QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR POTENTIAL CARE PROVIDER

• FACILITY AFFILIATION

  • Do you have privileges in any birth centers or hospitals?
  • Which ones?

• CREDENTIALS

  • Are you licensed or certified by the state?
  • What is your training and experience?
  • How many births have you attended?
  • How many births have you been the primary care provider?
  • How long have you been in practice?
  • Are you affiliated with any childbirth organizations?
  • What other complementary studies of health care have you been trained in?
  • Can you give me referrals of past and current clients?
  • What emergency skills and experience to you have?

• AVAILABILITY

  • If I have any emergency, how will I contact the on call midwife?
  • Do I have to make an appointment if I have health concerns or can some issues be handled by phone contact?
  • How does the on call system work?
  • What if you are at a birth when I go into labor?
  • Should I request a longer visit at any point in my care how do you facilitate that?
  • What is the longest visit I can request?

• FEES

  • What are your fees?
  • What does your fee include?
  • What fees are not included that might be incurred?
  • Do you have a refund policy?
  • What happens if my care must be transferred?
  • Is the fee more if I need more appointments than usual?

• PRENATAL CARE

  • What will the appointments consist of?
  • How are blood tests and ultrasounds obtained?
  • How much time will you spend with me at each appointment?
  • Who else is involved and providing care for me during my appointments?
  • Where will my appointments take place?
  • If you do not know the answer to a question I have do you help me find the answer?
  • What tests are standard, required, and optional?
  • Is there a limit to who can be with me at my visits and are children welcome?
  • What is your advice on…exercise, drinking, smoking, intercourse, and douching during pregnancy and post partum?
  • How does your practice address nutrition in pregnancy and post partum?
  • Do you help me breastfeed? At what point do I need to hire a lactation consultant?
  • What circumstance will make me high risk and how will my care change?
  • When am I considered overdue and what happens in this instance?
  • What circumstances warrant an emergency or emergency transport?
  • What is your policy on breastfeeding in pregnancy and tandem feeding in pregnancy?

• LABOR

  • How do you handle a client when her water breaks before labor starts?
  • What comfort measures do you use to help your clients in labor?
  • How do you monitor the well-being of me and the baby in labor?
  • How many support people can I have at my birth? Do you welcome Doulas?
  • How does a water birth change my labor care?
  • How long do you give a woman to push out her baby?
  • Can my partner assist in catching our baby?
  • How will you handle my asking to go to the hospital in labor should I choose to do so?
  • What emergency equipment will be available at the birth?
  • What is your transport rate?
  • What is your c-section rate?
  • Who can support me in the event of a c-section?
  • What is your policy on glucose and bottle-feeding postpartum?
  • What are your policies regarding c-sections? Why are they done?
  • What is your policy on Mechonium? ( baby's first bowl movement )
  • What is your success and experience with clients attempting a vaginal birth after c-section?
  • Do you do breech and twin births?
  • Do you support natural alternatives to induce and augment labor?
  • After the birth will I be separated from my baby?
  • Who cuts the cord, announces the sex, and does the newborn blood screening and first newborn physical exam?
  • Do you support delayed cord cutting?
  • How will you handle my declining non-required tests?
  • What if I have a vaginal tear how will it be repaired?
  • Do you collect cord blood for banking?
  • What is your policy on IV's versus Hep locks?
  • Can I have freedom to labor in any position on the toilet, in the shower or bath?
  • Can I eat and drink in labor?
  • Can I birth in any position I choose?
  • Can I birth in the tub, shower, or on the toilet? Can I bring my own birthing tub?
  • If I birth in water can I birth my placenta in the water as well?
  • Can I squat to aid the birth of my placenta?
  • How long does my baby stay with me before you do the new born exam?
  • Can my baby's new born exam take place close by or in my room?
  • What is your policy on separation after birth and rooming in? Can my primary support stay with me?
  • What is your policy on breastfeeding in labor?

• POST PARTUM

  • How many appointments will I and my baby have in the weeks following my birth?
  • Where and when do these visits happen?
  • Do you do circumcisions?
  • Do you do gynecology exams, birth control, and other common GYN care for women who are not pregnant?
  • How long do you stay postpartum? How long will my postpartum be?
  • How do I get a birth certificate and social security number for my baby?
  • How do we get paternity taken care of?
  • Do you support no bottles or glucose postpartum?
  • What is your policy on eye ointment, vitamin K, Hep B, and delayed Newborn screens?