Life With A Baby - Midwife or OB?

Thursday, July 14, 2011 2:21 PM

Message # 654826

Debbi (Administrator)

Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

Thursday, July 14, 2011 9:24 PM

Reply # 655157 on 654826

Marilyn

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife?I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

Midwife all the way! I had an OB and she was horrible. I would wait 3hrs to see her for a minute and it wasnt worth it at all!

I ended up switching to a midwife at 5months and didnt have an issue getting one at all. It took about about 2days for them to get me a midwife and I will never go the OB way again. I didnt have any CONS. ALL PROS!

Friday, July 15, 2011 10:10 AM

Reply # 655625 on 654826

Angela

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

I had an OBGYN for my first child, and a midwife for the 2nd and 3rd. For me personally, midwifery care is the best choice. After the birth of your child, you see your midwife on a regular basis, as opposed to waiting untilt he 6 week mark to see your OB. With my midwife, she was able to reconginze the signs of PPMD and help get me treated after baby #2, and with baby #3 she kept a close eye on me.

Midwifery appointments are a little longer than time you get with an OB, and you are generally given more freedon to make the decisions you want for you and your family. That said, there are some amazing OBs who do practice differently than most, and give you more 'personal' care. Midwives are trained for pregnancy, labour, delivery and postpartum care, as well as the initial care of your baby. Babies are their 'business', whereas, OBs are trained for all things 'woman'.

On the other hand, many women will not qualify for midwifery care. Midwives will only trake clients in the low risk category (sometimes moderate). Some women need the care of an OBGYN to ensure the helath and wellness of mom and baby. This could include multiple births, high blood pressure, diabetes (both gestational and types 1 and 2) and so on. Midwives and OBs are very different, however their care is specialized and both are necessary to the field of 'babies'.

Best case scenario is to be educate and informed. A great film is The Business of Being Born. This informs you of options, choices etc.

Depending on the area you are in, you may need to contact your midwives as soon as you get pregnant. In Windsor, we only have 5, so it's a race to get into their care!

Saturday, July 16, 2011 4:32 PM

Reply # 656475 on 655625

Leanne

Angela Yakonich wrote:
Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

I had an OBGYN for my first child, and a midwife for the 2nd and 3rd. For me personally, midwifery care is the best choice. After the birth of your child, you see your midwife on a regular basis, as opposed to waiting untilt he 6 week mark to see your OB. With my midwife, she was able to reconginze the signs of PPMD and help get me treated after baby #2, and with baby #3 she kept a close eye on me.

Midwifery appointments are a little longer than time you get with an OB, and you are generally given more freedon to make the decisions you want for you and your family. That said, there are some amazing OBs who do practice differently than most, and give you more 'personal' care. Midwives are trained for pregnancy, labour, delivery and postpartum care, as well as the initial care of your baby. Babies are their 'business', whereas, OBs are trained for all things 'woman'.

On the other hand, many women will not qualify for midwifery care. Midwives will only trake clients in the low risk category (sometimes moderate). Some women need the care of an OBGYN to ensure the helath and wellness of mom and baby. This could include multiple births, high blood pressure, diabetes (both gestational and types 1 and 2) and so on. Midwives and OBs are very different, however their care is specialized and both are necessary to the field of 'babies'.

Best case scenario is to be educate and informed. A great film is The Business of Being Born. This informs you of options, choices etc.

Depending on the area you are in, you may need to contact your midwives as soon as you get pregnant. In Windsor, we only have 5, so it's a race to get into their care!

I think this response sums up midwifery care beautifully. I started my first pregnancy with an OB and sadly had a miscarriage. When I was spotting and extremely anxious, I could not get in touch with my OB. She would not return calls and I could not get in to see her. When I became pregnant the second time, I chose midwifery care and have never looked back. The midwives take exceptional care of you and your baby...both during pregnancy and afterward. You always have access to your midwife or your secondary midwife, and you know you will see a familiar face when you deliver your child no matter what (you cannot guarantee that with your OB).

That being said, my 3rd pregnancy was twins, which meant an automatic referral to an OB. I was extremely fortunate that I had previous midwife care, so my OB was willing to share care, even once I developed gestational diabetes and was considered high risk. My OB was exceptional and I truly had the best of both worlds. It was a blessing to be able to have the midwives come to my home for aftercare with twins, as getting out the door was extremely difficult, as was establishing breastfeeding for 2.

You need to decide which hospital you would like to give birth at, and that will determine which midwifery practice to contact. Each practice has rights at different hospitals.

Good luck!

Monday, July 18, 2011 6:57 PM

Reply # 658005 on 654826

Carolina

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

I had an OB during my first pregnancy and i had extreme morning sickness to the point that i couldn't even have water for two weeks... i became extremely dehydrated and lost too much weight... i couldn't contact my OB and the next appointment she didnt see me because i was "3" minutes late!!! during the time of my missed appointment and my rescheduled appointment i lost my baby. not all pregnancies are complicated and not all OB are the same though.
for my second pregnancy i choose a midwife and i had terrible morning sickness again.. but this time i knew it wasnt normal so i was much more concern about it and i could contact my midwifes 24/7 and the always returned my calls within 10-20 minutes... i gave birth to a beautiful baby girl 7 pounds and 13 oz. at home in April 2011 :)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 11:27 PM

Reply # 659147 on 658005

Yendre

Carolina wrote:
Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.
I had an OB during my first pregnancy and i had extreme morning sickness to the point that i couldn't even have water for two weeks... i became extremely dehydrated and lost too much weight... i couldn't contact my OB and the next appointment she didnt see me because i was "3" minutes late!!! during the time of my missed appointment and my rescheduled appointment i lost my baby. not all pregnancies are complicated and not all OB are the same though.
for my second pregnancy i choose a midwife and i had terrible morning sickness again.. but this time i knew it wasnt normal so i was much more concern about it and i could contact my midwifes 24/7 and the always returned my calls within 10-20 minutes... i gave birth to a beautiful baby girl 7 pounds and 13 oz. at home in April 2011 :)

Congratulations on your baby girl, Carolina. We had our baby boy at home too in April 2011.

Debbi, I highly recommend having a midwife, on top all the wonderful things said about them, for me it is the chance and opportunity to have a home. Of course if that's not for you, they deliver at hospitals too.

Best of luck.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:26 AM

Reply # 659443 on 659147

Debbi (Administrator)

Yendre wrote: Congratulations on your baby girl, Carolina. We had our baby boy at home too in April 2011.

Debbi, I highly recommend having a midwife, on top all the wonderful things said about them, for me it is the chance and opportunity to have a home. Of course if that's not for you, they deliver at hospitals too.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the info everyone! I had an OB and she was good, and was there each time I was at the hospital (for the tour, when I had a bleeding scare a week before delivery and for the birth, so she did deliver DD.) The worst part were the regularly scheduled appointments at her office - waiting an hour to see her for 10 minutes grr. And it was mostly just a check of heartbeat, measurement of fundal height, and 'how are you doing'. The nurse did everything else beforehand.

Yendre, when we eventually have our second, I definitely want to consider midwife and maybe home birth. I had a relatively short and easy labour with DD, so it might be a possibility.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 2:18 PM

Reply # 659560 on 654826

Sharon

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

I delivered at home with a midwife. My experience with them was amazing.

Thursday, July 21, 2011 9:35 AM

Reply # 660120 on 654826

Tatiana

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

Debbi,

I was with midwives for my entire pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care (first 6 weeks). I think that yes midwives are a good choice IF ALL GOES WELL WITH YOUR PREGNANCY AND CHILD, i.e. if there are no complications... (of course one can never know such things in advance, so it's like rolling a die..) However, as we unfortunately found out, they simply did not have the medical expertise to deal with our baby's problems that started 2-3 weeks after he was born (acid reflux kicked in and he had screaming fits all the time, wouldn't sleep, etc), and frankly dismissed us as 'anxious new parents', only looking to the fact that he was gaining weight fine and giving us the typical 'babies will cry' dismissing response to our concerns... it finally took us finding a good DOCTOR who knew her stuff to put our son on medication, to give him relief from his suffering, only at 2.5 months of age... (we went through HELL trying to help him ourselves, without adequate medical advise). While the idea of midwives is a good one (as a 'more caring', patient, etc option), but from my experience, it is only a safe option if you think you'll have a routine pregnancy, delivery and baby-condition... the only 'routine' portion I had was the pregnancy. The delivery was also complicated (and my husband still blames the midwive's decision to keep me pushing extra-long for some of the baby's problems later on - especially his fairly serious jaundace condition, due to swallowing muconium poop that broke inside the placenta after prolonged stress of delivery... ) but for sure I shouldn't have been labouring for so long, and should've had the c-section earlier, as my baby was both wedged in at a bad angle and had a large head that was never going to pass through anyway...) I am very glad that we decided to do it in the hospital, as it's quite possible the baby might've not survived such a traumatic labour at home. (In fact we are very grateful that my delivery had to be officially taken over by a doctor, as the midwife wanted me to go through a barbaric 'tug-of-war' technique to try and push out the baby by brute force, which would've no doubt killed him, given his condition... the doctor said a definite 'no' to this, thank goodness... (even the eventual c-section was also complicated, with him still being wedged in my pelvis, and he came out without vital signs; thank god they were able to resuscitate him...) Post-partum care was again very remedial, with only nurse-level knowledge that they had, which left our son suffering unnecessarily for weeks afterwards...

It really scarred us for a very long time after, not just the delivery experience itself but also the fact that our son was left to suffer for so long because they neither had the care or initiative to properly investigate our concerns about his condition later nor the medical knowledge to know what might be wrong with him... if we ever gather up the courage to go through a second child again, we would definitely NOT go with midwives. Minor benefits like slightly-shorter waiting time for appointments (we still had to wait at each appointment) and a friendlier 'chat' while you're there (although my family doctor - who is now the baby's doctor - is a wonderful woman and equally patient and friendly; I wish she could've been my OB as well) do not outweigh serious issues like medical expertise and willingness to investigate possible problems.

Good luck with your baby!

P.S. sorry for the long response.. it is almost 'therapy' for me to share this with other moms who might be considering the midwives option, as I feel that all is not 'peaches and cream' with midwives...

Last modified: Thursday, July 21, 2011 10:10 AM | Tatiana

Monday, July 25, 2011 11:29 AM

Reply # 662549 on 654826

Lisa

Debbi wrote:Did you have a midwife or OB for your prenatal care and delivery of your baby, and what are the pros and cons?

How does one go about getting a midwife? I've heard that you need to plan really well in advance (even before pregnancy!) as they are really busy.

Hi Debbi, Hope u're well! I had an OB for baby 1 & a midwife for #2. For baby 1 I didn't know this was even an option. For baby 1 the experience was OK but the midwife experience totally went above/beyond all my expectations. Lots of personal care provided & the ability to make your own informed choices is great. You need to try & get one as early on as possible but i know a couple who was accommodated quite late in their pregnancy. Good luck if you're going wth a midwife 2nd time around, I don't think u'll regret it. I am all for midwives!

Midwife or OB?

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