midwife - questions to ask at first visit

Hi Everyone
I was just wondering what good questions I should ask the midwife at my first visit. I am still trying to decide between a midwife or an OB. I'm planning on having a hospital birth either way. If I do go with a midwife, should things arise during the delivery, I will be switched to an on-call OB.

I'm looking forward to your input on good questions to ask, whether it be twin-specific or just birthing/perinatal care in general.

Thanks so much!
Tracey

 

When I found out I was pregnant, I was unaware that I was pregnant with twins so I started seeing a midwife. After my first appointment and ultrasound, I found out we were having twins.
My midwife told me at that point that should would not be able to care for me throughout my pregnancy because she cannot legally deliver multiples. That may have to do with the fact that she is a stand-alone midwife practice.
I don't know if that would be the case for your midwife or not but I thought I would throw it in there just in case you haven't asked.

As for questions, I would just make sure that the midwife has access to everything that an OB would as far as lab tests go. I know when I was at the midwife, I had to go to a separate location for lab tests and ultrasounds. That would be getting pretty old now when I am constantly getting ultrasounds, NSTs and lab work. Something to think about too.

Good luck. I would have loved to use a midwife but I am also VERY happy with my OB now.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that you are expecting twins eliminates the option of having a midwife right off the bat. My dr. immediately classifies multiples as high risk which removes the midwife possibility. But of course, every medical community is different.

But here's my thought on this even if you are given a choice. Odds are relatively good that you'll need some sort of intervention or higher medical care come delivery time, if not sooner. For my piece of mind, I would much rather establish a good relationship with an MD early on. That way they are fully aware of your entire prenatal history from the get-go, as opposed to familiarizing themselves with your chart while you're on the delivery table. Furthermore, you'll have more time to ensure that your OB is right for you now, while things are still relatively calm. Nothing's worse than having to doctor shop while you are under physical/mental stress.

This is just my personal choice on this, but perhaps a different perspective to consider. I think that midwives are great and I would have probably considered one had I been having a singleton, but since twins are in the cards, I'm more comforted with a higher level of medical expertise. Both of the delivering docs know me very well and I'm more than comfortable with either delivering my peeps.

Good luck!!!

Eve

...trying not to count the days til May.
Mono/di boys on the way!

 

QUOTE(expecting2more @ Feb 3 2009, 01:00 PM) [snapback]1174347[/snapback]
When I found out I was pregnant, I was unaware that I was pregnant with twins so I started seeing a midwife. After my first appointment and ultrasound, I found out we were having twins.
My midwife told me at that point that should would not be able to care for me throughout my pregnancy because she cannot legally deliver multiples.


Same here and I was at a midwife center with an OB. They still dropped me like I had a contagious disease. I started seeing ob's that were associated with my high risk doc.

 

I had a midwife to start off with, and she told me because im having twins i had to see a reg ob.

 

Good luck hun! I was going to answer earlier but wasn't sure of my facts, but I was thinking that most midwives won't deliver twins anyways. You "may" be able to stay with the midwife thru the pregnancy,but most dr's require delivering twins in an OR setting, with an epidural either in place or ready to be placed, in case an emergency c/section becomes necessary.

I think establishing a relationship with an ob is your better choice right now, it's possible you will have a perfectly uneventful problem free pregnancy, but it's equally possible to be fraught with medical problems, in which you'd need an ob to deal with them anyways!

 

Others have already said it above, but I was with the midwife but when we found out it was twins we needed to go with the OB. She did stay as a supporting role though which was very helpful to me. But if u already know its twins and not registered with them, u might not be able to get them to do it.

 

I was lucky enough to find a midwife who works out of an ob/perinatologist's office. Best of both worlds!

 

The midwife practices here do not handle multiple births. If you run into that, you might consider hiring a doula to accompany you at the birth. If your midwife can deliver you, one question you might ask is how hands on she is during the laboring period. Some RN/Midwifes come in to deliver, like an OB, rather than be with you throughout the process of labor (that would be a doula). Some midwives are very hands on for the whole thing. That might be a clarification for you - maybe you have not decided yet. Many hospitals now have an affiliated nursing midwife practice - so you get the best of both worlds.

 

I was in the same boat as several people who posted here....

For my first pregnancy I went through a midwife and I love it! So when I was pregnant with the second, I naturally scheduled my appointment with a midwife. However, once we found out it was twins (which happened to be on the first appt), the midwives dropped me like a bad habit. They too automatically considered twins to be high risk and therefore were not able to see me.

 

My midwife transferred me over to an OB, also... one that was the twins specialist for the area, and they happened to be part of the same practice. I wasn't totally thrilled about that at first, but it ended up being a really good thing, and gave me a lot of peace of mind. Things can just be so different with twins, and I really liked that she'd delivered hundreds of sets of twins in her career. From what I've heard on here and with other mom's of twins I know, most OBs treat delivering twins like some sort of disease... or just as dumb, they act like it's the same as having just one. (Which would definitely make me choose a midwife in some circumstances, but I was very glad for her expertise!) It meant she was willing to let me deliver in a regular L&D room, and not the OR (actually did end up in the OR because of a ventilation problem at the hospital, but it was out of our control), she was willing to deliver baby B breech, since A was headdown, etc.