The 3rd Provider Option Many Don’t Know About!

Picture by Sara McConnell
www.saramcconnell.ca/

You have options!
As one of the leaders of the Ottawa chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) I have had the honour of hearing a fair number of birth stories and have shared my own experiences at many meetings.
I have had three very different birth experiences: a cesarean after induction where I was followed by a delivering family doctor during my pregnancy and delivery up until a cesarean was necessary; a hospital VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) where again, my prenatal care was followed by a delivering family doctor and I had two wonderful doula’s present; and a home birth after cesarean supported by midwives again, with a doula present.
Something that I hear often is “I did not know you could have a family doctor attend your birth”. Honestly, I had no idea that this was an option either until I went to my family doctor when I was pregnant with my oldest. She told my I had three option for care; Midwives where I had the option of a hospital or home birth (the birth centre was not an option at that time), a delivering family doctor or an obstetrician, both deliver in hospital only.
My husband and I made the decision to go with a delivering family doctor for a few reasons including; we knew that we wanted to have a hospital birth, we wanted a familiar face at our delivery (both of these are also true of Midwifery care) and his office was down the hall from my family doctor and a few floors away from the ultrasound clinic, yay for convenience!
The care we received was amazing, when our second was born my husband called the hospital to let them know we were on our way and the nurse mentioned that our doctor was just about to head out for the night. Well, he stuck around and was present at our second sons’ birth. He didn’t have to stick around long, but that is a story for another time!

Written by Jennifer Whitman on January 28th, 2019