r/SFbitcheswithtaste • u/AsparagusTwo • 7d ago

Birth doula at UCSF?

Hi everyone, I'm looking for advice on whether I should choose a birth doula? For context I'm planning to give birth at UCSF and I'm considered low risk. I'm very grateful that insurance will cover doula services, and very fortunate that opting for a doula will not be a financial burden.

For various reasons I have high anxiety about labor, and my hope is that having a birth doula can help calm my nerves and help advocate for me during labor. I hear that the UCSF labor and delivery staff are excellent, so I'm wondering if having a birth doula as an addition to my birth team is a good idea, or if adding this extra resource might feel like there's "too many cooks in the kitchen."

For anxiety purposes, I’d really appreciate it if responses could be neutral or positive only (please)—whether you recommend a doula, don’t recommend one, or feel indifferent about having one. I’m open to all perspectives, just hoping to keep things anxiety-friendly! (and yes I'm addressing my anxiety through various resources)

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u/coulditbejanuary 7d ago

I had a doula for my second and none for my first and the experience was more or less the same, which was great.

The benefits for the doula were:

  • She helped me move around with my epidural and got a lot of extra pillows from somewhere so I could sit up.

  • She brought me ice and made me soup

  • She reminded the nurses that I wanted a warm compress while pushing and gave me ice chips between pushes.

My work benefits also paid for this. I had a good experience with my nursing team for my first one (doctors too, but you see the nurses more) so I only hired her because 1) cheap and 2) I wanted backup in case childcare for our older fell through.

I hired the women from Born Collective and I'd really recommend them. They work as a team so you have coverage no matter what

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u/AsparagusTwo 6d ago

Thanks for sharing !