How do you pick a midwife?

[pregnantresearcher]

Hi. As many of you know I am a grad student doing research for my thesis on midwifery. Your answers to my questions will be confidential with name, etc. changed.

I was wondering how do you pick a midwife? How do you tell one is good? How do you find out if a midwife has a bad reputation?

[~Kristina~]

What has helped me out the most is word of mouth to find a midwife. I haven't interveiwed a midwife yet, just started chatting with one the other day. I need to meet her and a few others to get a better idea.

[DayDreamer]

I chose a midwife based on several factors.

Who is willing to do homebirths?
What are the available midwives distance from me?
Have I heard any possitives/negatives through word of mouth?
I look up their names on here and "google" them as well.

Then I usually call or email potential MW's
If the call/email goes well I set up an apt to meet in person.
When we meet I ask a lot of questions, some specific some more general.


Then I take all the above info and use that along with my intuition to chose a MW.

[christifav]

She was the only one in my county who does HB. Sad that I didn't have a choice, but grateful that she is competant and nice.

[mamamilkers]

Honestly, not that much thought went in to my choice. A naturopath I trust recommended the team of midwives, so I went to meet them, thought they were nice and that we would get along, and I was set. It was my first pregnancy, and it wasn't planned, so I was quite a bit out of sorts with the whole thing. I didn't even know what to ask. I 100% went on the vibe I got from them.

Of course, it turned out they were fantastic and I used the same team for the pregnancy/birth of my second child, as well.

[lactivist]

I asked around for recommendations. My first midwife operated the ONLY freestanding birthcenter in our county and I wasn't willing to homebirth in my lousy apartment. I went to meet her and she couldn't have been more wonderful, I was relieved and hired her on the spot. My second midwives were recommended to me by someone I trusted and I met them and they were so great and I clicked right away with them and knew that they were the right team for me. All my midwives were so great that they worked themselves right out of business and I had a UC with my third since I really trusted birth based on my first two experiences.
Wendi

[Arwyn]

First I start by falling in major crush with one I meet online...

Seriously, I look at webpages (if applicable), talk to people who have used them, talk to them, get a feel for their philosophy. "Clicking" and philosophy (as evidenced by their attitude, their protocols, etc) matter most to me, so that's primarily what I go by, more than anything else.

That, of course, is only where I live now (Oregon) where I actually do have a choice about midwives. Where I lived before there was very, very little choice, and it would have been more a matter of finding someone who was available on my due date, within a two hour driving radius, who didn't actually annoy the crap out of me in person. I am very privileged to have the luxury of choosing.

[MommytoTwo]

As a hba2c, I dont have many choices. I was lucky I found 1 mw to take me on. Lucky for me, she is incredible and highly recommended.

[zoebird]

while i'm choosing UC, i have a midwife who provides various other supports. (i'm not pregnant; i don't have any children). she does my gynocological care on my schedule (pelvic every 3-5 years), and not on other's schedules (US recommended yearly).

anyway, i like this midwife because she holds to the UC philosophies and DIY attitudes that i think are important. she's informed and has a good reputation, but what is better is that we hold similar views about women's bodies, realities, choices, concerns, etc.

so, if a midwife were to be present, it would be her because we share a similar outlook on life, birth, etc.

[momto l&a]

I go by word of mouth.
I then meet her and see how I feel about her.

I have had the same mw for 7 years and adore her.

It looks like we may be moving so...

I have heard of a mw in that area we are going to that I want to meet. One gal has had all 10 of her children with this gal so she must be happy with her. Have also heard of other good things about her.

[Emmeline II]

I found my mw (CPM) a year before I became pregnant. There were at least 6 women at my AP group who had used the same midwife. I met with them (mw and her apprentice) when I became pregnant and liked them. They had a monthly mommy meeting that I went to and met even more of their clients. I knew more about my how my mws practice midwifery than my (also pregnant) SIL did about her OB.

[boscopup]

In my case, there were only 2 to choose from. One is 2 hours away and is practicing illegally (assisted homebirth is illegal in my state). The other is 1 hour away, but has a birth house just over the state line that's 15 minutes from my house, and one of her assistants/apprentices (working on a CPM herself) lives the same distance from the birth house. The midwife practicing illegally is much cheaper ($1500 vs. ~$2500). Both midwives have good reviews via word of mouth (very important to me). But I chose to go with the one across the state line because a) I don't feel comfortable "causing" someone to break the law, and b) the distance issue is a huge factor for me since my family has fast labors (I followed in this tradition myself the first time by having a 2.5 hour labor).

Word of mouth is big on my list though. That's also how I found a "backup OB" for this pregnancy. Pretty much, in my area, many in the NCB community either use the midwife with the birth house or they use this OB in the hospital.

Also, I wanted a midwife that would do what *I* want (or not do what I don't want) and that lets me make all the decisions. One thing I really like about her is that even on controversial issues (including circumcision, Vit. K, eye goop, GBS testing, GTT testing, etc.), she gives the facts of both sides, making sure I'm informed on the issue, and then lets me decide. While she might not do a certain procedure with her own children (and didn't - she has 4 kids), she doesn't require that you do or don't do a procedure. She just gives you the information and lets you make the decision yourself. I really like that about her.

[Phoebe]

I got a recomendation from a friend who had a wonderful experience with her hb. That midwife couldn't take me so I interviewed the midwife that she then recomended. I pretty much chose her because I felt an immediate trust in her...it was kind of a "vibe" thing.

[meggles]

Originally Posted by Phoebe

I pretty much chose her because I felt an immediate trust in her...it was kind of a "vibe" thing.

: After interviewing several midwives, I realized that I only felt this way about one, who just happened to be the very first one we spoke with. I like her more and more as this pregnancy progresses.

[cutic]

First, I searched google to find local ones, then I opened their websites and decided to call a few to make an interview. Yes, I live in virtual reality !

I talked to two of them, I wanted to have a midwife that lives within a reasonable distance from me (up to 30 miles) and will do a homebirth. I also had an option to choose a very recommended one but she only does a hospital births, didn't work for me. So out of the two I talked to, I chose the one with whom I felt the best connection, she just seemed to be an excellent match for me. Basically, I wanted somebody that I can trust and like and feel better with than with my own mother.

[Briannasmom]

I interviewed 6 midwives (reading others' posts, I am just now realizing how LUCKY I am to live here in Southern California and have this kind of choice) and I would say that the number one factor in determining which I chose was personal connection. Some MWs were not personable at all; others were nice but I didn't feel a connection with them. The one I chose (Davi Khalsa, in case any of you are here in SoCal looking for a MW) I trusted at an intuitive level right away. Other reasons were: the length of time she had been practicing (I didn't want s/o right out of the gate), her can-do attitude about helping me avoid another pp hemorrhage (had one with my first and YAY she helped me avoid a repeat!), and finally, I had seen a few others post here on MDC positively about her.

[momma earthical]

Intuition.

i met my MN mws at a homebirth meetup group and knew i wanted her for my mw even though i wasn't pg or consciously planning to be!

my UK mw's i didn't have a lot of choice, you pretty much have to go with the local community mws on call when you go into labour, but when they started messing me around about my waterbirth at 37 weeks I created such a fuss that I ended up meeting the mw training director at the local hospital - we clicked and she personally attended my birth!

so i guess if it doesn't feel right then it isn't

[cryspanimal]

I'll admit I probably didn't research it as much as I might have.

I had a friend who was a midwifery student and I asked her for a few recommendations. One person in particular, whom she had worked with as part of her training, she recommended most highly. I found out that practice was on the preferred provider list for my insurance, so that was a bonus. I went to see the MW for my annual exam before I was pregnant and talked to her a bit about TTC and my charts (of fertility signs). She seemed very warm, supportive, and knowledgable.

When I became pregnant I called and booked an appointment to see her and her partner. I actually never visited any other midwives on my list because I felt happy with the first one!

I ended up loving my prenatal care and had a great homebirth experience.

[Turkish Kate]

I could only find one English-speaking midwife in Istanbul, Turkey, a city of 12-15 million people. Needless to say, I chose her. It helps that I like her, too, and her philosophy matches mine. And she tolerated DH's gazillion questions. ;-)

Kate

[MamaRabbit]

I didn't have any to choose from. There was one TOTAL in the whole area that could do a homebirth for me, so that's who I got. Thankfully, we clicked, I liked her practicing style, and she had years of experience and good recommendations. If I hadn't liked her, we would have used a hospital or done an unassisted.