Triangle Birth Network Reaches Out To New Parents

From the first kick, to the first labor pain, to the first time you have to feed the baby, a new organization is trying to make the process a little bit easier for families.

Adina Middleman says having a

doula

to support her during the birth of her son, Eli, helped her cope with the pain of natural childbirth.

"It's an energy-consuming thing to deal with a woman in a lot of pain," she says with a laugh.

Doulas are professionally-trained labor support personnel who assist women during pregnancy and labor.Bonnie Borchert provided Adina and her husband, Dan, with childbirth education, coaching and follow-up care.

"Bonnie was sort of our touchstone to reality," says Dan. "When we would hear something from someone, we would go ask Bonnie."

"I don't know if you would have been able to keep your cool because you're so emotionally tied, so we wanted that advocacy and someone who really knew the system," says Adina.

The

Triangle Birth Network

is a non-profit organization aimed at giving women help from doulas before, during and after birth. The Network say that kind of help is especially critical during the post-partum period when women can feel isolated and depressed.

"You have nobody, there's a gap, there's nobody to call. What we want to do with Triangle Birth Network is to fill that gap. We want to make sure that women know they have a place to turn," says Jennifer Davis of the Triangle Birth Network.

The Middlemans hired their doula privately, howeverthe Network will offer pre-natal visits and postpartum counseling free of charge. Clients will be asked to pay only what they can afford.