Many families are looking for ways to pay for services and packages of their support person/doula during their pregnancy journey.
A doula/birth worker is a person who support pregnant folks and their families emotionally, physically, spiritually & sometimes financially from conception to postpartum & beyond. We offer support ranging from helping you create birth plans, to holding space/offering a listening ear, offering education about pregnancy & labor, model comfort measures & continuous labor support during birth. All that is time, energy & money spent.
There are MANY ways for families to offer ways to create equal exchange for services.
1. Set up a payment plan. Many support folks/doulas will help you create a payment plan for payments based on your income.
2. When you're creating a baby registry, adding specific services like consultations, prenatal/postpartum visits, and birth plan creations can be added to your list! It's a great way for family & friends to support during your pregnancy & postpartum journey.
3. Ask doulas if they can customize an entire package just for you based on your budget. Many support people are open to that!
4. Many birth workers are open to bartering services. Of course, the service has to be something that the doula highly values: strong need/want. Birth workers can create contracts that include the offering, services and value, along with terms, etc. Ask them about this.
5. Families are encouraged to create GoFundMe to raise funds for their doula services. This is a great way to ask your community to support you financially during your pregnancy.
6. Depending on what state you live in, families can use their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Spending Account (HSA) to pay for birth worker services & packages. Talk with your employers about this.
What other creative ways have you used to fund services of your doula/birth worker/support person? Comment below.
