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Meet the Guest
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Grace Swartzendruber
Grace advocates for birthing people across the state as a faculty member for the Iowa Maternal Quality Care Collaborative through the Iowa Department of Public Health. Additionally, Grace helps to facilitate Pregnant & Postpartum in the Corridor, a online and in-person support group and resource for local parents. Grace is also a founding member of Doulas of Iowa City, a local professional networking and continuing education organization for doulas.
Summary
In this episode we interview Grace Swartzendruber, a full spectrum doula, about doula care. We cover what a doula is, what they do, why someone would hire a doula, the benefits of a doula, and how a doula can be a valuable member of the birth team.
Main Questions Asked
- Can you start off by explaining to our listeners what is a doula, what types of training they go through, and what services they provide?
- What are some of the reasons that a pregnant person might hire a doula?
- What are some common misconceptions about doulas that you have heard, particularly from OB/Gyn clinicians?
- We are all about evidence and I know there has been some research on the benefit of doulas in birth. Can you please share with our listeners the evidence surrounding the impact the doulas?
- How can doulas be seen as part of member of the birth team?
- We are also all about communication in this podcast so we want to ask two specific questions about communication related to doulas. First, how can provider appropriately respond to a patient who wants a doula.
- Second, can you share some tips on how clinicians can improve their communication with a doula during the labor, delivery, and post-partum period?
- We have a growing number of listeners who do not identify as In your opinion what makes a “good” doula?
- What do you see as the future of doula services?
- Where can our listeners go to learn more about doulas and even find one in their community?