Getting pregnant - when do you research doctors?

[luna99]

When I went to my family doctor this friday I told her that next spring I want to start trying to get pregnant.. she asked me if I knew who I wanted to go to as far as prenatal care (because she doesn't do that)... and I told her I hadn't really started thinking about that yet...

am I behind already?

If I want to be pregnant by april/may should I be doing my research now? should I contact anyone? or do you get pregnant first and then look into it?

I'm reading some books already and think I want to try to have a natural birth in a birthing center in the hospital (a water birth) but I haven't even begun to really think about who to contact about all this. I think I want a doula as well...

what's my first step here? and when do I start taking them?

thanks everyone!!! (I hope this is the right forum for this topic btw! I figured it was... family planning and all!)

 

[Survivor:Disney]

Since you are thinking of a doula and a water birth, I would probably do some research now. I'm not an expert but OB's don't generally do water births or home births. Hospitals can even be restrictive. Our local hospital did not allow a birthing ball during labor because of liability issues. A few of my friends used a midwife and had their babies at home. One did a water birth. She really liked her midwife. The midwife did the prenatal care and ultrasound. She would come to my friend's house to do checkups. When it was time for the birth, the midwife brought another helper as well as fetal monitoring and oxygen for the baby.

You may want to check if your insurance will cover a midwife. I know my friend had a little hassle in getting her midwife covered. Also, you may have to have an OB as a backup. If there is any reason that you may be high risk, then a midwife will refer you to a hospital.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Juliet25]

I got pregnant while seeing a gyn who didnt do ob work any more. I just found an ob and saw her around 10 weeks. I lucked out and found one I liked just calling a local hospital. your best bet is to ask around and find one others moms like. good luck!

 

[TravelinMommy]

I was seeing a gyn who was also an ob before for annual checkups and I told her that we were going to try for a baby. So then once I got pregnant, I just went back to her and she was my prenatal doctor.

 

[islangrl]

Here is where I would start.
Ask people you know that have kids about their OB's and hospital experiences.

Check your local (or as far as you are willing to drive) hospitals, see which ones offer water births. There are a few around here that do, and they are the ones that have been recently updated.

Then see which doctors have privileges at the hospitals you find.

Then out of those doctors and doctor groups, see which ones have a midwife on staff. Try to get your next gyn appt at one of them, so you can check them out.
Good luck!

 

[emh1129]

I would definitely start ASAP. That's great that you've already thought about what kind of a birth you would like. I would suggest looking into midwives, especially if you're planning a natural water birth.

 

[emh1129]

You may want to check if your insurance will cover a midwife. I know my friend had a little hassle in getting her midwife covered. Also, you may have to have an OB as a backup. If there is any reason that you may be high risk, then a midwife will refer you to a hospital.

Hope this helps and good luck!

It also will depend on whether the midwife is a CNM (certified nurse-midwife) or a CPM (certified professional midwife). Generally, CNMs are covered by insurance. Most of them do hospital births, although some will also do homebirths.
CPMs generally do homebirths and it can be trickier getting insurance to cover it, although some will. Our insurance covered a CPM as an out-of-network provider.

OP: Check out mothering.com/discussions for more info on interviewing midwives, waterbirth, etc.

 

[tr-ray]

I was going to suggest some of the mom forums on the web, as well.

I visited babycenter.com alot during my pregnancy, as well as ivillage.com

Hopefully if you poke around at some websites, you can find some other mommas in your area to reccommend someone to you.

 

[luna99]

thanks so much, I will definitely check out mothering.com/discussions and babycenter.com.

I guess it's never really too early to start researching right?

thanks!

 

[delmar411]

I just wanted to add that while it's great that you have this 'perfect' delivery in mind, you need to take on a dr or midwife who will give it to you straight. Not lead you on if what you want isn't something they think is going to happen or something they feel comfortable with.

Your GYN is a good place to start asking for referrals. Or even start at peds offices and see who they recommend.

I'd also see about finding a local online mothers group and ask around there.
(although I will admit I found my first OB here in Indy through a babycenter rec! LOL)

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

I researched the doctors before I got pregnant. I didn't want till I got pregnant because I didn't want to have to go through different doctors while pregnant until I found one that I like. You are definitely not behind, you got plenty of time.

 

[Starr W.]

Once you narrow your search for doctors, see what hospitals they use. While the smaller hospital is nice, if you need a c-section or run into fetal distress I wanted to be at a hospital with all the specialist on call.

 

[mapmakerj]

I would start now. I made out this perfect plan with a CNM to do a natural and ended up with an emergency C-section. Good thing her husband was my OB/GYN! It is great to know your doctor and/or CNM ahead of time so you can really get an idea of how their ideals mesh with yours and what they would do in case of anything not going as planned. Even if you want to have a natural birth with a midwife, I highly recommend getting on board with an OB as well. I think I would have really been pannicked if I didn't already have a relationship with my OB when my birthing plan went out the window. Just a funny (well, funny now- not so funny then) bit of info- I had just given birth and when they brought my DS to the nursery, my lamaze class was stopping by the windows on their tour of the birthing unit! Yes, I gave birth five weeks early on the day I was suppose to be in my first class! Goes to show anything can happen!

 

[Disneychix]

I was also in a situation where my Gyn didn't do OB anymore. He referred me to an OB but I went back to him after delivery.

One thing to look out for is if the Dr is in a group or private practice. I know many friends who had been seeing the same Dr for 9+ months but that wasn't the Dr on call the day they delivered and ended up with practically a stranger delivering their babies.

I agree with a PP to ask around for referals. Your friends/family is a great place to start!

I know in my area untraditional births are not very common. I don't believe any of our local hospitals (even our Women's and Children's) offer birthing tubs or anything of the sort. Good luck with your research and Kudos for the proactive approach!

 

[mjkacmom]

I was also in a situation where my Gyn didn't do OB anymore. He referred me to an OB but I went back to him after delivery.

One thing to look out for is if the Dr is in a group or private practice. I know many friends who had been seeing the same Dr for 9+ months but that wasn't the Dr on call the day they delivered and ended up with practically a stranger delivering their babies.

I agree with a PP to ask around for referals. Your friends/family is a great place to start!

I know in my area untraditional births are not very common. I don't believe any of our local hospitals (even our Women's and Children's) offer birthing tubs or anything of the sort. Good luck with your research and Kudos for the proactive approach!

My gyn didn't either, and the first OB I met with didn't share the practice with anyone, so I ended up switching to a group practice. Hospital affiliation is important - I didn't switch to a peir with my twins, because my current OB delivered in a smaller hospital, where I would most likely get my own room, vs. a larger one, where I would definitely have to share.

 

[rt2dz]

I started looking into OB-GYNs as soon as I started thinking of getting pregnant. I liked my current OB-GYN practice well enough, but there wasn’t a single doctor—they changed around a lot, each spending a few days a month at each practice (and there were several throughout the area) and I wanted a more personal relationship for pre-natal care.

I didn’t really know a lot of people close to home that had children; I didn’t want to drive an hour + for pre-natal care. I looked up all the OB-GYNs associated with the hospital and researched their backgrounds. I looked up sites (mainly from the insurance company) that have reviews of doctors from patients. I picked blindly from what I learned, but I did great. Being the paranoid type, I chose someone who handles difficult situations (but not a specialist). A good friend of mine told me that if she were to have another baby she’d use my OB-GYN because every time she finds someone who *loves* their Dr., it’s always my Dr.

You may want to look for a midwife that works with OB-GYN or an OB-GYN practice that has a mid-wife in it (mine does although I don’t see the midwife at all). Don’t want to scare you, but while my first pregnancy wasn’t without its challenges, it was normal. However, DS7’s birth was very complicated and we both almost died. I wound up with an emergency c-section.

On note with group practices v. solo practices… My OB-GYN is in a group practice. I see only her except one visit during the pre-natal stage just in case my OB-GYN can’t be there. The Drs in their practice go out of their way to be there, but realize, sometimes they are on vacation or just can’t be there. My Dr. has shown up even when not “on call” because I was still her patient (my second two were both early). So, even if a group, you might want to check into how things are handled. My OB-GYN stayed by my side for the full 24 hours I was in labor before the life-threatening problems occurred (even though it was a holiday) with my first. She could see things not going well, but as long as I was refusing a c-section and it wasn’t yet life threatening (yes, she did inform me and try to convince me multiple times), she would sit by my side during labor. She was there from the very beginning.

 

[Starr W.]

My gyn didn't either, and the first OB I met with didn't share the practice with anyone, so I ended up switching to a group practice. Hospital affiliation is important - I didn't switch to a peir with my twins, because my current OB delivered in a smaller hospital, where I would most likely get my own room, vs. a larger one, where I would definitely have to share.

I had my first 12 yrs ago and delivered at my level 1 hospital and they had private rooms. They had just finished the conversion a month or so before I went in. When we did the tour of the maternity floor, they were just finishing up.


And to the OP while you can come up with a birthing plan, sometimes your body or the baby decide to do things their way with no regards for your plans.

My plan for #1 was not to be a week + overdue and be induced for 2 days before doing a c-section. Then becoming dehydrated, so I had the IV in for 2 more days after the birth. Started on Wednesday and wasn't able to get into the shower until Sat. night.

#2 decided to go breech in the last 2 weeks, Dr. said with the problems we ran into with number 1, better get him out before you go into labor. We(dr. and I) were planning on pushing him out. DH was much relieved, to just show up at admission at 7am. then do the late night dash.

 

[mom2princessj]

I moved to Illinois and had to get a dr and decided to look into ob/gyns knowing we were getting married and would eventually want to have children. I called 800-doctors and found my ob's office and LUCKILY it ended up being the best choice of drs for me.

If you know people that live by you or have friends with kids ask them for a referral. Go in for a consult regarding pregnancy. You don't want to be looking for a dr after you get pregnant.

I had two miscarriages and two high risk pregnancies. I had two female drs leave the practice that were my drs before I even got pregnant. I ended up with my now OB/GYN just by chance as he was the dr on call when I had my first m/c. He then also was there when I had my second. He was amazing. Truly the best dr I've ever had. It was HIM that got me through two very high risk pregnancies and helped me have two healthy children. He took no chances...he gave me the VERY BEST CARE anyone could have given and the office was absolutely wonderful with me knowing I was a high risk patient.
I got lucky. I ended up with him by chance. I had left that practice after my second m/c because I was hormonal and upset. I went to a different female dr and once I became pregnant the third time they didn't do nearly enough so I switched back immediately and requested my dr who all but did backflips to see I had made it through the first then the second trimester.
You never know what you may encounter and you want someone who you completely trust and who you know without a shadow of a doubt will listen to you, calm your fears, and support your through what could be an uneventful pregnancy or could be a difficult high risk situation such as mine. I had to have an emergency csection on top of all the other stuff I dealt with and I would have been a wreck if not for my ob. After my dd was delivered he came into recovery, held my hand, and told me how beautiful my dd was and how incredibly happy he was that we made it through everything together with a healthy baby. I tear up just thinking about it.

Make a list of things you are looking for in a dr and basically go in to 'interview' them. You'll know when you find the right dr! Good luck!

 

[emh1129]

You may want to look for a midwife that works with OB-GYN or an OB-GYN practice that has a mid-wife in it (mine does although I don’t see the midwife at all). Don’t want to scare you, but while my first pregnancy wasn’t without its challenges, it was normal. However, DS7’s birth was very complicated and we both almost died. I wound up with an emergency c-section.

Even if you do see an OB for your prenatal care, it's generally a toss-up as to who will actually be on call for your delivery. Most OBs share call, so it could be someone you've never met before (not always, but usually).
This was a huge reason why I went with a midwife the second time around. It's nice to know who will actually be there when you're in labor. And I was guaranteed it would be one of the two CNMs in their group.
And there is always an OB on call for the hospital, so even if you've seen a midwife and a complication arises that would warrant a c/s, there is someone there for that.

I think the most important thing a woman can do for herself and her baby is to become educated.. read as much as possible and know your options.

 

[El&Asmom]

I am on my third pregnancy. The first two I used OBs, this pregnancy I am with two midwives that work within a 4 OB/GYN practice. I feel like I am finally getting the kind of pregnancy that I want this time around. I am a medical professional, and completely understand that things can happen in pregnancy, and there can be emergencies. The nice thing about the practice I am in is that if there are problems, I will be transfered to the OBs, and one has to be at the hospital when I am admitted/delivering.
In a normal uncomplicated pregnancy,statistically you are much less likely to have complications or need a C section if you are using a midwife. The C section rate in the country in the '70s was 5%. It is now over 30%, even higher in many hospitals. Women's bodies know how to birth a child. There is a reason that the C section rate is increasing. It is more convienient for a Dr to just cut you and get it over with, and less liability than waiting for a complication to occur during a ******l delivery.

There is a good yet biased documentary that Ricki Lake made about midwives and homebirths. I plan on a midwife assisted hospital birth, but this movie has a lot of good info in it. It's called "The business of being born". I recommend it to anyone that is pregnant.

Also here is a list from mamas at thebabywearer.com about OBs and midwives recommended in various peoples areas.


http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212732

Good luck.