Gwynne Melody Knap has taught hundreds of expectant couples how to navigate through their birth journeys with practical coping skills including relaxation, breathing, gravity-promoting positioning and labor comfort measures.  She has
been a labor doula helping couples give birth since 1999.  Gwynne has also learned much through her long time association, with CAPPA Founder & Executive Director, Tracy Wilson Peters.  Gwynne has shadowed Tracy through many CAPPA Labor Doula and Childbirth Educator weekend training sessions.  Gwynne Knap, now takes
the lead in providing CAPPA Labor Doula Trainings & Childbirth Educator Trainings
in the Atlanta Area.

What is a Doula?

A doula is a person who attends the birthing family before, during, and just after the birth of the baby. The certified doula is trained to deliver emotional support from home to hospital, ease the transition into the hospital environment, and be there through changing hospital shifts and alternating provider schedules. The doula serves as an advocate, labor coach, and information source to give the mother and her partner the added comfort of additional support throughout the entire labor. There are a variety of titles used by women offering these kinds of services such as "birth assistant," "labor support specialist" and "doula".

What Does a Doula Do?

The following is a general description of what you might expect from a CAPPA certified labor doula. Typically, doulas meet with the parents in the second or third trimester of the pregnancy to get acquainted and to learn about prior birth experiences and the history of this pregnancy. She may help you develop a birth plan, teach relaxation, visualization, and breathing skills useful for labor. Most importantly, the doula will provide comfort, support, and information about birth options.

A doula can help the woman to determine prelabor from true labor and early labor from active labor. At a point determined by the woman in labor, the doula will come to her and assist her by:

• Helping her to rest and relax
• Providing support for the woman's partner
• Encouraging nutrition and fluids in early labor
• Assisting her in using a variety of helpful positions and comfort measures
• Constantly focus on the comfort of both the woman and her partner
• Helping the environment to be one in which the woman feels secure and confident
• Providing her with information on birth options

A doula works cooperatively with the health care team. In the event of a complication, a doula can be a great help in understanding what is happening and what options the family may have. The doula may also help with the initial breastfeeding and in preserving the privacy of the new family during the first hour after birth.