Health Care Employment: Involving Pregnancy and Birth

There are a lot of woman out there that just love pregnancy and all that goes with it.  If you are searching for health care employment and love the idea of working with a pregnant woman or the newborn and mother, then you have options.

Your first health care employment option is a doula.  Before there were doctors and hospitals pregnant women relied on those nearby neighbors who had been through it to help out.  Conventional medicine did away with that as doctor’s took over.  However, during the past decade or so a profession that is similar to what these neighbors offered emerged and are now called doula’s.

To become a certified Doula you need to take a basic childbirth class and help with three births.  The essential rule of the doula is to be there for the pregnant woman when needed.  Each doula has different schedules they do, some will go to each doctor’s visit, other’s just to labor, it will depend on you and your client.

While your client is in labor you are there to help support her in any way she may need, helping her use the restroom, walk the halls, breathe, chew on ice, talk to, and even help explain all the things that happen through labor.  Once the baby comes you will normally stay for 1-2 hours to help get her settled in the recovery area and then your job is done.

However, you could also be a post-partum doula, who would stay from a few days to a week.  At this stage you may be helping with the baby, changing diapers and baths, but not all is so glamorous.  You will normally be in charge of doing household duties as well like cleaning dishes, making dinner, laundry and for the first 24-48 hours helping the mother clean up the bloody discharge.

Health care employment as a doula is a great choice for many woman because you can do it part-time or full-time and the pay normally averages about $20/hour depending on your client.  If you don’t like the idea of becoming a doula then check out my next post for more pregnancy related jobs.