Finding a Midwife

In New Zealand the vast majority of women choose a midwife as a Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) to provide care and information during their pregnancy and birth. The first health care professional you see should give you information about your options for choosing a Lead Maternity Carer - this could be a midwife, GP, obstetrician or hospital based team.

The second important decision to be made is where you plan to birth your baby. The options may vary depending where you live but generally the choice is to birth at home, in a birthing centre or in a hospital. If you are not sure then it is wise to choose someone who is happy working in all of those settings so that you can take time to evaluate the diffent options.

It is advisable to think about antenatal classes next as, in Palmerston North, they book up quickly. Community Birth Services offers three evenings to choose from most weeks and weekend courses every six weeks. See the Classes page on this website for more information, for course dates and to make a booking.

Midwives are qualified to provide all care in a normal birth. If necessary a midwife will refer you to the appropriate specialist. Midwives also refer women for scans or blood tests and can prescribe any medication needed that relates to the pregnancy.

In choosing a Lead Maternity Carer you could ask them about:

• * their beliefs about pregnancy and birth to see if they are similar to your ow
• what services they offer such as home birth or waterbirth
  
• what equipment they carry, for instance if you are considering home birth, do they carry the necessary safety equipment and do they have a second practitioner present at the birth
• the number of births they book per month (NZ College of Midwives recommends a caseload of 4-6 per month [link] )
• how often they visit during pregnancy, birth and afterwards and how long after the birth they will continue to look after you.