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Originally Posted by Blanca78  What questions do you feel it's essential to ask a potential caregiver? Are there any questions that you didn't ask but that you later realized you should have?
Thanks!
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The NUMBER ONE thing that I wished I had asked our hospital-based CNM practice is
"What percentage of the labor do you usually stay for?" I was admitted at 10ish p.m. and did not see our midwife in person until 11:45 a.m. The nurses were awesome, but I felt so alone most of the labor, and this is the number one thing that I want to change next time.
The second question, which goes along with the first is
"Who covers for you if you are not on call? How often are you on call?" I have friends delivering with an OB who is only "on call" one weekend of the month. And if it's a CNM practice, "Do you have the same back-up OB(s) all the time?" We actually switched providers at 6 months when we learned that the OBs in the CNM practice that we started with were no longer able to deliver at that hospital, and the CNMs were at the mercy of a large pool of on-call OBs, many of whom weren't supportive of natural birth, so we switched to a more baby-friendly hospital & practice even though it meant a drive.
First time mothers often go late--the average for first time babies is 41 weeks and 1 day or so. It is essential, IMHO, to ask their "late" baby practices, and really press them on this---what percentage of mothers go past 40 weeks? How far? What situations do they induce in? How often does this occur? What sort of post 40 week monitoring (if any) will you be subject to? At what point will they "insist" on an induction? If necessary, what are their preferred induction methods? The first CNM practice informed us that they wouldn't "make" us go past 40 weeks, and that should have been a huge red flag for us. I went to 42 weeks 1 or 2 days, and our actual CNM practice was very supportive and talked me out of an "I'm so done" induction several times.
I'd also ask about "big" babies, particularly if babies on either side of the family tend towards 8lbs or higher. "What is the biggest baby you have delivered vaginally?" If you are a smaller woman, ask point blank if they have concerns about your ability to birth a large baby--much better to find this out now and not at 39 weeks. A good midwife should tell you that your body won't grow a baby bigger than you can push out and if there's a family history of big vaginal deliveries, should be supportive of that and not concerned.
Finally, I plan to really press the hospital based CNM practice we are interviewing this go around about birth positions--what percentage of mothers give birth in anything other than the dead beetle position? The hospital talks a good game about squat bars and birth stools, but every mother I have talked to who gave birth there gave birth on her back or semi-sitting in the bed. And on a personal note b/c I am "fluffy," I'll be really looking for their attitude on that.
thanks.
