Our Care Model
At MOM&A we have a primary call model, this means you will have 1 main (primary) midwife that you see for most of your appointments. Midwives work as on-call primary health care providers, which means you can page with urgent concerns or labour 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We enjoy primary care as we have many appointments together and really get to know our clients.
Your midwife is on-call most of the time, so it will most likely be your primary midwife with you at the time of your birth. You will also have a few appointments with an alternate midwife that covers your primary midwife when they are off-call. This helps to ensure you still have a familiar midwife during your birth. There is consistent care across your midwifery team (and the entire practice) because of shared guidelines that reflect evidence-based research.
In Primary care we complete clinic on-call which may need to be rescheduled due to labour and birth. This may lead to last-minute rescheduling of your appointment. We can appreciate how this may be an inconvenience, but we will try and give as much notice as we can. We certainly would do the same for you when your little one decides to make their arrival.
Prenatal Care
You will see your midwives on the same schedule that you’d see a family doctor or an obstetrician: every month until you’re 28 weeks pregnant, every 2 weeks until you’re 36 weeks pregnant and then every single week until the baby is born.
Your midwives can offer all of the routine ultrasounds and bloodwork available to you during your pregnancy. If anything comes up that is outside the scope of practice of a midwife, your midwife will discuss this with you. With your consent, your midwife will refer you to the appropriate specialist which can include your family doctor, obstetrician, pediatrician, etc.
Your first appointment will be about an hour long where your midwives will get to know you and take your medical history. The following appointments will be up to 30 minutes in length to allow for lots of time to ask questions and discuss information to help you make decisions regarding your care.
Your midwives are available to you 24/7 through our emergency paging service for any urgent concerns you may have. For non-urgent concerns, you can call the office and our administrator will have one of your midwives get back to you in a timely manner.
Labour and Birth
You will have many opportunities to discuss your birth plans with your midwives, as well as what to expect when you go into labour.
When you call your midwife in labour, they will offer you a home/clinic or hospital assessment depending on your clinical situation.
Once you are in active labour, your midwife will care for you until the birth of your baby. A second midwife, or on occasion, a second attendant who is a nurse, will be called prior to the birth of your baby in order to have one primary care provider for both you and your baby.
Your midwives will support you in the birthing process and will involve other care providers as necessary if/when that is required.
Postpartum Care
Your midwives will make a postpartum plan with you that involves home visits within the first couple of weeks after your baby is born. This allows time for you to rest and recover with your little one without having to travel or disrupt bonding and healing at home.
We continue to provide postpartum care in our clinic for the 2 week, 4 week and 6 week visit after which time you will be discharged from Midwifery Care.
We advise that our clients see their primary care provider at the 8 week mark for on-going well baby visits.
