How Doulas Support Through a Pandemic

Written by Jaelan Mincey, CD (DONA), CCE

This post was originally published on April 24, 2020 and was updated on April 26, 2021.

We now have over a full year of experience supporting families through a global pandemic. COVID-19 may have changed many things for us, but we’re so thankful for the continued opportunities to support families through their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. One thing remains: families deserve support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and over this year, we’ve learned how to make doula support feasible in a time of limited in-person interactions and more strict hospital visitor policies.

Our COVID-19 plan lays out exactly what our team is doing to keep ourselves and our clients safe. Our providers are committed to the continuation of these practices for in-person care. In addition to these practices, many of our providers have chosen to be immunized for COVID-19. You are more than welcome to discuss vaccination status when choosing your doula support team if that is information you’d like to have. 

When the pandemic was new, a few hospitals in Albuquerque reduced their visitor policies and doulas were lumped in as visitors. Seeing that the need for support was still there, we created virtual birth doula services which are still available today. When supporting virtually, we have gotten very creative with ways we offer our Three Pillars of Support (compassion, information, and movement) by tweaking our processes and relying heavily on active listening and informational support. Though we can't reach through the screen to squeeze your hips, we offer gentle suggestions to your partner and/or loved ones for physical support through your labor. 

Some local places of birth never closed their doors to us at all, as doulas were not counted as visitors but rather as essential birth support professionals. In the last several months, our birth doulas have been welcomed at all places of birth in Albuquerque. We love supporting clients in person, and we are so grateful to have been able to offer in-person support in even the most turbulent months last year. We continue to stay abreast of hospital policy changes, as things can change rapidly, but we are happy to be providing in-person support no matter the place of birth in Albuquerque. 

In-Person Birth Services

We have successfully supported families in-person throughout the pandemic and we have no plans to stop our in-person birth and postpartum doula services or lactation services, although some aspects of in-person care are being altered for everyone's safety. For the time being, we are offering current and booking clients the following options:
Our providers are offering to see you in-person for prenatal and postpartum visits, but if you’d rather, you may meet your provider virtually via our HIPAA-compliant network.

• We ask that you please let your provider(s) know if you or a member of your family is not feeling well prior to an in-person visit. We frequently visit homes with young children and we take our part in keeping our community safe very seriously. Our providers will not visit if they or a member of their household is feeling unwell. 

Virtual Birth Services

We are still offering worldwide support to expecting families for Virtual Labor Preparation. Each support option has been purposefully created with families in mind.

With the ever-changing landscape we're currently faced with, doula support is more valuable now than ever. Our virtual support options help equip you with the knowledge and confidence needed to face the current challenges. 

There is one thing we have always believed: families deserve support. Our virtual support options help expand our reach to touch many more families. 

“The virtual meeting worked well. I think it’s the best viable option in this crazy environment. Even though we met virtually, my husband and I felt like we were still able to connect with the doulas and left the “meeting” feeling prepared and supported in our journey.

— Hannah

Have Questions?

We know that many of you may have questions about birth services during this time. We're still here for you and are happy to answer any questions that pop up.