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Selecting a Provider

Perhaps the most important decision you will make as your pregnancy progresses is where and with whom to give birth.  Your relationship with your provider and her/his practice will help to shape how you feel about your pregnancy, your birth, and your ability to give birth. 

Remember you are hiring the person who will very likely be the first to touch your baby, and who will be with you during one of the most intimate and vulnerable periods of your life. During your pregnancy, take time to interview and get references from friends about care providers in your area. 

You can get good suggestions for questions to ask a potential care provider here:

• Maternity Wise Tools/Questions to Ask
• Coalition for Improving Maternity Services/10 Questions to Ask

Also, see Childbirth Connection Maternity Topics/How do I choose my caregiver?

It is important to not only trust your care provider, but also share the same philosophy about pregnancy and birth.  Feeling safe and comfortable in the environment you choose with the attendants you choose during your labor will ensure a positive birth experience.  Meet everyone in the practice who might attend your birth, since most practices rotate call and whoever is on call is the provider at the birth.  If any member of the practice makes you uncomfortable, discuss this with the provider you trust most, to determine how the practice usually handles such a situation.

You have the option to change care providers at any point in your pregnancy.  If you begin to have doubts about any aspect of your care or you feel uncomfortable with your provider, consider interviewing someone else.  Even if you don’t ultimately change providers, talking to someone else will give you peace of mind.  Pregnancy and birth are strongly influenced by the mother’s emotions.  If you feel tense or uneasy, it can definitely affect the progress of your birth.

Types of Providers

Midwives

Research shows that midwives are the experts in normal birth and are the safest birth attendants for healthy women with normal pregnancies -- about 85% of all women.  Throughout most of human history and in most of the world today, midwives attend the majority of births.  All of the many countries with better outcomes than ours use midwives for most births. 

Midwives generally spend more time with women during pregnancy and birth and provide more individual care.  They work with women and their partners to provide education about nutrition and healthy pregnancy, and typically are with women during more of the labor to provide more hands-on support to women and their families. 

Doctors

Obstetricians (OBs) are surgeons trained in the pathology of birth, and are the most appropriate birth attendants for women who develop serious health conditions that need careful monitoring and an OB's specialized skills.

Family practitioners and obstetric doctors of osteopathy (DOs) also attend births.  Research shows that they provided excellent care for healthy women with normal pregnancies, but are not as likely to provide support during labor.

Next topic: Professional labor support