The birth of my first son Greyson was a 12 hour, maxed out pitocin, induced labor with a crazy amount of interventions. I dilated to a 5 and stalled for 5 hours, at what point they suggested a cesarean. Because I had limited knowledge and was confined to the bed in an insane amount of pain, I agreed. I didn't know that, 

1. My induction was unnecessary and my baby was not ready to be born.

2. The level of pitocin I was on was unnecessary.

3. Breaking my water at the same time as starting my pitocin was unnecessary, and set me up for a very difficult labor. 

4. Being connected to the fetal monitors continuously as opposed to intermittently is difficult. Picking up baby's heart rate 100 % of the time while trying to be active and labor effectively is difficult. Therefore, another intervention comes along; internal monitoring. Again, unnecessary for my situation. 

5. Stalling in labor is common and can be a sign of a number of things, most of which can be treated with patience, position changes, and rebozo techniques. 

Instead of having this knowledge, I was left in my hospital room with my family who was great, but didn't know how to help me, and my own mind going haywire thinking my baby is never going to come out because I am stalled at a 5. This resulted in a cesarean, which resulted in my baby getting taken to the NICU for one week, me getting the flu and not being able to see him in the NICU, and contracting MRSA in my incision. All of which, I strongly believe, most likely could have been avoided if I had a doula. In this situation, if I had a doula, I would have already been educated on all of these topics. There is no guarantee that it wouldn't have wound up exactly as it did. HOWEVER, chances are, I would have:

-Gone into labor on my own

-Not had pitocin or my waters broken unless I was TRULY stalled.

-Requested intermittent monitoring, therefore would have had the option of moving around, possibly preventing me from stalling. However, if I had stalled, I would have had someone there coaching me through exactly what I needed to do to promote progression.

-Had constant physical support, helping me cope with my continuous back labor.

I believe with all of my heart that if I would have had a doula, I would not have had a surgical birth, because I would have been informed about my options, and supported physically and emotionally throughout my difficult labor. 

Fast forward to the birth of my son Oliver; a home birth after cesarean. A 45+ hour labor, in which my baby did indeed come out of my vagina. In my living room. Safely, and surrounded by my midwife, student midwife, and family. I did not have one, but TWO doulas at my birth. Two doulas who, before they were even needed, came and visited me while I was in the very early stages of my labor to assess how I was doing and what I needed, supported me for a while by helping me with my back labor by providing LOTS of counterpressure, rice packs, encouraging words, and gave me ways to cope for the next few hours until they would come again when I was a bit further along. In my case with how long my labor was, I cannot imagine not having two doulas along with my family and birth team. I needed a lot during my labor, as it was almost 2 full days long. My doulas not only held my hand through each contraction, but when I broke down and said that I could no longer do this (which happened often), they brought me back down to reality and made me feel like the most loved person on the face of the earth. My doulas provided me with patience (lots of it), love, and the physical support I needed to make my labor a little easier to get through. They also gave my family and husband direction when it came down to how to best support me, but at the same time, let them be with me and let us have our time together as well when we needed time alone. When I was stalled, they told me exactly what I needed to do to get me to the next point in my labor; hurdle after hurdle, we jumped together. Without them, I would have never been able to go through this very difficult labor, and without them, I would have never had my incredible HBAC.