Choosing a Care Provider
STEP 3
TAKE ACTION
If you are looking for a care provider or simply want to get to know your chosen provider a bit better,
use the following questions to help you learn more about their approach. Use one or more of these
questions to engage in an open and mutually respectful conversation, rather than “grill” your provider.
PREVIEW
General Questions Physiologic Birth
1. Please tell me about a “typical” birth that
you attend. This open-ended question will help 5. What percentage of your patients have
spontaneous childbirth with few or
no interventions? A provider with a high
you understand the provider’s perspectives,
philosophies, and standards of practice.
2. What do you do when someone is “past
due”? A provider who routinely induces labor at
39 or 40 weeks without a medical need is not a
good fit if you wish to avoid induction.
3. How many partners are in your practice
and what percentage of your patients’
births do you attend? If there are many
providers and you will get the person on call,
you may end up with a provider with a different
philosophy or standards of practice.
Induction and Cesarean
4. What is your rate and most common
reason for labor induction? What is your
rate and most common reason for cesarean
section? This doesn’t necessarily tell you the
whole story, but these numbers help you better
understand your risk.
percentage most likely has a philosophy of being
patient and supporting non-medical approaches
to handling labor variations.
6. What is the most common choice for
pain relief among your patients? What
options are available for coping without
medication? If you want to birth with few or
no interventions, including pain medication,
be cautious about hiring a care provider who
encourages pain medication. The opposite is
true if you plan to have an epidural and your
provider discourages them. While the choice is
always yours, your care provider’s attitude and
support can influence you during labor.
Routines at Birth
7. How quickly do you clamp and cut the
umbilical cord? If everyone is healthy, will
I be given immediate and uninterrupted
skin-to-skin contact with my baby? This is
widely recognized as beneficial to both mother
and baby and should be standard practice. It
is concerning if a provider insists on routine
immediate separation.
Be aware of the difference between a
provider who is simply agreeable and nice
as opposed to a provider who is genuinely
supportive in practice. A provider may
say they do interventions only “when
necessary,” but find the interventions
“necessary” in most or all of their patients.
Asking specific questions will help you learn more
about their philosophy and give you insight into
the support you will receive in labor.
Step 3: Take Action
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