Midwives provide a high level of care and attention to their patients. Through frequent meetings with their patients, they monitor not only the physical changes of pregnancy, but the mental and emotional challenges. Each visit is forty-five minutes long, which allows for significant interaction between midwife and patient. If you are considering a home birth, a midwife can help you determine whether it is an appropriate choice. For instance, your pregnancy should be low risk, with no complications. If complications arise, your midwife will recommend a hospital stay if it is appropriate. She will assist you through your labour, making the birth of your child as comfortable and natural as possible.

Birth is a normal, natural event until proven otherwise.

What can I expect when I visit a midwife?

Midwives are specifically trained to provide care and counselling throughout your pregnancy. Your initial visit gives you time to interview the midwife, and her time to interview you. In a subsequent visit she will take your full medical history, obstetrical history, and do any routine blood work. You will discuss the changes of the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. You will meet with your midwife once a month until twenty-eight weeks, then once every two weeks until thirty-six weeks, and then once a week until birth. Midwives are on-call twenty-four hours a day. Once your baby is born, most midwives will continue to meet with you for a few weeks to assist with care, feeding, and the transition to motherhood.

What kind of training do midwives receive?

In Canada, midwives must have a four-year Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in Midwifery. Some provinces include midwifery as part of their regulated health care system. In the United States, Certified Nurse-Midwives are trained in nursing and work mostly in hospital settings. Direct entry midwives can also be certified, but are not required to have a college degree. If you are considering using a midwife, ensure that she has the appropriate education and training.