What’s In My Doula Kit?
I bring a doula bag with me to every birth, and it includes a range of effective tools that many of us student midwives and doulas have come to love. This includes:
Rebozo
Dozens of traditional Mexican rebozos - long, wide, woven scarves - are gathered in a circle surrounding a candlelit altar, with an assortment of traditional altar decorations with symbolism for birth, in this beautiful rebozo blessing ceremony.
a rebozo (pictured above: a large traditional woven Mexican scarf) which is great for swaying with your body, supporting your belly, tug-of-war if you have an epidural and are having a hard time pushing, even changing baby’s position, and shaking tension out of your back, hips, and legs. I have a full album displaying some of these rebozo techniques in my portfolio!
a massage gun, which can relieve tension and distract your brain from contractions, provide comfort and reinvigorate your birth team for those long births where we’ve all been on our feet for hours on end, and comes with multiple attachment heads for a variety of sensations to target specific needs.
wood combs to squeeze in your hands, in what we call the “gate control” technique - your nervous system can only process so much sensory input at one time, and by squeezing the rounded points of these combs into the Laogong acupressure point in the palm of your hand, you can disrupt some of your pain signals, which may be effective to ride through particularly intense contractions.
battery powered candles and a galaxy lamp - warm candlelight has been proven to stimulate your natural oxytocin production, while harsh bright lights are less relaxing and can be a hindrance to labor progression.
It’s my greatest hope that some of these tools can help you to spiritually slip beyond the veil, into the liminal space between heaven and earth.
