Doula Rant- Have Contract Clarity!

Jan 31

00:04
Welcome to doula Tips and Tips. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaylee Harad. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born, 12, nearly 13 years ago.

00:23
I am a birth and postpartum doula childbirth educator, La Leche League leader, and a doula coach. I love guiding and supporting doulas as they work out their doula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.

00:36
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. I am here in our very last episode of this mini series about doula Rants. Now today my rant is about doula contracts. And I would say this is something I experienced from pretty early on as a doula.

01:01
I have experienced that doulas have contracts that include things that their clients do not know are in there. Now I realize that it is a client's responsibility to read the contract. I fully appreciate that.

01:16
I am on board with that. I believe it. I agree with it, etc. etc. However, I also will say that if there are things that will make or break your clients' experience, they need to know that those are in your contract.

01:36
And going back to like, don't be an asshole. Because I feel like that's just a basic thing that doulas should adopt. Just don't do that. I think that we need to make sure our clients know how we function.

01:52
Now one of the things that I think is important about this is recognizing that we function differently. Like all of us doulas are not the same, right? That's important to know and that's important to validate and recognize and I make sure to say that to clients when I'm talking to them in their consultation.

02:11
So I would say something like, you know, some doulas have a policy that they're not on call for you until 34 weeks gestation, but or 36 weeks gestation. But for me, being a parent of a premature baby, it's really important to me.

02:29
And also having supported clients through stillbirth, it's really important to me that my clients know that I am on call from them from the second they hire me so that if they have an early baby, if they have a stillbirth, if they have a new baby, etc, they are not waiting to get my support until they are in their actual due date time.

02:52
Okay. Now, that's not true for everyone, right? Now, what I'm saying when I say that to them is you need to be aware that some doulas aren't on call for you until 36 weeks. Do I think that's problematic?

03:05
Maybe. I mean, I don't think it's necessarily wrong. I think it's fine. There's differences in how we do our contracts. But it is important for people to know that that's the case. That's what I'm ranting about.

03:19
I'm not ranting about the fact that we have different policies. That I think is perfectly fine. As long as your people know what your policies are, because expectations are everything in the midst of birth.

03:33
So I want to give a couple of other examples. And these are sadly real life things. So I have experienced doulas who charge an hourly rate after a certain number of hours of birth support, but their clients don't realize that.

03:51
Now, again, I get it. The clients are supposed to read the contract. Right? Like that is their job. And also, if your contract includes something like that, I think you need to make sure that people know that it's there.

04:07
Because that's significant. Like getting to the end of a birth that was really long and then realizing you have like a couple hundred dollar bill from your doula is a lot, you know. And so part of my passion around that is the fact that I think that's a really rough way to start the postpartum time if it's unexpected, you know.

04:30
And again, I don't think it's wrong. I think it's one of many ways to do this, but clients need to know that that's the case. A few other things that I have seen. One is that some doulas will only labor with a client at one birthing location.

04:51
And there are a few reasons I don't love this. Now, I will say most of my clients, I labor just at one location with them. Right? Like usually the place they're planning to give birth. However, um, when I have an out of hospital birth, so like a home birth or a birth center birth, I do oftentimes join them while they're at home.

05:12
Now, obviously a home birth, I'm joining them at home, right? But a birth center or an unmedicated hospital birth, oftentimes they're ready for my support before they're ready to go to the facility. And so usually the game plan is to stay home as long as possible.

05:29
And the way we're going to do that is by me coming to them during some of that time. Now, again, I'm not saying you have to do that. You don't have to do that. What I'm saying is your clients need to know that you don't do it.

05:44
If you don't do it, if they're expecting for you to come and labor with them at home. And then in the midst of labor, they find out that you don't do that. That is a problem. Now, again, Yes, they're supposed to be reading your contract.

06:02
I fully appreciate that and also I think these are things that we need to take the time to educate our clients on so that they know what they're getting and they're not Surprised like we don't want to set people up to have shocking surprises in the midst of birth and things like I'm not gonna have the support I thought I was gonna have is a pretty shocking surprise in my humble opinion, okay?

06:28
Another thing that I've seen is a client that legitimately requires not a client a doula Who legitimately requires that a client be confirmed? Five centimeters before they join them in labor now. I have a problem with this on like about a thousand levels Like just all Sorts of problems so many problems with this the first being that I really firmly educate my clients that they have all the freedom to Decline vaginal exams now if I required a vaginal exam to join you like I have to have a confirmation of vaginal exam at a particular Dilation I imagine that some of my clients would get a whole heck of a lot of vaginal exams Trying to make sure that they were at that dilation so they can come right The other thing that's incredibly problematic about that is that sometimes I Mean really in terms of evidence -based care your cervix shouldn't be on display all that frequently Right like we shouldn't be just checking cervix for fun every few minutes.

07:34
So Usually Someone will have jumped a few centimeters when their cervix is checked So let's say a client's in labor and they're like dang I could really use the support of my doula that I hired and paid money to and My provider just checked me and I'm four centimeters And their doula is like sorry you have to be fine before I come to you?

08:01
Are you kidding me? Because then they're probably not gonna cope very well from that four plus centimeter space and by the time they're five centimeters it's like way past when they needed your support, right?

08:21
The thing that it boggles my mind about this and I'm just you know I'm just here bearing my thoughts about all things in this episode is that I have had clients who are five centimeters for like you know ten seconds before they have a baby and I've had clients that are five centimeters for like ten hours before they have a baby and well that might seem like an exaggeration I have actually had a client go from five and a half centimeters to the baby being out in less than five minutes.

08:59
So maybe less, more than 10 seconds, right? But like truly a very fast turnaround. My assumption in someone having a policy around, around arriving at five centimeters or more, is that they're trying not to arrive in really early labor and be there forever.

09:15
But I'm like, I have been at a, at a birth where someone was six centimeters when I joined them and I'm like, oh, this baby is coming. And they stall at six centimeters for 12 hours. And I'm with them for 18 hours or 25 hours, right?

09:32
So is that a golden ball that tells us then, oh, for sure your cervix is like ready to dilate and have a baby because you're five centimeters. So there's some magical thing about it. But what we end up doing is guest lighting the heck out of people and not giving them the support that they need.

09:49
So this is the final episode for this mini series on doula rants. And I'm not going to continue on down my list of, my kind of long list at this point of things that I think are really problematic about how some doulas function.

10:04
My purpose in this is twofold. One, a rant is helpful, right? It's good to vent about things. It's good for your mental health and for your emotional health. Two, vent about things that piss you off.

10:17
Two, I think that it's important for you to know some problematic practices so you can avoid them. So this last episode is not about policy differences. I just want to reiterate that. This is about how we communicate those policies with our clients.

10:34
Clear and concise expectations. That is what I want doulas to have with their clients and not things that are hidden in contracts that clients find out later are there, right? That is a problem. That is a major problem because then we are causing trauma.

10:56
rather than being the ones who are helping people avoid it. So that is all for this mini series. I would still love to hear your rants. It's also early in 2024 and so I would still really love to hear what your desires are to hear on the podcast.

11:13
What are some episode topics that would be helpful to you? If you come over to my world on Instagram at Haradoula and connect with me there in the messages and the DMs, I would really, really love to hear what are some topics I could dive into that would be helpful to you and your doula business in 2024 because I have a list of episodes, right?

11:37
I'm working through my plan for the year, but I'm happy to add in things that would be beneficial to you because you are the reason I'm here doing this. So so connect with me on Instagram, please do that.

11:51
I would really love to hear from you and I want to be able to feature your episode idea. And also I would love to hear your rants so that you have good mental health and you're able to get these things off your chest just like I have in these last four episodes.

12:07
All right, I'll see you in the next episode. ["Tips and Tits"] Thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula Tips and Tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Herod doula so we can celebrate alongside you.

12:27
If you found this podcast helpful, we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. That helps other doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment.

12:42
It is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business. We'll see you again soon.

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This is our last episode in Doula Rants. We are talking about making sure you have a contract! It seems like a duh thing but it’s also making sure you know everything in your contract and giving the basics of how you function to your customers. Contracts can be tricky but you need to have them!

Quote from the show:

“However, I also will say that if there are things that will make or break your clients' experience, they need to know that those are in your contract. And going back to like, don't be an asshole. Because I feel like that's just a basic thing that doulas should adopt. Just don't do that. I think that we need to make sure our clients know how we function. Now one of the things that I think is important about this is recognizing that we function differently. Like all of us doulas are not the same, right? That's important to know and that's important to validate and recognize and I make sure to say that to clients when I'm talking to them in their consultation. ”

https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/doula-biz-blueprint

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Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay