Interview with Lily Carter the Doula

In this week’s episode of Form, Function, and Flow Lab, I interviewed Lily Carter, a doula who is serving the Pittsburgh area and studying to be a nurse midwife. 

Lily Carter On How She Became A Doula

Lily Carter is the owner of Golden Lotus Doula Services and she does birth doula services, postpartum doula services, bereavement services, placenta encapsulation services, and more. She has her hands in a lot of things in the birth industry.

Lily Carter shared that she loves being an advocate for her patients. As a doula, she serves as a bridge between the client and the provider so that the client can relay their desires to their midwife or doctor.  The doula also helps the partners of the moms on how they can help during the birth. They help facilitate the connection between the partners and work together as a team towards a common goal.

She has seen a lot of births with different scenarios. There are many little things that come up during labor and it is her job to be the resource that moms can turn to so they can try other ways to make the delivery easier, faster, and more comfortable.

As for assuring dads on how they help during the delivery, she tells them that just them being there is already a big thing for their partner. They do not need to feel like they have to do things and have trainings to help with the labor and the delivery as Doulas are there to support them and guide them on what they need to do.

Doulas accompany you throughout your entire laboring process. The doctors check on you during your labor, but typically come in closer to pushing time.  Doulas can suggest a variety of positions to help moms progress labor and be more comfortable.  They also can apply pressure points to different areas of the body to ease labor pains.  Another valuable resource that I use for my patients is Spinning Babies.  

Lily shared that moms are allowed to deliver in a variety of positions, however, they have to stand firm as to which position they are most comfortable in. It would also help if they are already in the position they want to give birth in even before the doctor comes in. Talking to the doctor about wanting to try different positions is also a good way to let them know what you are comfortable with. 

People want to give birth naturally not because there is a trophy at the end of the delivery, but because they want to avoid the cons of medications. They don’t just want to go through this painful experience, but they want to know the power of their body and experience this with their baby. She applauds anyone who has gone through birth whatever way they chose, but she still advocates for natural delivery.

Epidurals do come with risks.  They might not work. You might get a spinal headache. Half of your body might be paralyzed instead of both.  The paralytic nature of it might not fully wear off for weeks or months.  I did have a patient that was unable to walk out of the hospital on her own because of that and did not gain full function for almost two months. Epidurals often lower your blood pressure and that might be an issue to look into BEFORE delivery. Epidurals slow labor and often make it necessary to take Pitocin to speed the labor up again.  This causes very intense contractions, which may stress the baby.  This could lead to a higher incidence of c-section.   Even if there is a slim chance of these risks, the patients/moms should know about it before they make a decision about medically-induced birth. 

Patients often look at me like I am a masochist for going without an epidural.  I definitely did not do it for a badge of honor.  I weighed the risks and decided to go without AND I was lucky enough to have easy labors that allowed me to do that. There are many cases where the patient is in so much pain (possibly due to positioning) that an epidural is a lifesaver to relax the patient enough to let her progress along in labor and let the cervix open.  I was also concerned with not connecting to my pushing as well with having an epidural.  You don’t feel it as much and it was very true for me. During my labor, they kept asking me if I was ready to push and because I could feel everything, I knew for certain that I was not ready to push yet.  I was able to tell exactly when I needed to push and it saved me the exhaustion of hours of pushing before being ready.  This also leads to less tearing.

Birth classes and education is also something that Lily and other doulas do for their clients.  I learned all about birth through pre and postnatal training for chiropractic and I became a BirthFit director after I had my daughter in 2017.  I do not do that currently, but it involved extensive birth education programing.  I had my husband take the Bradley Method classes before our daughter was born (consisted of 12 hours) because I wanted him to learn it from someone besides me.  I highly recommend taking more than just a few hour course at your hospital.  Or you can do your own research. Lily and her company model their birth education off of Hypnobabies, but it incorporates other elements as well.  This also includes getting to know your own anatomy, which is something that is weirdly lacking in this country.  As Lily noted, it is important to connect to your body.  Lily suggested the Birth Partner as good reading prior to birth and I have always found Ina Mae Gaskin’s book and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding as great prenatal reading. 

Just like Lily, I tell my patients that I respect their decision and their birth plans, but it is still best to research ALL the different scenarios that could happen during birth. Birth by nature is unpredictable and I want my patients to be prepared for whatever might come up during delivery and not be panicked.  Every option is very important to know about so they can choose wisely what their experience will be. They should know about C-sections, natural delivery, and deliveries using epidural.

Lily shared that she works with clients that deliver at midwife centers, hospitals, and at home. Thirty percent goes to midwife centers, ten percent goes to home births, and the rest goes to births at hospitals.

As a chiropractor, we have a lot of clients coming in before they give birth. They ask us to help them with a breach, or to turn the baby, and the like. However, after giving birth, they usually do not come back anymore as they focus more on the appointments of the baby and forget about taking care of themselves.

Lily shared that with a doula, they offer services to help new parents take care of themselves and get the support they need after giving birth. The doulas make sure that the mom and the baby are getting everything that they need such as helping the mom know how to make the baby sleep and how to feed the baby. All babies are different so it won’t matter whether or not the mom is a new mom or the mom has had prior children already.

You can contact Lily Carter through her company’s Facebook page if you want to know more about the services they offer. 

She also has a program called the Pittsburgh Birth Project, which envisions a future where opportunity, safety, options, and dignity of the perinatal experience is the same for all people in Pittsburgh, regardless of socio-economic status, race, or gender identity.

If you have any questions, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more! 

Thank you for listening and see you next week!