Questions for Canadian ladies using a midwife

[Shadowy Lady]

Hi ladies,

I'm in Ottawa, Canada and have chosen a midwife for my prenatal care and the birth of our daughter. I LOVE my midwife and she's been amazing support so far through appointments and is always available to me by phone too.

I don't know a lot of ppl here who are using midwives so I wanted to ask a few questions from those of you ladies who are more knowledgable than me in this process:

- If you are giving birth at a hospital (I am), how long did you stay in or are planing to stay in after birth? Would you leave with your midwife after 4-6 hours or would you take advantage of the full 2-day stay? My insurance pays for a private room so I'm getting tempted to stay longer...

- Are you still planing on attending breastfeeding support classes/groups at the hospital or will you be depending on your midwife for all breastfeeding support?

- What's the liklihood of a second midwife not being available and us getting a hospital nurse instead as a support birth person?

- Are you planing on also hiring a doula or do you think the midwives will suffice?

- Are you making a birth plan? I have a very brief one but not 100% sure it's needed..

- What type of birth are you hoping to have? I'm hoping for a natural birth using TENS machine (early labour) and a tub (active labour). I would take a walking epidural if the labour is too long

Thanks in advance for your help ladies.

 

[aliss]

Hi! I'm in Montreal. This is my 2nd child (hospital OBGYN birth with #1).

- If you are giving birth at a hospital (I am), how long did you stay in or are planing to stay in after birth? Would you leave with your midwife after 4-6 hours or would you take advantage of the full 2-day stay? My insurance pays for a private room so I'm getting tempted to stay longer...

I'm having a home birth. If it was my first, I would take advantage of the 2 day stay, mostly to get a grip on breastfeeding. I stayed 3 days with #1 but there were additional complications (dystocia birth)

- Are you still planing on attending breastfeeding support classes/groups at the hospital or will you be depending on your midwife for all breastfeeding support?

No. I have hired a postnatal doula/lactation consultant to assist instead. My midwife is very pro-BF herself but I am not relying on her for the help. If I were you, I would either hire a postnatal doula or take advantage of lactation consultant services at the hospital. I would ask though what her availability is - nurses at the hospital were rather useless for it.

- What's the liklihood of a second midwife not being available and us getting a hospital nurse instead as a support birth person?

I wouldn't worry about this if you are in Ottawa. You should have a 2nd midwife available without issue. Again, I recommend a doula instead for support and not the midwives or nurses as they are too concerned with medical aspects.

- Are you planing on also hiring a doula or do you think the midwives will suffice?

I have an AMAZING midwife but the reason I hired the doula was because I realized how critical it was to have someone *just* for supporting me with BF and the emotional side of things. I don't wish to scare you but the LC's at the hospital never called me back and didn't give me much help at all for nursing, so I don't trust them.

- Are you making a birth plan? I have a very brief one but not 100% sure it's needed..

No. My only goal is to achieve a home birth and to safely resolve any repeat dystocia. Of course, if that was not my risk, I would probably care about other things like cord clamping, vitamin K. Even Ina May does not recommend birth plans - she recommends a doula or other support person to speak up for you. I would only note what truly matters to you on the birth plan.

- What type of birth are you hoping to have? I'm hoping for a natural birth using TENS machine (early labour) and a tub (active labour). I would take a walking epidural if the labour is too long

Just planning on doing it in my house, maybe using our outside spa if it's not too cold

 

[Shadowy Lady]

Thanks Aliss, it's neat that you have an outside spa...that sounds amazing! Best of luck with your home birth and hope this one is the birth experience you've always wanted