Midwives and Doctors and Doulas, Oh My!

For more than five years now I have had the honour of working with the South Community Birth Program.

In 2003 the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and BC Women's Hospital received funding to pilot an innovative, collaborative, multidisciplinary program.  Family physicians, midwives, nurses and doulas all provide care in a community-based and woman-centred manner during pregnancy, birth and the newborn period.  The SCBP was designed to improve the health outcomes of pregnant women in the underserved community of South Vancouver.  This is the first multidisciplinary program of its kind in Canada.  Here we are now in 2017 and still going strong.  South Community has become an amazing model of care for families and a great success story!

So much so in fact that that our stats for September were the best we've ever had!  Out of 44 births, 94% of them were vaginal and 6% were cesarean.  Considering that our BC cesarean rate averages at 30%, we are feeling pretty good right now about our outcomes.

When considering the outcomes of your birth, choosing the right care provider should be your number #1 priority.  Be sure to chose a midwife or doctor that aligns with you values and ideals and you'll be setting yourself up for success.

Here are some great articles to further support this school of thought:

• Outcomes of planned home birth with registered midwife versus planned hospital birth with midwife or physician (the stats are amazing!!)
• BC Health Minister encourages home births in low-risk cases
• Too many medical procedures on women aren't necessary​