After 3 at home births and 3 different midwifery experiences. These below are just my experience and what I wish I knew previously to hiring a midwife. These are filled with all of my insights and moving forward what I do differently.

My experiences have taught me many things

Don’t be like me and learn this the hard way! At first, to tell you the truth, everything was foreign to me. Previous to my pregnancies, I didn’t have any personal experience with being a patient. Because of it, I had many assumptions and trust in the medical professionals. Being naive to things was my downfall.

My BIGGEST reason for going the homebirth route, was because I wanted to be heard and seen by a provider. Most importantly, it was primordial to have an established patient/provider relation. For sure, I knew that I didn’t want to feel like a stranger or be surprised by the changes in staff.

These are just things I wish I knew prior to my experiences. Thus far, I have had good and bad ones, and from each I have learned. Hopefully my insights will help you in your future endeavors into midwifery or at least let you know that you are not alone if you have faced any of these. Finally, trust your Instincts! But most importantly don’t settle!

These are My Must know tips for when hiring a midwife

  1. Make sure you are feeling heard and seen by the midwifery team
    • I have to admit my first midwife delivered all of my expectations! she was amazing. Even with all of my concerns she delivered exceptional care.
    • Lynne provided me all of the academic research and invited me to see her in action within different environments. This was an icing on the cake- because I got to see her live in action. Fulfilling my ‘WELCOMING/WARMTH’ that I was seeking for. Including because our sessions were very well structured and with amplitude of time, no rushing whatsoever.
      • Even so she got to know me on a personal level and created a care plan fit to my personally traits. Including she was very welcoming to the rest of my clan. During my precious labor, not only did she provide the care that I needed without any spoken words, but she also knew when to come in with her hands on actions.
      • Thanks to her actions I was able to handle the pain associated with an unmedicated labor, she used essential oils and many other things that from experienced she knew would comfort me. Additionally, the Doula worked her magic. Lynne rapid hands-on actions came in handy when it was time for the PUSH.
  2. Do your research on each of your top midwives, including meeting with several, to make sure you find the right fit.
    • Make sure to pay attention to the team that’s taking care of you and ensure that you feel a connection with each one of them. By all means listen to your ‘inner self’ and ensure that you feel it in your gut that ‘it is the place, or this is a team that truly cares about you’. This is essential into creating the team a balanced professional team that will advocate for you and your baby needs.
    • Know that if you need to rearrange the team at any time, you’re able to. Take in mind that is never ‘too late’ for say to change anything you’re not comfortable with prior to your labor. For example, if you noticed the midwife, you hired is not what you envisioned her to be. Or the team is not as synchronized as you wished, then start your search again and go for what your ‘instincts are telling you’.
    • I’m continuously using the word ‘instincts’ because in my experience it has never failed me. Even when I didn’t listen to it, it was always right. These are things I wished I did differently on my journey. But now moving forward I will not settle and go with the flow of my instincts!
  3. Be your own biggest advocate
    • speak up and be persistent. be persistent with your doctor and proactive with your health. there are a lot of things in pregnancy that can’t be explain. a lot of aches and pains and things that happen.
    • Don’t brush anything off during this precious moment, I know personally you feel guilty to speak up and ‘complain’ but your health and wellbeing is highest priority! Take your breaks and synch in with your body, LISTEN to it.
  4. Get to know her network!
    • This is very important; you want to know whom her coverage would be her absence. I personally had both good and bad experiences with students. Going forward, I will not accept any students to be part of my labor or be the coverage for the main midwife.
    • Also, you would like to meet any of her ‘staff’ or if she has a secondary midwife- I suggested having at least one meeting with the second midwife and get to know her. This should have been a red flag for me. For my last birth, my midwife never had me meet her secondary midwife. Because of our first meeting was unorganized (another red flag of my midwife and her ways of practice).
      • Ultimately, the second midwife ended up being my sole attending provider. In my case, it worked out perfectly- She did an amazing job and handled the after birth like a true experienced loving midwife! (She missed the actual delivery of my daughter, thanks to my incompetent official midwife). At the end, I was glad that the original midwife never showed up. Unfortunately, she just took our money and never provided the care that she was hired for.
    • Know the hospital to which she ‘trust’. You want to get acquainted with the hospital of her network, in case of any emergencies. Don’t leave this until the end, in pregnancy many things are unpredictable.
Trust your gut, when hiring a midwife.