| Choosing the Right Healthcare Provider for You |
Giving birth and becoming a mother is an intense, intimate and important moment is a woman's life. The following tips (by the American College of Nurse Midwives) for prenatal care will help you in establishing a positive working relationship with your provider, and ensure that you and your baby get the attention you both deserve. During a woman’s prenatal period, she is seeking not just physical care, but emotional, social, spiritual and psychological care and support. If your health care provider is not providing theses essentials for you, then you will be dissatisfied with your overall care. How the office schedules your visit is important. You want an office that is "on time." Emergencies do occur and can interrupt the flow of the scheduled appointments, but if the provider is chronically late it does suggest a lack of respect for your time. Similarly, if each visit is so closely scheduled to the next so there is not built-in "chat" time, you probably will end up dissatisfied. Ask friends and family for recommendations and review the list of providers covered by your health insurance. Check to see which hospitals and birth centers providers use for birth. Then schedule appointments to interview potential providers. Ask questions about the provider's philosophy of birth and how that philosophy is reflected in the management of a woman's prenatal care, labor and birth. For example, if you talk about a birth plan or about having a natural birth and the provider looks at you like you are "way out there," or their body language indicates they are uncomfortable with that question, this is not the provider for you. Become well-informed and ask questions. Educate yourself on pregnancy, labor and birth. You'll become more comfortable with the changes your body is experiencing and you can ask educated questions. Understand the changes your body is experiencing. Ask your provider for recommendations on books to read and childbirth education classes that are available. Keeping track of your questions, progress, and feelings will ensure that you don't forget important information that you want to share with your provider. Becoming educated doesn't mean you can't ask any and all questions you may have. REMEMBER: there is no such thing as a silly question. Share responsibility for your care. Being informed alllows you to be involved in the decision-making process. Pregnancy and birth are normal physiologic events for most healthy women. Taking responsibility for your own healthcare helps to ensure you will have a safer and more satisfying experience as you journey into motherhood. You may choose to allow your healthcare provider to make decisions for you, but relinquishing that responsbility should be a conscious choice on your part. Some women are uncomfortable with being involved in the decision-making process, or there may be times when it is critical that the provider be the one to make a decision in the best interests of the health of the woman and her baby. It is important to let your provider know if you don't want to be involved in this process. However, even if you prefer that your doctor or midwife makes decisions for your care, you must be informed and understand all risks, benefits, and alternatives available to you. Remember, it is your body and your baby. |
| What is My REAL Due Date? |
The concept of when your due date is, is based on a gestational length established back in the early 1800’s by Franz Carl Naegele. He officially declared that pregnancy lasted 10 lunar months (10 x 28 days), counting from the first day of the last menstrual period) He assumed that the average woman had cycles that lasted 28 days and that she ovulated on Day 14 of her cycle. He used his data to come up with a mathematical calculation for due dates: |
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