Birth Doula Support
Brandy Oswald-Byrne
Birth Doula Support for pregnant people in Chittenden County, Vermont - serving Burlington, VT | Essex, VT | Jericho, VT | Richmond, VT | Williston, VT | Colchester, VT | & beyond.
*Don’t live in Vermont? I also work as a virtual birth doula. Scroll down to learn more about my virtual offerings!
My Approach
As your birth doula, I provide compassionate, highly trained pregnancy, labor, & birth support.
Unlike many birth doulas, I offer multiple prenatal birth prep check-ins and access to labor + birth prep specific classes to more effectively prepare your body + baby for birth.
During labor + birth I offer a wide-range of comfort measures, labor positions for each stage of labor, support upright + mobile labor and birth positions, and a strong focus on encouraging an optimal position for baby to help you achieve an easier, shorter labor experience.
I will remain with you for several hours after giving birth to ensure proper postpartum support, provide text check-ins throughout the first few weeks, and even visit you in-home after returning from the hospital (if that’s where you choose to give birth).
I support hospital births at UVM Medical Center, homebirths within 40 minutes of Essex, VT, and virtually from anywhere in the world.
(Yes, that’s me smiling in the birth tub during my first birth. Things got REAL not too long after this!)
What you get:
» Unlimited phone, text, & email support from the date of hire
» FREE admission to one of my monthly Labor Positions classes
» FREE admission to one of my monthly Birth Prep Practices classes
» 30 week prenatal check-in via Zoom to support optimal fetal positioning in the sensitive window from 30 weeks to 34 weeks gestation.
» 36 week in-home prenatal visit to explore your birth wishes, create your birth plan, address fears, connect with you + your partner, and more
» 24/7 on-call support via phone & text beginning at 38 weeks
» 24/7 continuous in-person support for the entirety of your labor + birth*
» In-person support immediately following your birth for up to 2 hours
» Check-ins via phone & text in the early postpartum days
» An in-person visit around 2 weeks postpartum to unpack your birth experience, answer questions about your labor, share your birth story, discuss postpartum recovery, explore postpartum challenges, and provide light support with baby or around the house as needed
Investment: $2,000 - need-based support available upon request
(includes the cost of Labor Positions Class & Birth Prep Practices Classes - a $150 value)
*For labors lasting longer than 24 hours, I may need to call in my back-up doula on account of exhaustion. This is very rarely done, but needs to be noted.
Meet with me
Interested in working with me as your birth doula? Let’s chat!
Please take a moment to fill out my Birth Doula Intake Form via the button below. Once I receive your intake form, I will reach out to schedule a free info call so that we can get to know each other, get all your questions answered, and make sure it feels like a good fit.
Do you live in a place where access to birth doulas is limited? Or do you just really want to work with me? Either way, my virtual birth doula support services could be a great fit for you! With virtual birth doula support you get:
» Unlimited phone, text, & email support from date of hire
» FREE access to one of my monthly Labor Positions classes (virtual options available)
» FREE access to one of my monthly Birth Prep Practices classes (virtual options available)
» 24/7 on-call pregnancy & birth support beginning at 38 weeks and throughout your labor, as desired
» Check-in via phone & text in the early postpartum days
» a 2 hour postpartum call to process your birth experience and support with navigating the early postpartum days
Investment: $600
Please complete the Birth Doula Intake Form via the button below to set up a free info call with me!
Virtual Birth Doula Support
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, I think so. I personally have a very supportive partner and worked with midwives for both of my births, and still my birth doula was instrumental in supporting a more positive birth experience both times.
Hospital midwives support more than one laboring person at a time and are frequently in & out of the birth room, not a constant presence.
Many homebirth midwives don’t arrive until active labor is well established, by when many women are already in need of comfort measures, labor positions, hands-on support, emotional support, and help with positioning or repositioning their babies.
And, all midwives are medical providers first and emotional support people secondarily. While they are instrumental players on our birth teams, they often do not offer the loving, personalized, support that a doula can.
As for partners - Even the most supportive partners frequently feel frozen, in shock, & overwhelmed by the intensity of the labor & birth experience. They want to be helpful, but don’t know how to help when their loved one is is so much pain. A birth doula often supports partners by giving them tangible, effective strategies & techniques for supporting their loved one while in labor - everything from massage, to hip squeezes, to breathing exercises, and more. Birth doulas also offer the opportunity for partners to take a break during labor to use the bathroom, to have a snack, and to just catch their breath while knowing that their loved one is still supported and not alone.
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Most birth doula trainings only briefly touch on how to achieve optimal fetal positioning. Instead they focus more heavily on comfort measures, physical touch, breath practices, visualization, and the stages of labor.
Choosing a birth doula who specializes in optimal fetal positioning, like myself, means you not only get all the benefits of a conventional birth doula listed above, but you also get the benefits of a doula who can help you get your baby into the most optimal position PRIOR to the start of labor to encourage an easier, shorter labor with fewer interventions.
Labors with babies that are int he OP position (head down belly facing mom’s belly) tend to be longer, more painful, and have a higher incidence of epidural use and cesarean birth. I will teach you how to help avoid an OP position in the late 3rd trimester, as well as how to help avoid a breech position to increase your chances of an easier, shorter, less complicated labor.
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Research shows that having a birth doula can…
Support having a shorter labor
Decrease the use of epidurals & pain medications
Decrease the likelihood of interventions like pitocin augmented labors, vacuum & forceps deliveries, and more.
Lower the likelihood of unplanned c-section (39% decrease)
Increase overall mental health and feelings of having had a positive birth experience
Research derived from the 2017 Cochrane Review study
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I always have a back-up doula reserved for every birth client who attends the birth in my absence in the rare instance that I am sick at the time of labor onset. In rare instances, I may also call in my back-up doula for long labors when I am exhausted and needing to rest. You will be introduced to your back-up doula early in our working relationship and have the opportunity to meet with them virtually should you choose.