What are the tough questions?

I always tell people that if they're trying to get their husband to support them in a non-hospital birth, or they are trying to decide if one is right for them, their best best is to schedule a meeting with a midwife, and ask her the tough questions. Well, it logically follows that people want to know what the tough questions are. Understood. This is my version of the tough questions:

Past history related (aka, Anna's make or break questions):

What's your opinion of long pregnancies? Would you ever refuse to attend a birth for someone because she stayed pregnant past 42 weeks?

Do you require that your clients be tested for Group B Strep? If you do, do you support alternative methods of prevention and treatment and support clients going without antibiotics?

What is your opinion of the condition mainstream practitioners call "macrosomia"? (Macrosomia means large body, and refers to any baby born over 9 pounds. The answer I am looking for to this question is, "Macrosomia is a BS diagnosis. A big healthy baby is not a risk factor.")

How do you manage labor for your clients? (The correct answer is, "It depends what the client wants out of it.")

As you are aware, shoulder distocia is more common among large babies than small ones. How do you manage shoulder distocia? (The correct answer is either or both, "The Gaskin Maneuver" or "The MacRoberts Maneuver", and an explanation of why.)


General questions:

How many births have you attended?

Under what circumstances do you find induction to be medically indicated?

What percentage of your clients do you transfer to hospital?

Of those, how many are NOT first time moms?

How many of your clients end up with c-sections?

What is the procedure for transfer to the hospital should it become necessary?

Will you stay with me if I have to transfer?

What complications can you manage in-home?

What medical equipment do you bring to births?

What medications, by state law, are you allowed/required to bring?

What if two of your clients go into labor at the same time? Can I meet your back-up?

Do you provide breastfeeding support?

How long will you stay with me after I give birth?




This is obviously not an exhaustive list of all the questions a person should ask if they are interviewing midwives to assist them with their upcoming birth. Everybody should tailor this list to fit their own needs and priorities, but this gives you the basic idea. The goal of the interview is to ascertain that this woman knows what she's doing, has seen your kind of client before, and has a good plan for handling whatever may arise. If you can feel confident in those things, and also get some good answers to your own personal make or break questions, then you may have found the right practitioner for you. The thing that will really let you know, though, is that it will feel right when you talk with her. You will feel comfortable, and know innately that she is trustworthy. The questions themselves, are what really is good for the dads, though. They get real answers, and can sort of picture how things go. I find that homebirth and birth center birth are rampantly misunderstood, so just in gaining an understanding of how things go during one of these births, goes a long way toward quelling any fears, since most of what people find scary about non-hospital birth, is the unknown.