What's the difference between
a doula and a monitrice?
A Doula can make the difference in hoping for the birth you want and making that birth a reality.
A midwife is your primary care provider during your pregnancy. ~ A doula is a labor support person. ~ A monitrice is an interesting blend of these two roles.
What's a Doula?
A doula provides support during your pregnancy and labor. They work for you, not your caregiver or hospital. I highly recommend having a doula or someone acting as a doula during your birth.
Throughout your birth a doula provides:
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Emotional support, prenatally, throughout labor, and in the early postpartum period.
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Encouragement and support for laboring woman’s partner to participate at their comfort level.
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An experienced and objective viewpoint.
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Assistance in obtaining information in order to make informed decisions and facilitate communication between the laboring woman (couple) and healthcare providers.
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Suggestions and techniques to enhance labor and ease pain.
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Breastfeeding support.
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Postpartum support.
What's a Monitrice?
A Monitrice provides all the care and labor support of a doula AND additionally provides:
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Limited clinical assessments
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Monitor mother’s vital signs during labor
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Monitor babies heartbeat during labor
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Check cervical dilation
If your goal is to labor at home as long as possible, you may prefer the reassurance of the assessments a monitrice performs.
The best candidates for hiring a monitrice rather are first-time mothers and women planning VBACs (vaginal birth after cesarean). It can be very tempting to leave earlier for the hospital in both of these situations, and once you get to the hospital too early, you may very well find yourself confronted with interventions you were hoping to avoid.
Statistical Benefits of Having a Doula or Monitrice
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50% reduction in the cesarean rate
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25% shorter labor
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60% reduction in epidural requests
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40% reduction in oxytocin use
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30% reduction in analgesia use
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40% reduction in forceps delivery
http://www.childbirth.org/articles/stats.html (Admittedly, the primary source here is old, but there are more current studies to be found in a basic Google Scholar search.)