What to expect from midwifery care at Westside Midwives
In British Columbia, Midwives are primary care providers specializing in normal pregnancy, birth, and the first 6 weeks postpartum. While your GP will continue to provide care for any non-pregnancy concerns, the midwives take care of everything pregnancy related; this includes all ultrasounds, bloodwork, and specialist consults if needed. Midwives often consult with obstetricians for a variety of reasons, however MSP only covers one primary care provider in pregnancy, so you do need to chose between care options.
Midwives generally work in small teams. At Westside, we have 2 teams: the Green team has 6 midwives and the Blue team has 5; you will be placed with one of the teams. Throughout your pregnancy, you will have appointments with each midwife on your team, usually 2 times each, so that you have the opportunity to meet everyone. When it is time for you to have your baby, whichever of the midwives is on call, is who will attend your birth with you.
This is different from Doctor/OB care, in that generally with a doctor, you will just see one provider during your pregnancy. However, they work in very large call teams- upwards of 15 different doctors, so when it is time for you to have your baby it is often not your doctor that attends your birth. So with midwives, you meet more people during your pregnancy, but you will already know the person who ends up attending your birth!
Furthermore, appointments with midwives are much longer; they are 30-45 minutes each time vs. a 10-15 minute appointment with a doctor. So there is lots of opportunity for questions and building rapport with each midwife; by the time you have had 2 appointments with a midwife, you will likely have already spent more time with them than you would a doctor though your whole pregnancy!
After the baby has arrived, the midwives will see you at home for the first couple of weeks. So all of those early appointments are done at home instead of having to come into the clinic.
If this is what you are looking for, please fill out our request for care form below. Please note that we primarily serve individuals living in the westside of Vancouver. Our intake coordinator will be in touch within 5-7 business days to let you know if we have space available, and to discuss coming into care with one of our teams.