Are doulas worth the cost?

Hi! I’m currently 29w pregnant with my first and am starting to get pretty anxious about delivery. I had a consultation Zoom call with a doula today, and I really liked her! She seemed very knowledgeable, we clicked, and I would love to have her as a part of my birthing team. Right now the “team” is just me, my husband, and medical staff at the hospital.

My question for mothers who had a birthing doula is whether they are worth the money! I live in a HCOL area, so I was expecting to need to spend over $1k for a doula. But the one I talked to today is $1,900 for JUST the birth! So nearly $2k for (on average) ~24 hours of support. I would have access to her for 24/7 calls/texts leading up to labor, but I’m still just having trouble stomaching the idea of spending so much for such a small amount of someone’s time.

(I know plenty of women give birth without doulas, and it’s absolutely a luxury spend rather than a necessity)

Husband here, we got one and it was not worth it, but I think mainly because we were induced. We were planning on leaning on her for guidance through labor pains, breathing, etc. but all that went out the window, so she ended up being an $1800 photographer!

We had one and it was not worth it. In fact, I’m completely against them. Of course we had a bad experience and received a FULL refund of $1700.

Tatum said:
We had one and it was not worth it. In fact, I’m completely against them. Of course we had a bad experience and received a FULL refund of $1700.

Not OP, but curious as to what made your experience bad. I’m considering one for my next pregnancy since I want to have a VBAC.

Tatum said:
We had one and it was not worth it. In fact, I’m completely against them. Of course we had a bad experience and received a FULL refund of $1700.

I would also like to know what made the experience bad! I figured the two outcomes would just be helpful or useless. Didn’t consider that one could have a negative experience.

If your husband isn’t knowledgeable and fully ready to advocate for you and help with coping mechanisms during labor, get the doula. Medical staff is helpful for sure, but they’re also hit or miss. I had some nurses I loved and some that I definitely could’ve done without. So especially if you’re trying to go unmedicated, if your husband doesn’t know pain relief techniques, your exact wishes for your birth, and how to speak to medical staff and tell them point blank what you want, get the doula. Your husband will also be half focused on the baby when they get there. The doula will be focused on you the whole way through. My sister was there with me and numerous times told medical staff what I needed/wanted because I was in too much pain to talk or I was really out of it. I also got anxious about calling the nurse to ask for things even when I really needed it, and she didn’t care to do that for me, so that was helpful haha.

Loved my doula and so worth it! We did a whole educational course with her (private course with just us), birth prep and coping strategies sessions, all labor support, and a postpartum package. She also did birth photography. For our next kid, I will just go for the labor support package, since I know a lot more now. She talked me through everything (ie, what the alarm was when my IV bag disconnected and the nurses didn’t explain anything), distracted me when needed, the exact pushing coaching I needed, and lots of practical stuff like being another set of hands to help carry stuff. Even with an attentive and amazing husband, the third-party support just hit different.

Really depends on how much $1900 is worth to you, your goals for delivery, and how straightforward your pregnancy is. I had a complicated pregnancy and the only advice/support I needed was from my doctor/medical team; a birth doula would not have added any value for me. I personally would spend the money elsewhere (and I spent heavily on postpartum doulas to care for my baby), but your needs may be different than mine.

So even if you don’t hire a doula, I would highly recommend a birthing class taught by or involving one. The birthing class I took was one-on-one with a doula and it just helped me so much to get coping strategies and everything from her. I thought about paying for her to be on the birth team but was just sort of not happy about the idea of yet another person (we did a home birth, my house is small). But her guidance in the lead-up made me feel so much more confident and prepared going into the birth. And I used her advice while I was in labor for getting through contractions and pushing, etc. Also, personally, I would want an advocate at the hospital that knows what I want and is familiar with the hospital system itself.