On various professional and educational websites, Partner described herself as an 11-year doula (
labor coach) and student midwife working toward midwifery certification.
Doulas are like having a personal childbirth educator and
labor coach. They provide the expecting couple with all their options for labor and delivery, but, unlike a midwife or an OB/GYN, they do not give medical advice and are not trained to take vital signs or actually catch the baby.
The ministry of health agreed and revised the machinery so that even if the prenatal doctor were not a schooled obstetrician, he or she had to accompany the laboring patient to the hospital as a medical
labor coach, assistant, or supervised obstetrician.
Her husband and
labor coach, mentally AWOL for the past 2 hours, makes some attempt to massage her back, but the angle at which he sits and the rhythm of his movements are carefully engineered to ensure he will not miss any of the action on the screen.
