Northern Midwifery Care - SERVICES PROVIDED

What care and services can I

expect from Northern Midwifery Care?

It is our goal to provide expectant and new moms with excellent prenatal, labour & delivery, newborn and post partum care in a gentle, safe environment. At Northern Midwifery Care, you have the benefit of consistent and reliable prenatal, childbirth and postpartum care. Family centred care brings together women, their partners and their support networks to create opportunities for families to share in the childbirth experience. Antenatal care is offered in in a clinic setting, labour care can occur either at home or in hospital, and depending on where you live in Prince George most of your postnatal visits will occur in your home for the first few weeks and then you will return to the clinic for care.

Consultations with specialists are scheduled when clinically indicated and/or desired. Midwifery care includes a focus on education of the options in childbirth. The couple are in control partners with their Midwife and Doula in making responsible decisions for healthy, satisfying outcomes. Education is ongoing thought the childbirth continuum.

Northern Midwifery Care offers you:

Gentle, nurturing care that respects you, your family and your beliefs.
Respect for your informed decisions about medical tests, recommendations and interventions.
Willingness to support your birth plan, including any family members and friends you may want present at the birth.
Freedom to move, eat, bathe - to do what helps you during labour and birth; your midwife doesn't "prohibit" or "allow", but patiently supports and guides you as needed.
Respect for the birth process as it unfolds uniquely each time. Although amazing, being pregnant and giving birth are actually normal life processes for which a woman's body is well-designed. Each woman's experience is unique.

Personal Attention

Prenatal visits that allow plenty of time for questions and answers - 45 to 60 minutes for each prenatal appointment is common. You are seen once every four weeks until the 28th - 30th week, every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, then weekly 30 minutes visits follow until the birth.
Meaningful discussions to explore and help resolve fears and concerns you or your family may have.
Caring attention to develop a trusting and nurturing relationship with you and your family that can help you to labour and give birth naturally and safely.

Plenty of Information

Plenty of information about pregnancy, birth and the newborn, and about breastfeeding and newborn care.
Suggestions about ways you can take good care of yourself and your baby.
Encouragement and practical suggestions for you to have good nutrition and make healthy lifestyle choices.
Full information and education on recommended testings, procedures or treatments available through all stages of care, to allow informed choices about your care.

Appropriate Monitoring

Regular and thorough check-ups for you and your baby throughout your pregnancy, during labour, and after the birth, to make sure both of you are healthy and doing well. Routine prenatal blood and urine testing, ultrasound, genetic counselling, PAP and microbiology (swabs) for pelvic exams and other testing as outlined by the regulations governing midwifery practise www.cmbc.bc.ca
Planning with you for the unexpected and for the rare emergency.
Referrals to other health care specialists or to a different birth setting if needed.
Expertise in normal, natural childbirth. Because midwives are experts in normal pregnancy and birth, midwives are experienced in the variations of normal birth and recognize the early signs of conditions that are not "normal", including as medical conditions or complications that may occasionally arise during pregnancy or the birth process.

Confidence in Your Body

Help with discovering your own body's ability to give birth, in its own way and in its own time.
No routine treatments or arbitrary timetables that can interfere with your body's healthy process of labouring and giving birth.
Truly individualized care, privacy and natural childbirth.
Support for doing the work of giving birth. Rather than someone else "delivering" the baby, you are empowered to give birth to your own baby yourself

Continuous Support & Monitoring throughout active labour & Birth

Attentive, sensitive care and emotional support in tune with your needs, throughout labour.
Continuous labour support through active labour, the birth and the first hours after the birth.
At home labour assessment and support.
Choice of birthplace including home, or Prince George Regional Hospital.
Assess wellbeing of woman and baby during labour.
Use interventions only when necessary and provide appropriate assistance.
Assist the woman with the birth.
Repair perineal lacerations if needed.
Manage obstetrical emergencies in both home and hospital & arrange transport (if at home), consultations or transfers of care to specialists in obstetrics and pediatrics when indicated. These referrals are available to midwifery clients at all times and we have an excellent relationship with the specialists in our community.
Early discharge from hospital (3 hours) when desired.
Midwives attend c-sections as further support when needed births when needed.
Post-partum care and help with breastfeeding. After your baby is born, the midwife will stay with you until breastfeeding is established and both you and your baby are resting comfortably.

Natural Techniques for Comfort

Help you cope with the discomfort of labour. Midwives & Doula's have found that encouragement, massage, relaxation, labouring in water, changing positions and other approaches are often very effective.
Encourage the progress of labour and help you give birth to your baby gently and lovingly.
While we offer natural comfort techniques, you still have access to pain medication for labour if required. Midwives can arrange for inhalation gas (nitrous oxide) narcotic or epidural analgesia for pain management when indicated.

Post-partum Care for Six Weeks

If you are in hospital, a daily postnatal visit prior to your discharge one home visit within 24 hours of your discharge from hospital
A detailed clinical examination of your baby within the first 24 hours
A total of 5 – 10 midwifery postpartum visits, with the first few weeks being home visits once you are out and about you will return to clinic. More visits are offered if clinically needed
Assistance with and advice about breastfeeding and nutrition for mother and baby
Assessment for risk of postnatal depression and/or family violence with appropriate advice and referral
Advice about Birth Control
Pap testing
Parenting advice and education
Care is transferred back to your family doctor at six weeks
A final detailed clinical examination of the baby prior to transfer to your family doctor