There are so many amazing things about hiring a birth doula. We support you through one of the most amazing times in your life! Meeting your baby is transformative. After attending many births, one thing that I began to notice about the doula community was the immense burn out that comes with supporting someone through such a life changing day.

I started to notice that doulas that I had just met were no longer practicing. Amazing women who I had come to consider friends would lament about how exhausted they were and how unfortunately they couldn’t keep up with something that they love so much. This is when I heard about 12 hour language.

Now this concept can be confusing at first but trust me, it all makes sense with a few explanations!

The first thing I want to make abundantly clear is this:

We never leave our clients after the 12 hour mark of labor!!!!

That was a lot of exclamation marks! For some reason this lie has been perpetuated in various circles and its disappointing to see such an amazing thing construed in such a horrible way. The idea of leaving our clients high and dry makes me sick to my stomach! My KC Doula’s goal is to provide you with top notch service and support at every stage of pregnancy, birth and postpartum and that would never mean bowing out at 12 hours.

Here’s what it does mean!

When a client has been in labor for twelve hours theres a few things that can happen. Your doula may be exhausted. We are often up with our clients before labor really gets going, answering texts, calls and supporting through other means. Once we meet our clients in person, that 12 hours can sometimes fly by but there will be always be a point where the human body needs rest. The 12 hour clause gives us the ability to call in our second doula to relieve us of doula duties so that we can go home and rest, recover and get our lives in order.

There are often children that need to be cared for, infants that need fed and other things that come with caring for a family. I think it’s great when doulas feel confident that they can support a family for upwards of 18, 24 and 36 hours but I can tell you that I am not at my best without sleep for that long. We only accept the best at My KC Doula which is why we tag out if we need to.

Sometimes we don’t feel like we need to but there are other things that need to be taken care of. Including meals, daycare etc. The nominal fee that is applied to a contract after 12 hours ($25/hour) goes straight to the doula to ensure that they can care for their family to the best of their ability while they are away.

We support our doulas so that they can support you. I’ve seen doula burn out and it’s not pretty. We want doula work to be sustainable for our doulas for years to come! The longer doulas work and grow their skills, the better doulas they become! If they experience burn out, you don’t get the best.

Here’s the real kicker. I’ve been in practice for almost ten years and I have invoiced for extra hours using the 12 hour language clause 5 times! You read that right! Hundreds of births attended and we have only needed to use that clause 5 times!

I hope the 12 hour clause gives you peace of mind to know that your doulas want the best for you and My KC Doula wants the best for our doulas! As always, reach out with any questions you have! We can’t wait to support you.