For about a year now I have been serving as a birth assistant - a doula. This is a complex and very pleasant service. My activity there, in the maternity hospital, is not work, but service. Anyone who has ever been present at a birth will understand what I'm talking about. I would like to share the basic principles of helping women in labor. The point is, supporting a woman in labor is about BEING with her in it... just being present and letting her know that she is not alone. Unfortunately, BEING is the most difficult thing. Accepting that nothing depends on you and letting go of control is what is truly difficult. To do this you need to know and accept the essence. Childbirth is a natural process. The most important thing for a woman is to trust her body and her instinct (that ancient knowledge that has been embedded in us since the beginning of time). And the task of those helping her is NOT to interfere with the body doing its job. Successful childbirth is hampered by fear, a woman’s lack of trust in herself, aversion to pain and the fight against pain, too many thoughts. So, the basic principles of assistance: 1. Be near. 2. Monitor the woman’s condition and offer her something to drink when she feels thirsty. Apply lip balm to her lips when she bites them during contractions, and put on her socks. 3. Help you take the right poses (those that relieve pain)4. Remind her about proper breathing and breathe with her. Inhale deeply and exhale even more deeply (during contractions) and intermittent breathing (like a dog) at the moment of pushing, when you cannot push. 5. Count contractions and note changes in their nature. How long and over what time period. 6. Do a relaxing lower back massage. You can use aromatic massage oil of jasmine, mandarin, ylang-ylang.7. Help with pushing and hold your hand. 8. Help meet the baby. Greet him. Say your warmest words to him and thereby slightly reduce the trauma of birth. 9. Help with breast attachment. That's all. It seems simple, but in reality, accompanying childbirth is an energy-consuming process. However, when a baby is born, I experience so much happiness that it is impossible to describe in words. Incredible feeling of flight.