The Doulas of the Hudson Valley have made it easier to afford a doula by now offering gift certificates for our services.  You can add these to your baby shower registry so that family and friends can help you fund our support.  “But how will they know that I would like a gift certificate for a doula as a gift?” you ask.  With this free printable, is the answer!  Just print off as many cards you may need and add them to the inside of your baby shower invitation.  The URL on the card will take your family and friends directly to our gift certificate purchasing page.  Before you know it you’ll be well on your way to having your birthing class, birth doula or maybe placenta services paid for. 

 

In the dictionary, the word Barter is defined as follows:
A system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. 

In today’s fast paced world, bartering could be confused with haggling, or arguing over the price of something, sort of like being at a flea market or a yard sale where the buyer tries to lower the price of the item by walking away or talking the buyer down. Bartering is not swapping, it is an even trade.

I have been a doula for 20+ years, and have supported dozens of women, their partners and families through labor, birth and the postpartum period. Living in Los Angeles, I have been paid handsomely for my work as a birth and postpartum doula, and have volunteered my services at a maternity home where women from all walks of life found themselves pregnant and homeless.  Needless to say, they could not afford a doula. So on the one hand you have “clients” who can pay for a doula, and on the other you have women who are so grateful to have someone with them, supporting them through labor and birth.  

“What is all this leading up to ”?  You might ask.  Well, we all painfully aware that our economy is struggling.  Many couples and families live on one income, we are all shaving perks from our lives: gone are the family vacations, that new car, the kitchen renovation.  But what about the doula you wanted for your birth?

Well, you can still have that doula, all you have to do is be imaginative, bold, and ask. Most doulas have “a sliding scale”, many will take payment over time, and some of us will barter our services.  I have! A few years ago, I found out my farrier (the wonderful guy who puts shoes on my horse) and his girlfriend were pregnant.  He sort of knew what a doula was, and in between trimming and shoeing my horse, I told him about the difference between a doula and a midwife.    A light bulb went off!  We figured that we both had a talent that we could exchange:  I would be their childbirth educator/labor doula and he would shoe my horse for a year.  He spoke to his girlfriend who happily agreed to the barter. All three of us were happy!   A few months later, their baby was born, and our plan went off without a hitch. 

As a doula, my “clients” and I sign a birth agreement, and in my barter situation, we did just that, except that in place of the agreed price for my services, we wrote in the nature of the barter. 

So, in conclusion, if you really would love to have a doula, but think you can’t afford one, think again.  Maybe your partner is a carpenter, and the doula needs new cabinets, maybe you are a web designer and the doula needs a new website, the possibilities are endless.  We have become more open to seeing life through a different prism, and in the end, we all have something to offer,

Jenny Gillespie, ICCE,CD,BDT
www.yourdoula.com      

To read about alternative ways to fund doula service, read part one on gift certificates
and visit our gift certificate page.

We are excited to be offering gift certificates that family and friends can purchase toward doula service or any of the other services our doulas offer. Many women think that having a doula is something they can't afford. Now you can, why not suggest when people ask you what you want, that instead of all the endless baby supplies, you would like them to contribute something to you getting a birth or postpartum doula. It makes a great shower gift!

Here's how it works. You get to interview as many of the doulas on this website. When you decide to hire her, she will honor your gift certificate and take it off her total fee. Many of the doulas here will also be willing to work out payment plans for you. For example, her fee is $1000, you get a $500 gift certificate, so now you only have to come up with $500, which you can spread out over a few payments. You could make 5 payments of $100, or whatever other arrangement you mutually agree upon. We at Doulas of the Hudson Valley are committed to having all women have doula support and will be happy to suggest ways to fund our services. For more info on the gift certificates go here.