Working document
The on call readiness checklist for doulas
Everything that should be true about a birth client before her window opens, in the order it needs to happen.
Free resources
Resources for running an independent doula practice
Working tools for the parts of doula practice that are arithmetic rather than instinct: fees, capacity, contracts, backup, and getting paid.
Doula training covers birth. It rarely covers what to do when two clients are due nine days apart, what a flat fee actually pays per hour, or how to write a backup agreement that holds when you have the flu at 38 weeks. That gap is what these resources are for, and none of them require you to be a DoulaDay customer to use them.
The calculators run in your browser and keep nothing. The on call readiness checklist is a working document you can print and mark up. The comparisons are honest fit questions about the software doulas actually evaluate, written at the level of what each tool assumes about your week rather than invented claims about features we cannot verify. Alongside them, The Call Bag carries longer pieces on contracts, fees, Medicaid, and on call life.
Free tools
Free calculators for doula fees and on call capacity
Two small tools for the two numbers most doula practices are guessing at: the real hourly rate behind a flat birth fee, and how many windows you can hold at once.
Comparisons
DoulaDay compared with the tools doulas try first
Most doula software questions come down to one thing: does the tool understand that you hold a window, not an appointment.
Main guide
How do I set up a backup doula agreement that actually holds when I miss a birth?
It settles exactly what a backup doula arrangement must contain, in writing, so it survives the night you cannot get to a birth.
Magazine
The Call Bag
Working notes for independent birth and postpartum doulas in the US: on call life, contracts, fees, backup, and hospital and home practice.
About
Who writes all of this
About the author: who writes these guides for independent doulas, why the due date window and the named backup run through every one of them, and where to send a question about your own practice.
The notes app is not an on call calendar
The calculators, the comparisons and the readiness checklist all circle one job: knowing which windows you are holding and who covers each of them tonight. DoulaDay is what happens when that stops being a text thread and a screenshot of a due date and becomes one screen your backup can read cold. Ask for a demo and bring your messiest month.