Options for Who You Should Deliver Your Baby

Hooray, you've just found out your x many months pregnant. The baby is on its way and now you have a few decisions you have to make.

One of the first decisions that will come during your pregnancy is who's going to be the one doing the poking and prodding during your pregnancy.

Although many women don't consider it, this is a crucial decision when it comes to the birth of your child. Not only will you be spending quite a bite of time with the person responsible for delivering your child, so will your partner who will be with you throughout the whole process.

It goes without saying then that you have to put some serious thought into who you select. You want you and your partner to be absolutely comfortable (your more so) about your choice.

Here are a few options for you in your search for the person who will have the responsibility for delivering your child.

Private Obstetrician

If you are over the age of twenty you probably already have an Obstetrician that you go to. You should already have been seeing a gynecologist for a number of years now. Since most gynes handle obstetrician duties also, most women decide to have their regular OB/GYN handle their pregnancy and child birth too.

More so than any other method, dealing with your OB/GYN will be the most expensive path. Hopefully you have decent insurance that will cover the majority of your bill. But the payoff is the fact that you already have a relationship with this person and they will give you the utmost attention.

One important thing to note. Make sure you meet the other doctors who are in the same practice as your OB/GYN. This will allow you to have a comfort zone in case the birth occurs when your doctor is not on call or not available. You don't want to head into having your baby with a doctor you don't know, or more importantly, doesn't know your wishes.

Midwife

Although you may have an OB/GYN, you may decide to have a midwife handle your baby delivery. With delivering babies as their specialty, midwives training will most likely have more experience in child birthing than a regular OB.

Midwives are not that common in the US as in Europe, but their popularity is rising. Regular OB/GYNs are now making sure they have a midwife on staff to handle the birthing duties of their patients. This allows you to still be covered by you're insurance while still benefiting from the expertise of a midwife.

Family Doctor

Depending on your family doctor's experience they may have delivered a baby or two in their day. But this is not his or her main practice, and they may not know the safety and support procedures of the hospital in question.

Also, some hospitals will not let individuals who are not a member deliver babies unless special arrangements are made. If you decide to go this route, then make sure you or your family practitioner looks into this. If you do go down this path, have an OB on call just in case of emergency.

These are three options to look at when deciding who to choose to deliver your baby.