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I knew I wanted a drug-​free VBAC. I had the emo­tional bag­gage from my first birth expe­ri­ence. It never left me. I knew I needed extra help with the kind of birth expe­ri­ence I wanted. I knew my hus­band would ben­e­fit — as much as I will — from the help of a doula too. If I had a doula dur­ing my daughter’s birth, labour would not have to be unnec­es­sar­ily long and emo­tion­ally drain­ing. Ginny was there through­out my preg­nancy, labour and birth. She gave me assur­ance when­ever I doubted, she sup­ported me when­ever I needed that extra strength and voice. Thank you, Ginny. — Angeline

Yes, it was ‘male’ instinc­tive resis­tance ini­tially. Even­tu­ally, my per­sis­tent wife con­vinced me to let her engage a doula. I kept an open mind from our very first meet­ing with Ginny. She made me real­ize that my ini­tial resis­tance was unnec­es­sary. She was not to replace me as a hus­band, but a very great help to have around. She has hands that mas­sage bet­ter than mine. She was the assur­ance when we almost pan­icked. She opened us to ‘options’. Her classes gave me the con­fi­dence to hold my wife at home till the final stage. If only we had her for our first child as well. I would encour­age all first-​time par­ents to engage a doula to assist in your birth expe­ri­ence. — Angeline’s hus­band, Burt.