Hi, I JUST found out I am pregnant! I am probably about 4 weeks. I should probably go see someone ASAP, as this is my first pregnancy. I had been seeing a Gyn, when i was on the pill (stopped that around april), but it was a large practice, and sort of factory-ish, but it worked for what i needed. I always said i would find a new Dr when i got preggo. So I was looking at my insurance website, and there are some midwives listed. Can someone explain to me the difference between a midwife and an Ob/gyn? In your opinions, what are the advantages and disadvantages? Thanks in advance! peace.....
Midwives are the pinnacle of amazing care, IMO. They offer true hour-long appointments. They take the time to address every concern and fear you and your partner have, they have a real passion for pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, and it rubs off. They are willing to look at natural alternatives to things that OBs would just write a prescription for. And most of all, even if it's 2am or Christmas day, if you're in labor or need your midwife, she's there. She's not going to pressure you to give birth in 12 hours (like it's your choice, yeah right!), or to not scream, or to lay down so it's an easier position for her. She follows your lead and helps you when you need it, but leaves you alone when you're in the zone and in control. A midwife is an amazing person. I'd go that route.
Yup, what HippyFreek said. I've been both routes. First kid, totally medicalized birth with an ob/gyn. It felt detached and wasn't a very warm experience. Second, with my family practicioner, I wanted a natural birth but despite my objections the first thing they did was hook me up to an IV when I went into the hospital. The baby was face up (which hurt like hell and I thought something was wrong) so I ended up with an epidural that I didn't want. This was also the pregnancy that left me with a severe protein deficiency, like so bad I couldn't stand up long enough to take a shower. The doc gave me a script for Tagamet! I'm a vegetarian, he knew this, but had no idea I was protein deficient. I trusted him to know what to do too much. With the third I couldn't hack the med establishment anymore. I found a lay midwife who was the best thing that ever happened to me! She immediately knew that I'd been protein deficient, explained how to handle a posterior (face up) birth in case it happened again and we treated all the preg related issues (morning sickness, hemorrhoids, all that fun stuff) naturally. I had an amazing homebirth with her and her apprentice. It was a really beautiful and wonderful experience. Sorry for the long post, but I'm a firm advocate of supporting the local midwife. Best of luck to you! ETA, I forgot to mention that there is a difference between lay midwives and certified nurse midwives. CNM's have to follow different rules, like, at least where I live, I think it might vary by state, they can't even attempt to deliver a breech baby. Which will usually mean an automatic c-section. Lay midwives have a little more freedom in that regard. Like if you did want to deliver a breech baby at home, you could. You just have to stand up to do it. The only problem that I encountered was finding a backup doc. Nobody would do it for liability reasons. Not too huge of a deal though. If something had gone wrong and I would have had to transport to a hospital I would just have gone to the ER. HTH.
