Birthing mothers want Victoria General Hospital to ease restrictions on doulas – Times Colonist
August 29, 2020
Physically and emotionally drained after 30 hours of labour at home, Alison Strumberger remembers the stress of having to abandon her home-birth plans and deliver her child in hospital instead. The Victoria mom says the support of her husband and her doula made all the difference as she delivered her now two-year-old daughter Wren on Aug. 5, 2018.
“I can’t imagine not having had my doula there for the nearly 40 hours of labour leading to the birth of my daughter,” says the 37-year-old.
Now 33-weeks pregnant and due to have her second child in October, Strumberger is worried that if her home birth requires hospital intervention, her doula, Laura Warren, won’t be allowed in the delivery room.
Because of smaller birthing rooms, Victoria General Hospital is one of the few hospitals in B.C. that still prohibit birthing mothers from having a doula or secondary support person in the labour and delivery room. In March, Island Health limited the number of people who can accompany a woman in the delivery room to one per day in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
