The Importance of Hiring a Doula for Orthodox Christians

Pregnancy & Postpartum
Written By Cathryn Barker

GUEST POST by Rachel Bailey at Eleison Doula Services 

Hiring a doula is one of the most meaningful ways an Orthodox Christian family can prepare for birth. Birth is not simply a medical event but a sacred threshold—an experience that is at once universal and unique. Universal, because every person shares two realities: we were born, and one day we will die. Unique, because each pregnancy is the one and only chance to bring this particular child into the world.

Pregnancy and birth, then, are both deeply human and profoundly spiritual experiences. For Orthodox Christians, this reality connects to the larger story of the Incarnation—God entering creation and revealing Himself in every particle and activity of the universe. Our practices, like receiving communion and fasting, remind us that what happens in our bodies shapes our relationship with God. And in birth, we encounter a sacred threshold, epitomized first and foremost through the Theotokos bringing Christ into the world.

And yet, when it comes to childbirth itself, many Orthodox women find that there is little concrete guidance for how to prepare spiritually and practically. Apart from the prayers of churching after 40 days for a new mother and baby, much of our experience of pregnancy and birth can feel unanchored. Some women may not even be fully aware of this tradition, particularly if their parish doesn’t have many children, if churching isn’t practiced publicly, or if they are new to Orthodoxy and it wasn’t emphasized in catechism.

This is where a doula can be particularly helpful, especially if she is Orthodox. But even if you cannot find an Orthodox doula, there are still many benefits to hiring one. A doula provides “non-medical” support throughout pregnancy, labor, and birth. She is there for your emotional well-being and to ensure that your desires are heard and supported during pregnancy and birth whenever possible. The right doula, even if she isn’t Orthodox, can be a great support for you as you navigate the spiritual and emotional changes that are present at this time.

Two Common Journeys into Pregnancy

In my work as a doula, I’ve walked alongside Orthodox mothers on very different journeys.

For those who are pregnant for the first time, there are all the usual questions that I explore in depth with all my clients: How do I prepare for birth? What should I expect? How do I make the best decisions for my baby and my family? Ella’s home birth story illustrates how preparation and support can make for a deeply meaningful first-time birth experience.

For mothers who have had a baby before, the questions are often different. They may be carrying memories of aspects of a past birth experience they don’t want to repeat, or they may wish they could approach things differently, now that they “know better.” Claire’s story is a beautiful example of an Orthodox mother wanting to approach birth differently from a previous experience.

For both groups, another yearning often rises to the surface: a desire to weave their Orthodox faith more deeply into the birth experience itself.

This is where doulas can make such a difference.

The Role of the Doula: Ancient and Modern

For generations, women have gathered to support one another in childbirth. It wasn’t a professionalized role; it was the natural outflow of community life. Sisters, mothers, aunts, and neighbors shared wisdom, offered comfort, and simply stayed close as another woman labored.

Modern society has shifted. Birth has been medicalized, and women are often expected to walk through it in relative isolation. Few of us have seen a birth before our own. The role that community once filled has, of necessity, become more professionalized.

That’s where doula steps in. A doula offers continuous support—not replacing medical staff, but standing alongside the mother as her advocate, encourager, and steady presence. This requires sacrifice: doulas invest deeply in relationships with families, remain on call for weeks at a time, and sometimes miss important family events of their own in order to be present. This kind of commitment, in our modern world, needs to be sustained through fair compensation.

Why Orthodox Women Feel This Gap More Deeply

Orthodoxy gives us such a rich framework for connecting body and spirit, yet most of us don’t grow up with models of how to live that out in pregnancy and childbirth.

Unlike other aspects of spiritual life, Orthodox teaching and practice around birth is less visible, less often discussed. Many Orthodox families, especially converts or those in smaller parishes, may feel isolated in their experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood. Trying to live faithfully through such a life-changing moment can feel countercultural in a world that views birth primarily through a medical or consumerist lens.

That gap between what we long for spiritually and what we are offered culturally is one of the reasons so many Orthodox women seek the presence of a doula.

How a Doula Bridges the Gap for Orthodox Families

For Orthodox Christian women, the presence of a doula who understands the faith tradition can be especially powerful.

In prenatal visits, I’ve sat with families as they shared their hopes and concerns, not only about birth but also about how to pray, how to honor fasting and feasting cycles during pregnancy, or how to bring the presence of the saints into this journey.

During labor, I’ve helped families create space for prayer, silence, or sacred music. I’ve encouraged bringing tangible reminders of our faith, such as icons and prayer ropes, into the birth space. I’ve anointed foreheads and bellies with holy water and quietly prayed the Jesus prayer to help mothers focus through waves of contractions.

In the postpartum weeks, I’ve walked with families as they navigated new rhythms, reminding them that recovery and bonding with their baby are not just physical necessities but spiritual work.

This is part of what I mean when I say birth is a sacred threshold. Hiring a doula can help a family honor that reality in ways that are both spiritual and deeply practical. 

The Broader Benefits of Hiring a Doula

Even apart from faith, there are strong secular arguments for hiring a doula. Decades of research consistently show that continuous support from a trained, non-medical, non-family member leads to better outcomes. Mothers supported by doulas often experience shorter labors, fewer interventions such as epidurals, inductions, or cesarean births, and higher overall satisfaction with their birth experience. These benefits hold true across different birth settings—whether at home, in a birth center, or in the hospital.

A doula will help ask the questions a mother may not even know to ask, understand the options, and make the choices that fit her values and family needs. In the intensity of labor, a doula will help to make sure the mother’s presence and preferences are respected, and provide her with the confidence to speak up—or to step in quietly and advocate alongside her. That kind of steady support helps mothers experience birth not just as something happening to them, but as an experience they are actively shaping with dignity and peace.

A doula’s role is not limited to the mother alone. Her presence creates a ripple effect of support. Partners often feel more confident, knowing they have someone by their side to help them understand what is happening and suggest practical ways to care for the mother. Siblings and grandparents, too, can feel reassured knowing that the family is well cared for. In this way, the doula helps the entire family navigate the intensity of birth and adjust more smoothly to welcoming the new baby. Families frequently describe the presence of a doula as bringing peace, steadiness, and reassurance in the midst of an overwhelming and emotional transition.

Why Hiring a Doula Is Especially Important Today

Because birth has largely been removed from the public sphere, many women today approach labor and postpartum without ever having seen it lived out. Our culture doesn’t pause to make space for birth or for recovery. Instead, we are surrounded by stories that treat birth as a medical event to “get through” quickly, or postpartum as a season to “bounce back” from as fast as possible. For generations past, women would have witnessed birth many times before their own—through sisters, aunts, or neighbors—and the recovery period was marked by community care and shared rhythms of support.

For Orthodox families, the experience of pregnancy and postpartum can feel even more isolating. As Orthodox, we are already living counter-culturally, with our emphases on asceticism and submitting ourselves to the authority of Church teaching and a spiritual father. To pursue practices like praying through labor, or honoring the 40 days of rest after birth, often means going against the grain of a society that prizes productivity and self-sufficiency above all else. Families may find themselves without a clear roadmap for how to integrate their spiritual life into this season, or without a community that understands why they would want to.

Having a doula helps bridge that gap. A doula brings back, in some measure, the wisdom and communal support that was once woven naturally into women’s lives. She creates space for birth and recovery to be honored, for families to rest without apology, and for Orthodox practices and values to be integrated into the process. In this way, the doula stands alongside families who are choosing a different path, helping them live out their faith in one of life’s most vulnerable and transformative thresholds.

How to Choose a Doula for Orthodox Families

While it might seem that a fellow Orthodox Christian would be the best choice of doula for Orthodox families, this is not always possible. However, you should still be able to find a doula who will honor and foreground your faith and your values. Doulas are trained to attune to the needs of their clients, including their spiritual needs, so a good doula should listen deeply and help support you in the way that you and your family request. 

If you are considering hiring a doula who doesn’t share your faith tradition, it is important to be intentional and clear about how you would like to incorporate your spirituality into the birth experience. I recommend interviewing more than one doula, so that you can get a sense of how they respond to you talking about your faith. If she listens to you, asks good questions to help her deepen her understanding, and is able to offer some thoughts about how she can hold space for you to pray, remind you of the Orthodox practices you talked about, and help you advocate for your spiritual and other preferences in the labor room, she is the doula for you!

This does mean that you may need to do some additional thinking on the front end about how you would like to bring your Orthodox faith into the birth experience. If you are still looking for inspiration, here are some resources I recommend:

Conclusion: A Sacred Investment in Body and Soul

Bringing a new life into the world is a profound act of faith and love. For Orthodox Christian families, it is also an opportunity to live the Incarnation more fully, to honor the Theotokos, and to embrace birth as a sacred threshold.

Hiring a doula supports this integration of faith and life. It gives mothers and families the space to prepare well, to labor with peace, and to recover in a way that honors both body and soul.

*Rachel Bailey is a certified labor and postpartum doula based in Birmingham, AL who combines deep research, personal birth experience, and compassionate support to guide families through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. Rooted in their Orthodox Christian faith and commitment to nonjudgmental care, Rachel and her husband Subdeacon Nicholas (an end-of-life doula) founded Eleison Doula Services to help families feel empowered and spiritually supported as they navigate the sacred thresholds of birth and death. Their blog features articles addressing both practical and spiritual aspects of birth and death. *

Cathryn Barker
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Orthodox Christian Birth Story: Heather’s First Home Birth