PDA Meets every month except for July and August

• Date: 2nd Monday of the Month
• Time: 7-9 PM
• Location: Online with Zoom (usually), check our Events page for registration links
• What to bring: Yourself!

If you are a member, this meeting is just one of your perks. If you are not a current member, we typically ask that you pay a $5 drop in fee to help pay for the room rental – this is waived during the pandemic.

Becoming a member of the Portland Doula Association (PDA) helps make you a part of the larger community, promoting access to more compassionate maternity care.

As a member:

1. Parents-to-be can locate you through our Member Directory
2. You may attend monthly networking and educational meetings for free
3. You will receive discounts to workshops and events sponsored by PDA
4. Your dollars will help to spread the word about birth and postpartum doulas in Portland, creating buzz and more work for all doulas.

Click here to check out rates for membership and to become a member.

Membership lasts for a year and is due for renewal on your anniversary date.

To join click here!

Become a Member Now!

• To increase collaboration over competition in the doula profession. We believe that with a strong group of upstanding doulas, we can promote the profession as a whole such that there is plenty of work for everyone.
• To educate the Portland-Area public about the roles of birth and postpartum doulas and to promote doulas as a whole.
• To provide networking and continuing education opportunities
• To create a strong, unified membership of experienced doulas as well as new doulas.
• To foster a support system for doulas–promoting self-care and decreasing burnout.
• To maintain relationships with other professionals who provide services to women and families around pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding & infant care.

A birth, or labor, doula is a person you hire to guide you through the birth process in whatever way is best for you.

A birth doula will meet with you before the birth and will support the pregnant person and the partner during the labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum period. Most birth doulas will meet with you one or more times after the birth to see how you are feeling.

Common myths about birth doulas:

1. They are the same as midwives.  This is an understandable assumption, but it’s midwives have a very different role from birth doulas. Midwives attend to the medical well-being of the pregnant person and the baby. Doulas are not medical professionals and do not give medical advice. Birth doulas do not check dilation, they do not listen to your baby’s heart, and they do not “deliver” or catch babies except in extreme circumstances!
2. They only attend home births.  Also, very far from true. 98% of births in the Portland Area take place in a hospital. Working birth doulas do the bulk of their work in hospitals and are familiar with birth in the hospital setting. It can actually be quite rare for a birth doula to have a home birthing client!
3. They only attend “natural” unmedicated births.  Traditionally, the people most-likely to hire a birth doula are the ones that plan not to take any pain medication, but the truth is that doulas are experts in compassionate care and can be incredible assets whether you need a scheduled cesarean birth, whether you plan to receive an epidural or whether you plan to give birth with as few interventions as possible. Birth doulas are birth professionals. Being well-versed in labor and birth means that your birth doula knows that things do not always (or even often!) go according to plan and if and when plans change, your doula can help you and your partner process the changes and make decisions in the moment.

A postpartum doula mother’s the mother. She is an extra set of hands to help make sure that the person who has just given birth is nurtured so that she can nurture her new baby.

Postpartum is a tumultuous time for families. Often a calm, steady presence is just what you need to make that transition a smooth and joyful one.

 

More coming soon.

Are you ready to hire a birth or postpartum doula?

Browse Portland Doula Association’s amazing doulas using our Member Directory. Choose a few to interview and pick the one that you “click” with and with whom you feel the most at home.

1. Interview more than one doula. There are hundreds of great doulas in this area. They all may be competent, but you want more than just competence you want connection. Birth works best when you trust your team. Take time to choose the doula with whom you really click.
2. Ask tough questions. Don’t be afraid to ask about the “what ifs”. Does your birth doula have a plan for supporting you if she is sick or has a family emergency? What training and experience does she have? Does your postpartum doula have experience with colic? Does she have any breastfeeding training?
3. Be yourself. The best doula/client relationships are the ones that are built on mutual fondness, respect and trust.