A person trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth. Research shows that childbirth does go more smoothly with a doula: labor is 25 percent shorter, the need for epidural pain relief is 60 percent less and the Caesarean section rate is reduced by half. — Susan Gilbert

Ask for help. Okay, this is not so much a stress management technique but a stress prevention technique. Ask for help. Seriously, you may not even consider that you could ask someone that you don't even know to help you with some of these things, but a doula wants to pitch in, and it’s really not a big deal.