Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey

Annie over at PhD in Parenting wrote a post last week about the Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey with some follow up questions. I’ve been reading others’ answers with interest and thought that I would add my own to the mix. The questions themselves are actually from Ann Douglas.

Type of prenatal care provider 
Obstetrician/gynecologist: 58.1%
Family physician: 34.2%
Midwife: 6.1%
Nurse/nurse practitioner: 0.6%

Note: This data is quite interesting, given the lack of choice of prenatal care providers in many communities; and the chronic shortage of both family doctors and obstetricians/gynecologists.

How much choice did you have when it came to finding a prenatal care provider? Lots of choice? Or was the choice made for you?

Being in BC where midwives are covered under our health care, I had a lot of choices. I knew long before I actually became pregnant that I would choose to go with a midwife, and had done research and chosen a midwife clinic already. Midwives do book up very quickly here, so I knew that if I waited too long after finding out I was pregnant that my choice might be taken away from me. The choices here range from doctors, to what are jokingly called “medwives” (midwives who follow a much more medical model of care), to the type of midwife who believes in a woman’s ability to give birth and is much more hands off. Unassisted birth is also legal here. We chose a midwife group that had a reputation for being very hands off, though there were three midwives and we got the most medically-minded of the three (and our last choice) for the actual birth. Luckily we knew all three well at that point and our first choice was the one who ended up doing most of our postnatal care. I also had a doula who I loved and I found her support more important to us than the midwife. Too bad doulas can’t attend unassisted births. I would actually consider an unassisted birth in the future, except I liked having other women around to cheer me on and just offer their support. I don’t feel that unassisted birth is dangerous or scary though.

Most useful sources of information about pregnancy
Health care provider (32.2%)
Books (22.3%) 
Previous pregnancy (17.1%)

Note: This data is very different from what other similar studies have revealed. They have indicated that moms-to-be tend to turn to close female friends and female relatives for support and information during pregnancy.

So what do you think? Where did you go for information when you were pregnant? Do the answers to this question make sense to you?

I was the first of my friends and my side of the family to get pregnant, so I didn’t really have a lot of people I could turn to with questions. I did ask my mom at times, but honestly we are on such different wavelengths on so many things that I didn’t really feel like I could turn to her. We did hire a doula and I found both her and my midwives to be really valuable sources of information to us. I didn’t read that many books, which is odd to me because I’m such a bookworm, though I tried to read lots of positive home birth stories both online and in books. Of course the internet came in handy as well. I spent a lot of time at MotheringDotCommune and whenever I had questions about the various tests or procedures, Google was my best friend.

Folic acid supplementation
Almost a quarter (22.4%) of women did not know, prior to pregnancy, that taking folic acid before pregnancy could help prevent some birth defects.

Note: Public education campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of the need to take folic acid prior to pregnancy have existed in Canada since the early 1990s. Clearly, these campaigns are failing to reach about 1 in 4 moms-to-be. New research indicates that folic acid can help to prevent preterm birth if it is taken a year before pregnancy. Prospective mothers now need to be thinking about increasing their folic acid intake a year before they start trying to conceive. Health educators now need to be thinking about ways to get this message out — an even greater challenge.

Did you know about the importance of taking folic acid prior to conceiving? Had you heard about the new research about the role folic acid can play in preventing preterm birth (if you take it one year before becoming pregnant)?

I knew about the importance of folic acid and also knew it was recommended to be taking it before conceiving. I actually ate a pretty balanced, varied diet prior to being pregnant and so chose not to take any supplements. However, once I became pregnant I did take a prenatal vitamin because I was so sick and nauseous I had a hard time eating as well as I knew I should. I hadn’t heard that folic acid can prevent preterm birth though.

Place of birth
Hospital or clinic 97.9%
Home birth: 1.2%
Birthing centre: 0.8%

Older women and women giving birth to their second or subsequent baby had higher proportions of out-of-hospital births.    

Note: These statistics do not necessarily reflect what a woman would choose for herself, but rather what choice she made given the options that were available to her.

A 1999 survey indicated that 31% of Canadian women would choose to deliver in a birth centre. In reality, relatively few Canadian women have the option of giving birth in a birthing centre. Birth centres only exist in certain provinces/communities; some are privately funded. Likewise, midwives are not accessible to all women in all communities, and some provinces do not fund their services; so home birth is not an option for all Canadian women.

Did you feel you had adequate choice in terms of a place to give birth? Did you wish you had more options?

This sort of stems from number 1, but being in BC home birth is legal so we did have a choice (and chose home birth). Unfortunately there are no birth centers here for the women who would choose that option, though I know of a couple of midwives who are willing to let clients birth in their homes. In fact, we were in the process of moving right around nine months and my doula had offered her house to us if the move was going to impede on being able to give birth at one or the other of our places. I wish a birth center was an option simply because I feel more women would be comfortable staying out of the hospital.

Related posts:

1. There’s really something there!
2. It's true
3. Fiona’s Home Waterbirth
4. Meredith's Birth Story
5. Update: Good-bye First Trimester