Supporting doulas

Yesterday was a fun first: Maisie's First Lobbying at the Capitol.

She and I attended a session of the House Health & Human Services committee to support a bill that adds doula care to the Minnesota patient's bill of rights - apparently some hospitals only allow a laboring woman to have one support person with her, so she can't have a doula if she has a spouse or partner who's also there. This would require Minnesota hospitals to allow laboring women to have both a doula and another support person with her.

The bill would also require Medical Assistance to cover doula fees. The idea is that not only is it better for the laboring woman to have a doula, but it's also a cost-saving measure - women who have doulas at their births have fewer epidurals (which are expensive), fewer c-sections ($10-20K more expensive than a vaginal birth), and are more likely to successfully breastfeed (less expensive than formula, and results in healthier babies) than women who do not have doula care. So, covering doula care for low-income women should result in lower costs to the state.

We had a doula at Maisie's birth and we know how valuable her support was. It would be so wonderful if every woman could have that kind of support in labor and delivery.

But lobbying is hard work, and it tuckered Maisie right out.