Hi, I used a Doula with my birth with Jasper.
I wish i could tell you it was a positive experience.
My mum lives in Darwin Australia and she came 8 days before i was due. We were nervous about her coming too early because then she wouldnt have been able to help out as much afterwards, but we were also terrieid that she would miss the birth and it would just be me and Liam, neither of us had ever been at a birth and Jasper is our first child so i felt i needed some sort of support from a strong female to get the birth i wanted.
I wanted a home birth, with water and no drugs but gas and air. I had read 'spiritual midwifery' by Nina Gaskin and that had solidified for me what i wanted from birth and how i felt about it all.
when i met my doula, she was the only one that covered my area, so even though i felt a bit of a strange connection with her, i decided it would be better off with a doula who i found difficult at times, rather than having no strong female support in the birth.
So... she came a few times antenatally and i found it quite difficult to talk to her, she was constantly interrupting me and it seemed like she was more interested in expressing how much SHE knew about the topic than actually what i needed.
One of the main reasons i wanted her was because she was a breastfeeding expert and i was so eager to breastfeed Jasper.
On the day of the birth we phoned her and when she arrived, it was like she tried to take over everything. Liam was rubbing my back while i lay in the birthing pool and at one point she took his hands off me and 'showed him how to do it properly' which made me reel because Liam felt so disconnected from me having to go through all this stuff to birth his child and that was his thing, he felt like i couldnt handle a contraction without him and he was right, he made it so much easier for me.
anyway, eventually i got transferred to hospital but i would have been transferred much earlier if the doula hadnt been suggesting i didnt go etc, she wouldnt let the midwife speak to me alone without her and she wouldnt let me make any decisions without her around.
when we got to the hospital, i had my waters broken (i had been in labour for 22 hours) and my birth progressed beautifully, when it came time to push, i was on all fours, over the back of the bed, Liam was watching the baby come out which was what i wanted him to do because that was his son and the doula was there with him! Taking photos of my vagina when i had expressly asked her not to. After the birth she told Liam to go home even though i found out later that he could have stayed with me until i went home the next day.
It was awful, she continued to take photos of me when i had just given birth despite me asking her not to and was really overpowering and most of all not there for me when i needed her, when i was scared.
She was a trainee so i was only supposed to give her 200 but i ended up only giving her a 40quid deposit. I would not use a doula again and i would always reccomend to people that above anything else, make sure that you have a strong connection with the doula antenatally, if you feel a tiny bit awkward about her, then she isnt for you.
sorry to be a bummer about it but that was my experience, i have a birth story which explains it in more details which i am happy to share x
I also saw 'One Born Every 40 Seconds' and was crying by the end of it... ahhh... scary stuff!
He was 75% tongue tied. 
