Did you consider hiring one, and did you end up doing it? How did you choose? When did you start looking?
Yes, had two both times, actually! The first time, my best friend was in training as a birth instructor, and our other best friend had been her VBAC doula. The two of them were tops on my doula list, and I decided, well, why pick between them, if they’d both like to be there? The second time, my best friend was out of the country, so I hired my hypnobirthing instructor as a doula, and asked the other friend to come along, too. Unfortunately, the location of birth changed at the last minute (I was diagnosed with polyhydramnios, which is high risk, so bumped to the hospital), and my midwife was going to be the second doula in that case. So the friend got bumped. Sigh.
What kind of services did she provide? Were you satisfied? Would you do it again? How much did it cost?
Our response to the doula issue with the second birth was ‘can we do it with just ONE doula?’ – we were very satisfied. I had a very long labor with my first, and my doulas served as every kind of dogsbody - they cooked, rubbed feet (including my husband’s), reminded me to pee, provided counterpressure, helped me change positions, fetched food for my husband, fetched food for me in early labor, and ice pops after the epidural, and took over for him when he had to eat, pee, or sleep (three days of labor, I wasn’t making him stay awake the whole time). They helped when more than one body was useful (position changes after an epidural; balanced massage, one on each side). They took notes so that I knew later what happened when (because sequence gets fuzzy). They fetched the midwife, or the nurse, any time, without me having to be left alone. They reminded everyone to freshen their makeup before walking into the room, so they wouldn’t look tired and therefore make me feel like I should be tired, too - and it worked (I thought I’d been in labor about 24 hours, but couldn’t figure out how three nights got stuck into that time…). They reminded me and my husband to check my birth plan for info if something was in conflict. They passed wet cloths to me in a bucket-brigade style when I was pushing and only sucking on a wet cloth was ‘right’ for me. And at one point, the only two voices I could decode enough to understand were one of the doulas, and my husband. I couldn’t even understand the midwife (in the middle of pushing). Oh, and please don’t think that long labor was awful - it really wasn’t. Exhausting? Yes, but I did get to sleep eventually. I used Bradley relaxation, and the discomfort factor was about a 6 out of 10 (10 being breaking my ankle). Well within my capacity to cope. I just didn’t want to scare you with it, because it was really not bad at all. More, it was powerful, profound, amazing, beautiful, and transformative. 
The second time, much shorter labor (4.5 hours of full labor instead of days). Doulas were still very useful. They made me laugh so I could lose more fluid when my water broke high (reduced risk if it leaks high, less gush to cause cord prolapse - unfortunately not enough leak to keep me from staying high risk, sigh). They encouraged, supported, and helped me stay focussed. My hypnotherapy teacher/doula invented new scripts on the fly to deal with the nit backup OB I ended up with (who was certain I’d need a c-section, and used unethical measures to try to convince me - most OBs are better than her, thankfully!). When I insisted on another epidural, they didn’t fight me… though the nurse did, as did my husband (my husband knew I wasn’t doing poorly at all, it was just transition doubt, and the nurse was certain I was hitting transition, too, or nearly, even if I’d only been 4.5 cm 30 minutes earlier). Once checked and found to be nearly ready to push, they were happy for me to skip the epidural… but they didn’t fight me on it, either. (actually, I wish they had fought me more, but we had felt that if I asked, I was SERIOUS considering how many bad reactions I had the first time, and so if I asked, I expected to be treated seriously - unfortunately we forgot about transition doubt… even though I only wanted one ‘to help relax my back’ - I wasn’t in pain, no, just wanted help relaxing. :rolleyes: )
Did you give birth in a hospital, birthing center, at home, on the side of the freeway, etc.? Did you have a doctor or a midwife?
Hospitals, both times. Both times had attempted a birth center birth with midwives.
Birth one, extended labor with no dilation after 60 hours, and a desperate need to sleep. With sleep came a position change, with position change came baby position change, and with that came dilation, and at 80 hours, normal vaginal birth with nary a stitch needed. Good birth. Midwife with OB backup (hospital privileges), great team.
Second birth, again attempted birth center (midwife), risked out for polyhydramnios on my due date (also the birth date - risked out in the morning, had him in the evening). Went to a different hospital than the first time, ended up with the on-call OB (who it turned out one of my old doulas had dumped because the OB was so arrogant and controlling). Not exactly the OB I expected… and in the hospital with the second-highest c-section rate in the state. UGH. Despite some really apalling events, and thanks in no small part to the presence and support of my doulas, I still had a good labor, and an easy, good birth (augmented with pitocin, no pain meds needed even though I asked for them because there was no pain! I love hypnobirthing, in case you don’t know my history). Lousy OB, but quite decent nurses (once they got used to my laboring style - silent, and wanting quiet!).
Honestly, I cannot recommend a good-fit doula highly enough. It does have to be a good fit for you (and your partner/spouse), but they are really there to let your partner be your partner, rather than having your partner have to remember everything about positions, interventions you do and do not want and when… plus doulas know what is normal, whether you really are doing well, what you can expect, etc. I’ve only rarely heard of a doula who pushed a mom in a direction the mom didn’t want to go, but part of your job is to filter out those in advance. Your risk of even needing pain meds goes down if they are there, and your risk of a c-section drops dramatically. Oh, and an L&D nurse doesn’t serve the same function. One study I read showed that training an L&D nurse to do a doula’s job and having them stay the whole labor has zero impact on the rate of pain med use and c-sections, However, even a non-trained female observer (not nurse) sitting in the room and not allowed to help physically still makes a difference (possibly because the nurse will typically respond to the doctor and the equipment as priorities over the mom, where the doula responds to the mom only? Just a guess, there.)…
You can have a friend doula for you, but it helps to have them train, or at least do major reading of all the options, positions, times to do what, times to not bother doing whichever, etc. You can also get doulas-in-training for free, quite often (if available). The book The Birth Partner is a good place to start for that.
She got food and drink – my favorite part of homebirth, the ability to fuel oneself for the intense work at hand, instead of trying to survive on IV fluids and ice chips, but I digress – she got cool wet washcloths for me, answered the phone, changed the music for me, whatever was asked.