Jamie Yates, The Urban Doula

A doula is a trained professional who provides emotional support, physical comfort and informational assistance to a pregnant mother and her partner before during and just after childbirth. A doula is not a medical professional and does not perform medical procedures, but she can provide comfort measures like massage, counter pressure, position suggestions and continuous reassurance. The presence of a doula has actually been shown to reduce the need for medical intervention and cesarean section.
Doulas support the mother and her partner. Fathers/partners experience the birth as an emotional journey of their own and may find it hard to be objective in such a situation, and a doula facilitates the family process. Studies have shown that fathers/partners usually participate more actively during labor with the presence of a doula than without one. A responsible doula supports and encourages the father/partner she does not replace them.
In busy city hospitals and birthing centers where nurses change shifts and doctors and midwives must attend to multiple patients at the same time, the continuous presence of a doula can be of great comfort to a laboring woman and her partner. A doula does not speak for them, but can facilitate communication between the couple and their caregivers. A doula can also be a resource for information on the physiology of labor and explanation of medical procedures and interventions.