We've got a midwife!

I knew that I wanted a midwife before we even started trying to get pregnant. In my opinion, midwives offer far more personalized care than an OB. They get to know you on a personal and "pregnant" level. Appointments last for 45 minutes, as opposed to the 10 minutes at most that you get with an OB. Midwives also tend to be more holistically-minded (like me!), especially since some couples opt for home births. I also have a friend who works for the Associated of Ontario Midwives, so I've been able to get the insider's scoop! With that being said, midwives are not right for everyone. If you're pregnancy is higher-risk, OBs are definitely the way to go.

Midwives are in super high demand, especially in Ontario. I called them on the day that we received the positive blood test result. I called 3 practices and put in my info. (Note: If any of you are interested in using a midwife in the future, tell them that you are undecided when it comes to home vs. hospital birth. Say that you're very interested in finding out more about home births. Say this even if you have ZERO interest in giving birth at home.) Thanks to my insider's knowledge I know that midwifery practices have home birth quotas so by saying that you're "interested," they are more inclined to take you. After putting in my info, I anxiously waited for one week to hear if one of them would take us. We ended up getting into all 3!! I ended up calling our first choice back to tell them that we would love to be accepted by their practice.

Enter twins....again, thanks to my insider's knowledge, I knew that the midwife might not want to keep us because we were having twins. By law, midwives can't deliver twins at the hospital. I will also have to get an OB who specializes in twin pregnancies. Therefore, midwives can decline these women because they can't provide the full range of care themselves. Since they are in such high demand, they'd rather reserve care to parents having singletons. So, I was told to go to our first midwife appointment and "plead my case." (Read: Beg for her to keep us!) Luckily, our midwife is awesome and really wanted to keep us, so the begging and pleading was kept at a minimum.

The prenatal care for someone having twins is quite thorough. We'll see the midwife, the OB and possibly go to the Twin Clinic at Sunnybrook Hospital.  Right now, things are pretty tame, but come the third trimester, the visits will increase exponentially. I'll keep you posted!