This is my first time homebirthing, so I didn't have an established midwife already. I was pretty sure who I wanted to use, but still wanted to "interview" her to make sure we were a good fit. So I went ahead and called her when I was around 6 weeks, so we could meet for that. She actually encouraged me to meet with her soon, and I think that was in part so I could have a support person in place in case I miscarried. Even before we met, she said I could call her anytime, day or night. We met early this past week (I'm 8 weeks now), and I absolutely loved her and hired her on the spot. She said she usually does her first prenatal around 10-12 weeks, but she was pretty loosey-goosey about it, and said we could wait longer if I wanted. (We scheduled it for when I'm 10.5 weeks, simply because that was the date that worked best for both of our schedules.)
FWIW, we aren't doing any tests, ultrasounds, and won't be using a doppler either. I think she said the fetoscope doesn't usually start picking up heart tones until at least 18 weeks. So there won't be too much to do in the early weeks, although she did say she could palpate my uterus in the 12 week timeframe and determine if it seemed to be the proper size.
She also said she does monthly visits until, hmmm, 8 months I think? And then every other week, and then every week in the last few weeks. But there is a lot of flexibility there.
If you go to the Finding Your Tribe section on MDC for your area, I'm sure you could do a search and find threads asking for recommendations on midwives; that might be a good place for you to start. There should also be some online directories listing CPMs, etc. But I don't think it would hurt to start soon, if you don't already have someone in mind. It might take a little while to find someone you "click" with, and like Angela said, some people fill up fast.
Good luck
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