How much did you pay for your doula?

GraceInCA · January 2013

How much did you pay, and what did that cover?

Seems like doulas here in L.A. are upwards of $2,000.

Thanks!

briannabeebug · January 2013

whoa! $2000! sheesh! Up here in canada they range from $400 to $600--and you can always find a dona doula candidate to do it for free too.

Personally I'm doing a trade with my doula who happens to be a friend. Teaching her how to knit and sew in exchange for her services.

kxp004 · January 2013

omg that's crazy! I paid $400 although that was just for them to be there during L&D, and unlimited calls... we didn't meet during pregnancy but did meet when we started her services.... no postpartum care but they had that as an added option...

ETA: this is out of Houston, Texas and the doula was moderately experienced... probably a couple years or so

Celyn · January 2013

In the San Francisco Bay Area, they run from about $500 for a new doula to about $1500 for an experienced one. In SF proper, it's easy to find one in the $2000s though, since the COL is so high.

cyprissa · January 2013

Last time our birth assistant/doula was $875. I think $700-$1200 is average. This is in the DC metro area.

StefandTodd · January 2013

It's got a lot to do with the area you're in. My doula is pretty experienced (my last was her 796th birth) and cost us $750 for baby #1 ($650 for baby #2).

bandwife · January 2013

briannabeebug:
whoa! $2000! sheesh! Up here in canada they range from $400 to $600--and you can always find a dona doula candidate to do it for free too.

Personally I'm doing a trade with my doula who happens to be a friend. Teaching her how to knit and sew in exchange for her services.

Had my first in Vancouver, Canada and paid $1000 for my Doula.

Like the US, the fees usually correlate to the cost of living for the area.

That covered two prenatal visits, one being a labor walk through, use of her books and DVDs, on call support and labor support.

aylafsu88 · January 2013

That is crazy expensive. I live in a smaller city with several doulas. The going rate here is 500$. That includes a prenatal visit at 36 weeks, the whole L&D, 2 hours at the hospital with you after you deliver, and 1 postpartum visit. I thought it was a great price for the number of hours our doula spent with us.

hamiltks10 · January 2013

We paid $700 and it included 2 prenatal visits, labor and delivery support and one postpartum visit. Email and phone calls too.

KdgTeacher · January 2013

We're paying $800 for doula services and an 8 week childbirth class she teaches.

I'm in St Louis

iris427 · January 2013

KdgTeacher:
We're paying $800 for doula services and an 8 week childbirth class she teaches.

I'm in St Louis

I'm curious/nosy about who you are using since I used to know a lot of STL doulas.

rwamyett · January 2013

I live in Virginia. For my first pregnancy, we found a doula we really liked. Her basic package was $500. For an extra $150, you could get a deluxe package, which was the basic package, plus a newborn photography session with her husband, who is a professional photographer. Now, 3 years later, she's gone up in her prices. The basic package is $650, and the deluxe is $800. But she will work with people who can't afford to pay that much. But we actually won't have to pay for her doula services this time, because she is apprenticing with the midwife we've chosen to do our home birth! So we'll still get to have her there without paying extra. I'm really excited because she's a wonderfully sweet person and helped me so much the last time around.

tokenhoser · January 2013

$450

Nechie122 · January 2013

Celyn:
In the San Francisco Bay Area, they run from about 500 for a new doula to about 1500 for an experienced one. nbsp;In SF proper, it's easy to find one in the 2000s though, since the COL is so high.

Same in the New York City area. There was no way I was going to pay that so I ended up working with someone in training. I was her eighth birth or something like that. She charged us 250 dollars and we also covered her cab fare. And she was awesome! Definitely did not feel like I was working with a newbie.

mlrafiki · January 2013

I'm looking for a doula right now, and they range around $1500 or higher in the SF Bay Area. It's a bummer, because I used to live in Atlanta, and the going rate there is more like $500-$800.

Keep in mind, however, that a lot of them are willing to itemize their costs: you can pay for just the L&D-Day service, a limited number of hours, additional consultations or classes, breastfeeding assistance (which you may or may not need depending on what other resources are available to you), etc. This may be what we end up doing, because one of the doulas we're considering only offers a package with all sorts of classes and whatnot (that gets close to the $2000 you mentioned, *shudder*), and the other has an "a la carte" service where you only pay for what you want or need.

Good luck choosing and hope you can find someone in a reasonable price range!

danuli8 · January 2013

I'm in a medium-sized city in the Midwest, and I am paying $500 for two prenatal visits, L&D and 2 hours postpartum, and one at-home follow-up visit. Plus she has already helped me out via e-mail. I think it's a spectacular bargain.

NoeK · January 2013

Ours is 750 because she has attended less than 15 births ( but more than 5) for the doula that we originally wanted that has attended over 60 births it was going to be 2200.00 which was more than we wanted to pay. We are in NYC.

GraceInCA · January 2013

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It looks like geography makes the biggest difference, along with experience. I did find one doula who does 2 prenatal visits, labor plus a few hours, and a postpartum visit for $600, then an identical package from another doula for $2500. Even out here, it varies greatly.

I think I'm just going to find someone whose personality meshes with mine. I don't mind if someone isn't incredibly experienced (it seems like if you've attended even just a handful of births, you will know what needs to be done), I think it's more important for me to have someone around whose personality I like.

Alliebooberz · January 2013

I'm in metro Detroit and my doula charges $800, but she is also a CPM and has 30 years of experience and is a home birth midwife. We just couldn't afford the HB.

WashingtonQueen · January 2013

I am in central Washington state. My doula is going to cost between $200-600.

jamieneeser · January 2013

DONA does some pretty good training so if you can get someone who is still working on their certification, they will do it for very cheap or free and you probably won't even notice the difference. I'm DONA trained and still working on my certification but we live in a small town in Idaho where not a lot of people use doulas so it's hard to get enough births quickly enough. Good luck!

hopanka · January 2013

If you are interested, I can recommend you mine. Definitely less than $2000. I'm in Los Angeles, too. She is amazing.

nyki06 · January 2013

We couldn't afford much so I asked for recommendations from my midwife for student doulas. Ours was a student so she did it for free but we gave her $100 in a card after. She was AMAZING! If she didn't cost $600 now we would use her again. It looks like we will be going doula free this time but it was a great experience the first time.

nosoup4u · January 2013

We paid 700 for our first one, which in retrospect I think was overpriced, but it was a HCOL area. We paid 1000 for our second, but it was in Chicago and she has 10 years experience, and is also a CPM.

luvmyducks · January 2013

I paid $300. But I was in search of a doula in training bc that was my budget and a doula was helping me (her fee was $600). She couldn't find anyone and really wanted me to have someone. I told her it was okay bc I didn't want to take advantage and she really deserved to be paid her full fee. But she insisted that she wanted to be there for me. We met once before the baby came, she gave me a prenatal massage (she's also a massage therapist), was there the entire time while I was in labor at the hospital, and then she visited us the next day. So I don't think I got her full services, but it was more than enough for us.

ETA: I'm in Oregon.

PeonyPumps · January 2013

$250 the first time, $400 the second time. We live in a very low col area. There is literally a corn field in my backyard.

LittleMommaBlueHen · January 2013

Where I live $500 is average, but cost of a doula in high cost of living areas is much higher. Many doulas working toward certification will do a birth for much lower than the average in your area. Plus, as a doula (and friends with many other doulas in my area), I can say that most of us actually work on a sliding scale. If you really like a doula you have met with, you can often work out the financial aspect so it works for both of you. You may also find a doula willing to barter for services (I know more than one doula who has taken on a client in return for maintenance work on their house when the moms partner has been a painter/plumber/carpenter etc).

GraceInCA · January 2013

We've narrowed it down to 3 doulas, and they're all somewhere in the $1200 range. There is one that we liked who is quite a bit more and we were planning on interviewing her also, but it seems like she's pretty booked around that time.

Thank you all for your feedback. I wasn't hugely concerned about the cost, but was curious because it seemed to be such a wide range from what others had been saying and what I had been quoted.

RockyMtnMama · January 2013

My friend is in a metro area as a doula and costs $600. She is pretty experienced.

I had my girlfriends and my sister there, so it didn't cost me anything, but I did pay for 1/2 my sister's plane ticket, so maybe it did cost $300ish.

CplusJ=S · January 2013

I'm in L.A. and found an experienced doula who charged $800. She was recommended to me be another expectant mom in my birthing class.

LindseyJW · January 2013

i didn't pay mine - there were dear friends. one a trained doula who normally charges $1600, the other a ante/post partum hospital OB nurse.

i am wrapping up my doula training this weekend and will be charging $800 for births booked by 2/1, then $1200 after that.

FWIW, i'm in the DC metro region. rates vary significantly by area!

RJM050705 · January 2013

I'm delivering in Seattle (live in the burbs) and the range here is $800-1500. Our doula is still working toward her certification and when we booked her was on a sliding scale of $100-500 (pay what we decide, though in looking at her website she's moved her scale to $200-500). She also doesn't collect payment until our first PP visit. I'm planning to pay ~$200, which is what we would have spent on classes. I was SO glad to find her! DH would never agree to paying $800+.

angelacez · January 2013

I don't have one but one I found Near DC is 600 and if you want her to encapsulate the placenta it's an extra 125(50 off her normal price for it).

kelleylk · January 2013

I am in Nashville and paid $600 for L&D and unlimited calls during pregnancy. I also had one post partum visit.

nurseclare9 · January 2013

When I was researching it was about $750 everywhere (I found one for $600). I had a friend who is not actively practicing but was a doula for years offer to do it as a gift!

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