I thought some of you might find my list of questions to ask midwives when you are deciding on which one will be your care provider useful. It has some questions I didn't find on any other list I came across. Here it goes, hope it's of some use to someone:
How many births have you attended?
How many internal checks do you normally perform?
Do you have a problem using a fetalscope instead of Doppler most of the time?
If you are sick or otherwise unavailable during my labor, who will attend to me?
How many assistants do you normally bring to the birth?
Who are your normal assistants?
What is your hospital transfer rate (or, how many times have you had to go if it's low)?
Does your rate include transfers that occur during labor, or all transfers, including conditions that develop before labor? If it includes all of them, do you know a breakdown of before labor/during labor transfers (just trying to get a feel for how many moms transfer during labor)?
What is your typical transfer, one that requires intervention, or one where the mom desires it?
What is your c-section rate?
What hospitals have you transferred to? (The closest to us is South Austin Hospital)
What is your favorite hospital to transfer to?
Do you stay with me after the transfer and offer support for my decisions the best you can?
If I develop a condition that makes me high risk, do you have a doctor you normally use to transfer my care to? Do you also try to use this doctor for transfers during labor?
What is your cut-off for considering a baby to be premature and requiring a hospital birth?
What happens if I go past 42 weeks?
What conditions make me high risk (GD, etc)? Do you have herbal protocols to try to follow for these conditions before labeling a client as high risk (GD, preeclampsia, etc)? At what point would placenta previa make me high risk?
What are your normal guidelines for weight gain, or do you just stress good nutrition?
Do you deliver breech babies?
What do you try to turn a breech baby?
How long are you willing to wait for a baby in a bad position to change positions before labelling the pregnancy high risk?
What percentage of your clients tear?
What is your protocol to prevent tearing? Would you mind incorporating some of the stuff from my last midwife if I get exact details?
How many 3rd or 4th degree tears have you had? Up to what degree do you suture? How many episiotomies have you performed?
How long are you willing to let a client push, or do you base it solely on the baby's stress level?
Are you willing to use alternative protocols for Strep B such as grapefruit seed extract?
Do you have a protocol to help prevent me from being positive for Strep B?
Do you have a problem waiting for a while after the placenta is delivered to cut the cord?
What protocol do you use to stop excessive bleeding after delivery?
Have you had experience breaking the clavicle if it ever becomes necessary during a dystocia incident?
Have you had experience with cord prolapse?
Do you have any special things you do after a birth such as an herbal bath?
During labor, how active are you in checking the client, etc? During the last labor, for most of the time, my husband and I preferred to labor alone in a separate room for the most part (until pushing), I suspect it might work out the same this time, is that okay?
If my water breaks early again, and the baby's head is not high, then I don't desire anything but gentle herbal labor stimulation (NO castor oil). Am I an automatic hospital transfer after 24 hours, or can I sign something that allows me to go longer?
What equipment do you normally bring to the birth (birthing stool? blow-up pool? oxygen? ambu-bag? pitocin shot?)
Under what conditions would you artificially rupture the amniotic sac?
Do you do the required newborn screening bloodtests, or will I need to see a doctor for this?
What is your fee?
What happens with your fee if I have to transfer out of your care?
Do you file with insurance? Have you had any experience filing with Aetna PPO?
Do you require that I take a childbirth education class?
Have you had any bad outcomes for the baby or the mother? Please explain them.