The Best Labor and Postpartum Doulas in Michigan: The Joyful Agency Approach

The doula agency model is a fairly new concept to the birth community. For the most part it has been many, many, many individual doulas working on their own and supporting families on their own shoulders. The solo doula practice is a way that I ran my business until I was introduced to the way Randy Paterson of ProDoula, does business. She changed the way we thought about our work and the value of having an agency model. This approach makes every aspect of supporting families during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum simply makes sense for the doulas and clients. And here's why:

• Consistent Back-Up - our doulas work in teams of 2. That means that our clients get to know BOTH doulas at their prenatal meetings. Throughout pregnancy, both doulas are supporting the client through phone, email, and text support whenever the need arises. When our clients go into labor the doula on-call for that week will attend the birth. But, let's be honest, life happens. Sometimes we get sick, or our kiddos get sick, or we have a flat tire. Regardless of the reason why one doula may not be able to attend your birth at the last minute, we all know the next step. The other doula will attend the birth. There is a continuos relationship between our clients and the doulas who will service them. There is never any surprise as to who will be at your birth.  

• Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed Doulas - While we act as back-up for each other we also have open communication within our agency to know when one of us is feeling a little burnt out and needing some self-care time. This is done for the benefit of the doula and the client. The doula has the time to care for themselves and recharge their batteries. And when our doulas are refreshed, we can be refreshed to support you! 
• Consistent Communication - We are a close group of awesome doulas. Not only do we all have a passion for supporting Metro-Detroit families, we also desire to have close relationships with each other to better our work. We are always up date with each other electronically as far as the needs and desires of our clients. Often times our postpartum clients require hours beyond what one doula is capable of on her own. If a second doula is needed we have a way to communicate the needs of the family after every postpartum shift so our care is seamless. 
• Doulas Who Train Together - While there are many certifying companies for doulas to train with now we all have made the investment into the same certifying company, ProDoula. This means we have all been trained with the same understanding of our scope of care. There is no difference in our education and our approach to supporting families. 
• Finding Your Perfect Match - When you initially contact ExpectingJoy Birth Services we listen to your needs and desires for your birth as well as your personality and style of parenting. Rather than researching and searching for individual doulas and conducting an interview for each we take the guess work out of it and match you up with a doula that best fits you. 

Contact us today if you'd like to utilize our agency for your birth, postpartum, or placenta encapsulation needs.