nwasianweekly.com
Aug. 19, 2006

Geraldine Lee, a doula and midwife, is trained to assist mothers through the difficult and stressful process of childbirth.

By Lee Bedard
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

How does this sound for a career choice?

“Wanted: caring, patient, resourceful women to assist midwives in delivering babies. Do whatever is needed to help the mother, from back rubs to negotiating with hospital staff. Pay can be good. Hours: 24/7. Probably not suitable for mothers with full-time care of their children. Doulas wanted; ability to speak Chinese, Vietnamese, other Asian languages especially desirable.”

Midwives have delivered babies for centuries, and doulas (pronounced DOO-lahs) have often helped them. Midwifery is doing well in Seattle, with some 20 midwives listed on the Web site of Doulas North America, the leading national organization. But Asian Pacific Islander doulas are a rarity, with only two, Geraldine Lee and Shirley Baek, known to be practicing in the Seattle area.

But change might be on the way. Open Arms Perinatal Services in Seattle has received an $8,000 grant to provide doula care at International Community Health Services. The doulas will begin working with the immigrant and refugee clients there.

Jennifer Head, president of Open Arms’ board of directors and a practicing doula, said the grant “could be groundbreaking” in showing other clinics around the nation how to support refugee and immigrant women. The grant comes from the Seattle branch of King County United Way under its “venture grant” program, which helps start new initiatives. The money will pay for scholarships to train doulas.

Lisa Chin is executive director of Open Arms.

Despite the common public perception that midwife-doula teams usually preside over at-home births, Chin said hospital deliveries are actually the standard in the Seattle area.

“Doulas work in any setting the mother chooses,” Chin said.

Geraldine Lee’s Web site lists her languages as “Korean, Spanish and some Bislama,” the latter learned during her time in the island nation of Vanuatu. She attended some 100 births in Vanuatu.

Lee is both a doula and a midwife. She entered the doula field in 1991, after first believing she would become an obstetrician. She practiced exclusively as a doula until 1996, when she took midwife training.

“I had loved babies since my childhood, and knew I wanted to work with mothers and babies,” Lee said.

Lee admits that her practice is now devoted more to midwifery than to being a doula, leaving Shirley Baek as basically the lone API doula practitioner in the area.

Doula training requires 36 hours of classroom training, after which the doula intern must attend three births. Although there is no formal exam, each birth she attends is rated by the mother, the doctor, the midwife and the attending nurse. She also may write a paper about her experiences. Her certification depends on favorable ratings by the attending team members.

How does a mother-to-be find her midwife-doula team?

“They usually start shopping around in the second half of the pregnancy,” Lee says.

“They might visit with me two or three times, to see if we seem to be compatible.”

Lee’s practice is mainly private-pay patients, who pay between $500 and $800 per birth. She said a typical doula fee is about $500, and most of her clients pay directly.

Although there is no legal limit on how many births a doula may attend in a week or a month, Head said she limits herself to three or four a month.

“Every doula has a backup doula,” said Head, who also works as a lactation consultant. “We caution doulas not to take too many births.”

Head said she believes every woman should have a doula, whether or not she needs a “culturally competent” doula who understands the mother’s customs and circumstances. She said she once assisted a woman from Ukraine, and, despite having no common language, she was able to help ease the woman’s stress.

Lee said today’s midwives are more likely to be part of the in-hospital medical team than at-home practitioners. As team members, they take direction from the doctors. The doula, however, stays close at hand to comfort and assist the mother. Rubbing her back during labor is one of the most welcome supports a doula provides.

Sometimes a doula needs to know when to disappear, Lee noted.

“When they need space to talk, I will step out,” she said.

For more information, visit www.openarmsps.org and www.rainycitymidwiferyandacupuncture.com.

Lee Bedard can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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