Your birth attendant will develop a relationship with you and your partner during pregnancy. She will help you to conceptualise your ideal birth and to develop your birth plan. During labour your birth attendant will support you emotionally and physically, as well as help to maintain the correct birthing environment that you need to enhance the process of labour. The overall aim of your birth attendant is to serve your needs in order to achieve the best possible birth experience for you.
Your birth attendant will focus exclusively on your beliefs about birth. This means that she will not impose her own ideal of childbirth on you. The majority of birth attendants work in the hospital birth unit with women who choose medical care during labour.
Since you are paying privately for your birth attendant you can also have her support you in early labour at home if this is approved by your hospital. Because women have better birth experiences when a birth attendant supports them, more women in the western world are now employing a birth attendant for their births. Because of this, the birth attendant has become a valued member of the care team in birth units around the world.
