There are a number of prenatal care options available to women in Hamilton.
- Midwives
- Obstetricians
- Family Practitioners
- General Practioners & Obstetricians in tandem
Midwives
I’ll be honest, I’m biased towards midwives. I’ve used midwives for my own maternity care and as a doula I work with many midwives. I don’t recommend them frivolously, though. One of the most remarkable differences in prenatal care is the time you spend with a midwife: meetings are usually 45 minutes to an hour long. That means you will have plenty of time to talk to your midwife. You can ask her questions - lots of them - and she’ll ask you a bunch, too.
The tone of care is more of a team and you are the captain of the team. And, like a good team, you grow to trust each other.
A healthy mum and baby who are in the care of midwives can have a home birth. That means you can deliver in water, if you prefer. Or, you can have a birth at St Joseph’s or McMaster hospital. You can get an epidural, if that’s what you want, or you can have a med free birth.
The other huge difference you’ll notice with midwifery care is the postpartum care. Your midwives will come to your home after you have your baby to care for the both of you. In fact, for a couple weeks, they’ll come to your home many times. After that, you will go to see your midwife at her office weekly before being discharged from care at 6 weeks postpartum.
When compared to the care from other providers in Hamilton, Midwives win hands down.
And, should it turn out that you need a little extra care, the midwives work with Obstetricians to keep you and baby healthy. The same goes during birth: if there is even a suspicion that there may be something odd going on, your midwives will bring in an Obstetrician for a consultation and transfer care if the circumstances warrant.
You are lucky to be having your baby in Hamilton: all the different members of the maternity health care team work well together and your and your baby’s health are always the first thing on everyone’s mind.
If you want to work with a midwife for your pregnancy, you will need to call for an appointment as soon as you discover you are pregnant. With three midwifery clinics in Hamilton, demand is very high for services. Some women who wait a month or two before calling find themselves squeezed out by the early birds. Midwives’ calendars fill up really fast since they only take around 40 clients per year per midwife.
Come back to Birth In The Hammer in the next few days when we continue our series on the different types of prenatal care providers in Hamilton.
