the.com/doula

means A trained companion who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to someone through pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum — not a medical role, a human one.

from Borrowed from Modern Greek, where 'doula' means 'female servant' or 'slave,' itself from ancient Greek 'doule,' the feminine form of 'doulos' (slave or servant). It was deliberately repurposed in the late 20th century by childbirth advocates — the word entered English usage through anthropologist Dana Raphael and was later popularized by researchers and birth workers — to describe a woman who 'serves' a mother through labor, stripped of its servile weight and reframed as skilled, devoted care.