Cincinnati & Dayton Doula Services FAQ

Cincinnati and Dayton Doula

Being conviently located between Cincinnati and Dayton, Stork Helpers offers doula services to families across Cincinnati, Dayton, Xenia and Northern Kentucky as well as far east as Highland County.

Cincinnati Area:

Amberley Village / Blue Ash /  Centerville / Cheviot / Cincinnati / Clifton / Colerain /  Delhi / Elsmere / Erlanger / Evendale / Fairfax / Fairfield / Franklin / Hamilton / Harrison / Highland County / Hillsoboro / Hyde Park / Indian Hill / Lawrenceburg / Lebanon / Loveland / Madeira / Madisonville / Maineville / Mariemont / Mason / Middletown / Milford / Monroe / Montgomery / Morrow / Mt Adams / Mt Healthy / Mt Lookout  / Northside / Norwood / Oakley / OTR / Reading / Sharonville / Springboro / Union / Union Township / Walnut Hills / Wayesville / West Chester / Wyoming

Dayton Area:

Beavercreek / Bellbrook / Carlisle / Centerville / Clayton / Fairborn / Germantown / Harrison Township / Huber Heights / Kettering / Miami Township / Miamisburg / Moraine / Oakwood / Riverside / Trotwood / Vandalia / Washington Township / West Carrollton / Woodburne-Hyde Park / Xenia

Northern Kentucky Area:

Alexandria / Bellevue / Cold Spring / Corinth / Covington / Crescent Springs / Crestview / Crittenden / Dry Ridge / Edgewood / Elsmere / Erlanger / Fairview / Falmouth / Florence / Ft. Mitchell / Ft. Thomas / Ft. Wright / Highland Heights / Independence / Kenton Vale / Lakeside Park / Ludlow / Newport / Owenton / Park Hills / Southgate / Sparta / Taylor Mill / Union / Villa Hills / Walton / Warsaw

We work for you, not a hospital or doctors office.  We will go to the hospital/birthing center of your choice in the Cincinnati or Dayton area including but not limited to:

Cincinnati Area:

Atrium Medical Center / Bethesda North Hospital / The Christ Hospital / The Christ Hospital Liberty Township / Cincinnati Childrens Hospital / Clinton Memorial Hospital / Good Samaritan Hospital /  Fort Hamilton Hospital / Mercy Health Anderson / Mercy Health Clermont Hospital / Mercy Health Fairfield / Mercy Health West Hospital / Natural Beginnings at Atrium Medical Center / University of Cincinnati Medical Center / UC West Chester Hospital

Dayton Area:

Family Beginnings at Miami Valley Hospital / Kettering Hospital / Mercy Health - Springfield / Miami Valley Hospital / Soin Medical Center / Southview Medical Center

Northern Kentucky:

St. Elizabeth

The earlier the better! We recommend to start looking as soon as you feel comfortable in your pregnancy to do so.  You deserve someone you feel an easy connection with as birth is an intimate moment and you want someone that fits your personality and your needs.  

We recommend interviewing a couple of doula's and securing the one you want as soon as possible.  Doula's typically do not reserve a space until they have a signed agreement and deposit, including Stork Helpers.  You never know how many others around your due date may be also looking at the same time.  

We have had clients hire me as early as 6 weeks into a pregnancy and as late as 38 weeks.  On average, many hire us during the early part of their second trimester.

To see my current availability, check out our birth availability page.

Many doulas around Cincinnati and Dayton typically range from $800-$1800 with the average at around $1200.

We believe that all families should have a doula available if they want one and have aimed to make support as affordable as possible.   For more information on our current pricing, check out our birth doula package page.

We require a down payment of 50% up-front with the remainder due at 34 weeks. We do make payment arrangements available for families and can work with you to create a plan if you need one. If you are interested in having a doula, but need to make an alternative arrangement, contact Stork Helpers today to see what can be arranged.

We require a non refundle deposit of 50% up-front with the remainder due at 34 weeks.

We do make payment arrangements available for families and can work with you to create a plan if you need one.

If you are interested in having a doula, but need to make an alternative arrangement, contact Stork Helpers today to see what can be arranged. 

If a doula is not currently affordable to you, we encourage you to check our BeHerVillage.com.   It is a fundraising site that allows you to create a gift registry for items that you need - like birth support - instead of another pack of onesies or baby wipes.  Stork Helpers is a proud partner of Be Her Village and you can register for our services and check out our profile here.

A birth doula is a person trained and experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the family before, during and after childbirth. Doulas act a birth coach or support companion guiding you through your labor.  

Doula's do not replace the importance of your OBGYN, midwife or partner; we work with the rest of your birth team to help you through the journey to make sure your experience is what dreamed of.

A birth doula is a person trained and experienced in childbirth and labor support who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the family before, during and after childbirth.

Many studies have shown the benefits of having a doula present during labor. A recent Cochrane Review, Continuous Support for Women During Childbirth, showed a very high number of positive birth outcomes when a doula was present. With the support of a doula, women were less likely to have pain-relief medications administered,less likely to have a cesarean birth as well as have a shorter birth.

We are on-call for you 24/7 from the time you sign for services.  We do not believe in an "on-call" time. 

Our belief is that we are there for you when you need care, have questions at 2 a.m or go into labor.  One of our main goals is to be a resource for you and bring relief to all the stressors and fears that come with pregnancy; that can't occur if you are worried about what time it is.  Just reach out to us and we will get back with you as quickly as possible.

If you have a late night concern (10pm - 7am), we ask that you call our phones to ensure that you reach us.  

If you have a hospital birth, we stay until you get to your postpartum room.   This is on average 2-3 hours after the birth.

We want to make sure that everything goes smoothly after birth including baby is latching and help you get settled moving to the next room and review things with you.

If you have a home birth, we wait with the home birth midwives to ensure that you are okay, including having urinated, and reviewing instructions for postpartum care.  In many instances, we leave around the time your midwife team will or just a little afterwards, this is typically around 3 hours after birth.  

We do everything possible to be at EVERY birth and work hard to understand each person's birth story and limit the number of births I take to prevent overlap as much as possible.   

That said, due dates are just estimated due dates and it can happen.   Should we be unavailble to be at your birth, we have multiple back up doula's that we partner with on a regular basis as we cover for one another when needed.  One of them will be by your side for your birth or until one of us can make it.

In the four years (150 births and counting), we have only been unable to make one birth.

A doula is not a medical professional, even though doulas have a lot of experience with labor support.  A doula does not give medical advice, but they are birth helpers that will help you ask the questions you need answers to.  A doula does not perform medical procedures.  A doula does not make any decisions on your behalf, but will help you understand your options. A doula does not push you towards one decision or another, but instead will help you communicate your plan.

We do not make decisions for clients or interfer with the care they receive from their physician/midwife.

We provide informational and emotional support including give you all the resources you need to make the decisions you feel most comfortable with.   This is your birth experience, my role is to empower you to take control of your birth and support you in each decision. 

We work with many clients with different wants or needs and therefore support many birth plans.  Our role is provide non-judgmental support as this is your birth story.  There are many ways to give birth and you need to be confident that you have chosen the right method for you.  We support families regardless of the type of birth you are choosing:

unmedicated (natural) birth / epidural birth / cesarean birth / induction / planned cesarean birth / gentle (family centered) cesarean birth / multiples / VBAC / waterbirth / attachment parenting / babywearing / scheduled parenting / breastfeeding / bottle feeding / formula feeding and more. 

A doula is a non-medical support person whose focus is on supporting you emotionally, mentally and physically through pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, allowing you to feel informed and empowered.    

A midwife is a medical professional whose focus is on the health and safety for you and your baby.

Specifically, during birth, doulas are often found doing hip squeezes, massage, providing guidance to you and your partner and empowering you to keep pushing through.   

Doulas and midwives make an incredible team that supports you in all ways possible. we have some great midwives across Cincinnati and Dayton that you can meet here.  

Absolutely not.  We are there to support you in the birth process.  Your partner knows you. Together, we make a pretty awesome support team!  Doulas help partners as well. Many times, when a mama needs labor support, the partner wants to help but doesn't know how. We can help the partner know what to do, so the partner also has confidence in their role during the birth.  As questions come up during labor, a doula can reassure the partner when things are normal, or when something needs attention. Doulas can also help partners navigate the confusing options that come up during birth and give them a break too.

As a general rule, we do not disclose the due dates of any of my other clients. On average, we take around 10 clients per month, depending on how due dates fall and a persons previous history with birth. 

Due dates are just an estimated date of birth and rarely does someone give birth on the day they were due.  With over 150 births over the last four years, wehave only missed one birth and this was prior to their being two of us on the team.

While the risk is low of me being unavailable to come to your birth, we do have a team of three other doulas in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas that we completely trust that we can call should the situation arise.   Having a backup doula at your birth does not cost you anything extra, we work out the payment between the backup doula and myself with the funds that you have paid.  

This is YOUR birth. We are here to be your birth helper.  Knowing what you want by having a birth plan in place is a great first step.  An epidural will help to relieve some of the intense sensations you feel during labor, it doesn't relax your mind.  Our job during labor is to assist you with comfort measures like different positioning and finding a good rhythm that keeps labor moving.   

You do what you need to do to get through the labor.  If that includes pain medication, we support you and your decisions.