Part 3: Seeking a Caregiver for Your Birth? Critical Questions to Ask…

Labor and Birth

If you are newly pregnant you may be overwhelmed trying to make sense of your options for prenatal care and birth. You know prenatal care is important and you want to ensure you’re able to find a caregiver who is right for you. 

We hear you. We want you to be empowered with clear information and quality support throughout your pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience. That’s why we’ve created this three part blog series to help you find the right caregiver for you. 

In part one, we talk about questions to ask that help unpack a practitioner’s approach to care. Part two is all about interventions in labor. In this final blog post, we guide you through questions that will allow you to learn even more about your practitioner's approach to labor and birth. Keep reading to learn more about what questions to ask to find a caregiver who is right for you.  

Question 1: How do you feel about me having a doula attend my birth? 

This is a key question because it shows a lot about a provider’s willingness to support your autonomous decision-making in labor. While it isn’t common, I’ve known some providers to say they don’t “allow” doulas. This is a red flag. What they’re really saying is they don’t want to allow you to make decisions about who attends and supports you during labor. 

I would expect enthusiastic support about having a doula attend your birth from any medical caregiver worth your consideration. Medical organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are now formally recommending having a support person such as a doula. This is because having a doula has been shown to reduce rates of interventions including cesarean sections and increase satisfaction of the laboring person. If your medical caregiver is against you having a doula, then they are not supporting the best practices that their own professional organizations recommend.

Question 2: What comfort measures will I have access to in the birth setting? 

These could be things such as access to baths or showers, birth balls, squat bars, and so on. You can also ask what the caregiver finds most useful. This will give you insight into what types of labor coping techniques they are familiar and comfortable working with. You want to see if they have an enthusiastic response about the ways they’ve supported different patients. You can read between the lines to make sure they have stories to support their responses, or if instead, they seem put off or surprised by these questions.

Question 3: Will you support me in moving around freely during labor including choosing the positions I’m the most comfortable in to give birth?

One critical thing to know in your birth setting is whether you will be supported in moving around freely or be expected to remain in bed during labor. Although you have a right to move and do what you need to do, the question is will your birth setting support this or will it be an uphill battle? Be sure to ask not only about your provider’s approach, but also other doctors or midwives in their practice as well as common practices of other birth attendants such as nurses in the birth setting. While they may not be able to say for certain how every single person will respond, they should have a general idea of how most in their practice and birth setting approach this concern and ideally they should feel very confident that you will be supported in freedom of movement during an unmedicated labor and birth.

Question 4: Do you routinely place a baby skin to skin on my chest immediately after birth? 

There’s a large body of research showing the benefits of immediate skin to skin contact between the baby and birthing parent. These benefits include having an optimal start to the breast-feeding relationship and supporting postpartum transitions including minimizing the likelihood of excessive bleeding (postpartum hemorrhage) following birth. 

Skin to skin also supports babies by stabilizing their respiratory rate, blood sugar level, and body temperature. Any practice not routinely placing baby skin to skin immediately following birth isn’t offering evidence-based care. This is a red flag and a reason you would want to look elsewhere.

Do you need more support in finding a caregiver? Lena offers private consults for expectant parents to help you clarify and write your birth preferences (“birth plan”) or help you navigate NYC’s maternity care system, understand all of your options, and determine the birth setting and type of caregiver that is right for you. Click here to book a private virtual birth consultation with Lena DeGloma.