I work In an OB/GYN hospital owned clinic and am very interested in becoming a Doula. One of the physicians I work with tells me I would be a fanatastic Doula... I had never even heard of this profession until she mentioned it to me after I attended a birth at one of our patience request. I am curious about the pay scale as well... please any information you can supply would be greatly appreciated.. I live in the Detroit, MI area.

-- Kitt T (kittn38@msn.com), November 20, 2003

Answers

YOu can become certified through various associations. The most prominent two are ALACE (www.alace.org) and DONA (www.dona.org). While ALACE teaches you basic medical practice such as blood pressures, pelvic exams, etc; DONA is purely non-medical in approach. I'm working on getting my certification through ALACE. They offer weekend workshops as a starting point, have an extensive reading list, and reviews of your attendance and performace at births.

As for pay scale, I know many volunteer doulas, though the range of paid positions that I have heard ranges between $300-$800 per client. This is really a generic/ballpark figure. Mind you, we aren't in it for the money... it can be an long, grueling ordeal after which the doula is often more sore than the mother. (Imagine supporting a 215 pound woman during contractions... applying counter-pressure from BIZARRE angles. I always see my massage therapist the next day or so, but wouldn't change a thing!)

There are some fantastic books out there also. The Doula Book is good, The Birth Partner is fantastic, and Special Women is amazing!

Hope this helps.

-- Megan Fowler (pre-raphaelite@earthlink.net), December 03, 2003.

iam a staff nurse ,,now iam working as a teacher for nursing diploma student when ia, searching in internit i read dulla can i know what its mean,,, can i become a member of it/

-- ayman tayseer ghanem (ayman_gha2002@yahoo.com), January 13, 2004.