What is a doula?

A doula is a companion who supports you throughout labor, birth and postpartum.

Doulas are trained to provide continuous, one-on-one emotional and physical support during labor and birth. Doulas also provide informational and emotional support to you (and your partner) throughout pregnancy and into postpartum and parenthood.

*Caring In Color is a Full Spectrum Doula practice, which means in addition to supporting pregnancy and birth, I also support people through their fertility journeys, pregnancy loss and abortion.

What is the difference between a midwife and a doula?

Broadly speaking, a midwife is a medical professional who provides health care during pregnancy and birth, whereas doulas provide emotional, informational and hands-on support to individuals and families during the perinatal period.

What is the difference between a Midwife and an OB/GYN?

Midwives and OB/GYNs both play similar and important roles in ensuring a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Midwives provide a more natural and holistic approach to care, while OB/GYNs have a broader scope of practice that includes managing high risk pregnancies and performing surgical interventions such as cesarean births.

Does Caring In Color accept Insurance?

Yes, Caring In Color accepts Neighborhood Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island, United Health Plan and Tufts. Your insurance plan must be Rhode-Island based.

To learn more about doula coverage in RI, you can visit : www.rifamiliesdeservedoulas.com

How do I know if my insurance covers doula services ?

Because each person’s insurance plan is unique, you must call your insurance and confirm your eligibility before we can officially start working together. After our introductory call, you will receive an email with detailed instructions about how to confirm your eligibility with your insurance provider.

To learn more about doula coverage in RI, you can visit : www.rifamiliesdeservedoulas.com

Does Caring In Color attend and support home births?

Absolutely! I love to offer doula support to people who are birthing their babies at home. That said, I am not a medical professional trained in helping people deliver their babies - So in addition to doula support, you will also need to hire a professional home birth midwife to join your birth team to ensure your experience birthing at home remains safe.

How do I know which doula is right for me?

Your doula will be your companion through one of the most important experiences of your life. As such, it’s always a good idea to interview several doulas to get a sense of each doula’s personal style and philosophy. After the intro call, you can ask yourself: Do I feel like the doula answered my questions? Do I feel like the doula cared about what’s most important to me? Was I inspired, comforted or excited by the conversation? Can I imagine working one on one with this person in my home?

If you are torn over which doula is “right” for you, try to cut-out the noise and go with your gut. You will know who feels right.

Who does Caring In Color support?

Information on fertility, pregnancy and birth is filled with generalizations, assumptions, stigmas and limiting language. My doula practice is non-assumptive about who you are or how you see yourself in this experience.

As such, Caring In Color offers affirming support to a diverse range of individuals and families regardless of your family structure, how you identify or what “type” of birth you aim to have.

I have supported a wonderful constellation of families in my work. I have supported IVF pregnancies, surrogates/surrogacy births, single parents, queer couples, etc. My aim is to provide affirming and individualized support so you can feel “at home” in your journey and embody your experience from an authentic place.

How do prenatal visits work?

Before we meet for the first time, you will complete an ‘Intake Form’ which will ask you about the topics which are most important to you.

Maybe you want to learn more about prenatal nutrition or what you can eat in your third trimester to set the stage for postpartum. Maybe you want to learn coping skills and hands-on tools for your birth partner to use such as hip-squeezes, counter-pressure, acupressure, birth ball exercises and labor positions. Maybe you’ve experience birth trauma or had a negative birth experience and you are looking for tools and resources to help you have a positive birth experience or VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). Maybe you don’t love the provider you are working with and you’d like to talk about better options. Whether you are birthing at the hospital or at your home, our prenatal visits will help you to prepare for what’s ahead. We help define what is most-important to you and bring information and attention to those topics in our prenatal sessions.

More generally, our prenatal visits will cover postpartum planning, birth plans / birth preferences and feeding your baby - whether you are breastfeeding, chestfeeding or body feeding or bottle feeding.

How do postpartum visits work?

After pregnancy or birth, I am available to you for up to 3 postpartum visits. Additional visits may be arranged if need be. Our time together in the postpartum period is highly individualized. I can help with processing your birth experience, offer infant feeding support, recommend products, help with small tasks around the home, assist you with meal prep and help normalize some of the changes and challenges as they arise. I love connecting folks to additional resources to help with postpartum recovery, connection and self-care. There are many wonderful RI practitioners and several in-person and virtual support groups to help you along your way and I am here to help you find the resources you need as you need them. Outside of our visits I’m available to you via text support if questions or concerns arise.

How many birth clients does Caring In Color take on each month?

Caring In Color currently accepts 2 birth clients per month - but sometimes more if a client delivers early and a space is freed up.

How do I become a doula in Rhode Island?

There are many ways to become a doula but the first step is to research a local doula training near you.

If there are no local trainings immediately available, there are several organizations which offer virtual and/or in-person doula training courses. Caring In Color recommends Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings and Cornerstone Doula Trainings; both organizations offer a variety of programs, trainings and workshops depending on the type of doula you aim to become or the skills you are seeking to learn. Each training and organization has different certification requirements, so you will need to research what is required to complete and certify with your organization of choice.

If you are a doula who wants to become a Certified Perinatal Doula in the state of Rhode Island, you will need to complete the RI Certification Board requirements before applying. For support with certifying to accept insurance and for billing insurance in Rhode Island, you can join the RI Birth Worker Co-op - A member owned corporation of doulas who accept insurance in Rhode Island.

Does Caring in Color offer Childbirth Education Classes?

Caring In Color hosts several Childbirth Education Class Series and educational workshops each year. Private classes are also available on request. You can find a list of the current offerings here.