with International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA) and a certified doula (CD) with Doulas of North America (DONA).  I have been attending births in the Central Iowa area since 1996 and have taught both privately and publically in area hospitals.  I currently serve as the State of Iowa Rep for Doulas of North America and on the certification committee.  My husband and I have 3 children with 3 very different birth experiences.
Doulas have the Right Touch!
What is a Doula?
Doula is a Greek word meaning "in service of".  Today, the concept of a Doula refers to a "woman experienced in childbirth who 'Mothers the Mother' by providing continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth."

Women experiencing a pregnancy need reassurance, information and education, and physical and emotional support.  They need to know what they can expect before, during, and after the birth of their baby.  They need advice and support that only another woman can provide.  A doula provides this and so much more....strength, compassion, empathy, and understanding.
A Birth Doula...
~ Recognizes childbirth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life.
~ Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.
~ Assists the woman and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for birth.
~ Stays by the side of the laboring woman throughout the entire labor, providing continuity or care.
~ Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and clinical care providers.
~ Perceives her role as one who nurtures and protects the mother's memory of her birth experience.
~ Provides the following dimensions to the mother and her partner during the uncertainty of
labor, birth and early postpartum:
Emotional Support - encouragement, reassurance and continuous presence.
Informational Support - instructions, explanations and guidance if requested.
Physical Support - comfort and coping measures, such as massage, hand holding, warm/cool  compresses and ice chips.
Advocacy - interpretations of the mother's and her partner's birth plan and wishes to the medical providers.
A Labor Support Doula Does Not...
~ Take place of the father, partner or coach.
~ Perform any clinical or medical tasks.
~ Make decisions for the mother and her partner.
~ Give medical advice.
~ Speak for the laboring woman or her partner.
A Decrease In:
~ Cesarean Birth by 45%
~ Length of Labor by 25%
~ Oxytocin Use by 50%
~ Mother's Request for Medication by 31%
~ Need for Forceps by 34%
~ Requests for Epidurals by 10 - 60%
The nurturing touch of a doula can help you create a satisfying birth experience!
~ Medical Interventions, Anxiety and Tension, Neonatal Problems, and Postpartum Depression
An Increase In:
~ Positive Feelings about Labor
~ Acceptance of the Baby
~ Self-esteem and Feelings of Control
~ Success in Breastfeeding
Services Include
~ Discussion of your expectations and goals for birth
~ Birth Plan counseling
~ Suggestions for pregnancy and postpartum discomforts and concerns
~ Calm, caring support and reassurance during your labor and birth
~ Support for the laboring woman's partner
~ Advocate for the mother with members of the medical community
~ Support of the choices decided upon by the woman and her partner
~ Non-pharmacologic pain mamagement ideas and techniques that provide comfort and pain relief through relaxation and visualization, breathing patterns, positioning and massage
~ Support for the family experiencing an unexpected outcome
~ Breastfeeding information and support
~ On call for you 24 hours a day beginning 2 weeks prior to your due date
~ Informational and educational support materials and resources - articles, books, videos, and pamplets
~ Photography and video-tapping at the labor and birth with your equipment if desired
You'll protect and nurture your baby, choose a doula to protect and nurture your birth.
Who Relies on a Doula?
Childbearing women and couples, midwives, physicians, and labor-delivery nurses appreciate the resources, techniques, knowledge and continuous empathetic support a doula can provide.  For women without partners, the doula may be the only source of focused, continuous emotional support throughout the labor and delivery period.

Historically, women have relied on many different people to provide this kind of support - mothers, partners, friends and midwives.  Today's maternity care relies on technology that can be complex and confusing, so women and their partners are once again turning for help to reassuring, experienced companions.  We have now come full circle, finding once again that the continuous attendance of a doula provides comfort and confidence to laboring women and their partners.

The acceptance of doulas in maternity care is growing rapidly with the recognition of their important contribution to the improved physical outcomes and emotional well-being of mothers and infants.
All photographs are copyright of the photograhper, Diane Tinker.  Copying of the photographs for any useage other than this webpage is prohibited.
To learn more about Birth Companions birth doula services or to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation, please contact Diane Tinker at 515-270-6262 or email queendoula@aol.com
Site last updated March 2003
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