What is a doula?

The word appears in Biblical Greek as doulos "slave, bondsman, servant, attendant."  It is said that the feminine form, doula, actually referred to "the most important female slave or servant in the ancient Greek household, who probably helped the lady of the house through childbirth." 

Today the word has come to refer to as "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after childbirth."  (Klaus, Kennel, and Klaus, of Mothering the Mother)

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