Interviewing your midwife; Prenatal Care questions I wish I knew.
There are things that I wish I knew and done differently for my prenatal care. One of those things was to hire a Doula to help support me through my journey and advocate for me throughout my labor. My husband was great but we were both in the unknown of what to expect. We both did a lot of research but of course since everyone's pregnancy journey is so different you can learn through those experiences. One huge factor in choosing a provider was asking the right questions. But how can one ask questions about something they don’t really know about. We don’t learn these things in school; and if many of us are first time parents you don’t always have others that you know to give you advice or support throughout your pregnancy.
After my prenatal care experience along with my birthing experience which will be my next post I had some specific questions that I wanted to ask the midwife I planned on working with for my current pregnancy. I got some awesome question ideas from a creator that I follow on Tik tok that is also a doula and midwife @thathallygirl and I added some that I came up with that were important for me to know especially after my birthing experience.
Questions to ask your midwife/medical practitioner
How many births do you attend a year?
What is the hospital transfer rate?
In what situation would you push for a transfer?
What’s your view/team view on my partner catching the baby and cutting the umbilical cord?
Once I go into labor and arrive at the center how soon do I expect your arrival?
What is the cesarean rate?
How do you approach the use of tools and interventions in the labor process? What is your philosophy on this?
What are your routine newborn procedures immediately following the birth (skin to skin, delayed cord clamping, newborn exam etc)?
What are some questions some of you have asked your practitioner when interviewing them for your pre-natal care?
Check out my Call Me Mama podcast on Spotify and video on my Call Me Mama Youtube channel to hear further details of why I chose these questions for this pregnancy.