This story is part of our Campus Dispatch series. Read the rest of the stories in the series here.

I had been with my pregnant client for hours at our local hospital—breathing with intention through each contraction, performing hip squeezes through the night, when, finally, it was time to help her pivot when her birth plan no longer matched her birth reality.

My client was tired. She was powerful. She was doing it. And I was there to remind her, with every surge of pain, that she wasn’t doing it alone.

Our relationship had been growing for months. We met for the first time during her second trimester at a coffee shop. We talked about her past birth experiences, what she expected of me as her doula, and her ideal birth plan. Over the next few weeks, we continued our communication virtually. She would check in after prenatal appointments, and I would provide her with resources on breastfeeding and anything else that would help her thrive.

Later in the pregnancy, I paid her a home visit. For days, she’d been more uncomfortable, dealing with the “growing pains” of pregnancy. My client’s partner and I explored how he could support her during this stage by helping with stretches and by using a Rebozo cloth to ease her discomfort. This was the perfect setting to then explore with him how he wanted to support her during labor, whether that be communicating her preferences to her care team if she wasn’t able to, making sure her favorite music was playing, or tag-teaming hip squeezes with me.

Like any pregnant person, she would continue to have unique and specific needs after giving birth. Together, we crafted a postpartum plan that included who would visit, how she’d get rest, and even who would make dinner while she recovered.

In my view, a doula is an essential piece of the reproductive health care puzzle at a time when labor and delivery wards are closing nationwide. This is especially true in places like my hometown in rural Alabama, which is home to historically marginalized communities and limited access to care. Doulas step in to provide culturally responsive support, a gap that many doctors cannot fill. Yet many people don’t quite understand what it is we do.

Doulas’ work is often misunderstood. Some people see us as luxury add-ons or “birth hippies,” fringe figures in labor and delivery. Alternatively, we’re often mistaken for midwives, who provide clinical care on top of offering emotional and physical........

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