What is a Midwife?
Midwives are experts in healthy pregnancy and birth.
Midwives provide government-funded primary care to pregnant people and their newborns. Under the midwifery scope of practice, your midwife provides care to support the health and safety of you and your baby from early pregnancy, through labour and birth, until six weeks postpartum.
As soon as you know you are pregnant, you can contact a midwifery practice through our wait pool as the first point of entry into perinatal health care. A referral from a physician is not required.
Putting you at the centre of our exceptional care.
Prenatal Care
Midwives offer complete care during pregnancy, including regular appointments, ultrasounds, routine blood work and emotional support. With access to laboratories and diagnostic services, your midwife can order prenatal lab work and screenings and can prescribe certain pregnancy-related medications.
During scheduled visits, your midwife will provide physical examinations, assessments, support and information that will inform and guide you through your pregnancy. On average, appointments last 30-45 minutes long, giving you the time you need to build a strong, trusting relationship with your midwife. Prenatal visits are usually once a month for the first 28 weeks, every two weeks until 36 weeks and then once a week until your baby is born. On average, you'll see your midwife approximately 12 times before your baby is born.
Under the care of a midwife, you will not see an obstetrician for pregnancy-related care unless there are concerns or complications. If complications arise, midwives collaborate and consult with other caregivers to provide families and their babies the best possible care.
Care During Birth
Midwives are the only perinatal care providers who offer choice of birthplace meaning, in most cases, you can give birth wherever you feel most comfortable. If you are at increased risk for certain complications, giving birth in the hospital is recommended. You can also choose to deliver in a birth centre or at home or another location. Midwives bring medical equipment and a variety of comfort and pain-relief options to all out of hospital births, similar to those available in hospitals.
No matter your setting of choice, you and your baby will be closely monitored to make sure there are no complications developing. If necessary, midwives access emergency services and collaborate with other health professionals during labour and birth. When you are close to giving birth, a second attendant will arrive to help care for you and your baby.
Postnatal Care
After birth, your midwives will monitor and assess you and your newborn to ensure that everyone is healthy and recovering well.
Your midwives will provide postpartum care to you and your baby, including:
a complete physical exam of your newborn
routine newborn screening tests
physical and mental health assessments
parenting support and teaching
chest/breastfeeding support
Once you are both considered healthy, your midwives will leave you to rest. This typically happens within four hours of giving birth. Before leaving, you will be briefed on what to expect within the next 24 hours. If you and/or your baby need closer observation or monitoring, your midwife will recommend moving to the hospital (if you aren’t already there) for extra support and care.
The day after the birth, your midwife will visit you for your first follow-up appointment. You and your newborn will continue to receive care until six weeks after birth.
If you have questions or concerns, a midwife will be available to you by phone or text at any time, day or night.
Download our resource in your preferred language: What is a Midwife?
Midwifery Model of Care
The care that midwives in Alberta provide aligns with the Canadian Midwifery Model of Care. This model is admired worldwide and details seven principles and benefits that set midwifery apart from other forms of perinatal care.
01 - Primary Health Care
Midwives are autonomous primary health care providers who serve as the first point of entry into perinatal care. You do not need a referral from a doctor to have a midwife.
02 - Partnership
Midwives engage in a non-authoritarian, supportive partnership throughout care and are responsive to the unique cultural values, beliefs, needs and life experiences of each client.
03 - Continuity of Care
You will be cared for by the same single midwife or small group of midwives throughout your entire pregnancy, labour and postpartum period, fostering a relationship of familiarity and trust.
04 - Informed Choice
Recognizing each client as the primary decision-maker, midwives facilitate informed choice discussions, respecting and supporting your right to make informed decisions about your care.
06 - Evidence-Based
The practice of midwifery is informed by research, evidence-based guidelines, clinical experience, and the unique values and needs of those in their care.
05 - Birth Setting Choice
Everyone has the right to choose where they will give birth. Hospital, home, birth centre - your birth, your choice! Midwives provide the same exceptional care, no matter your choice of birth setting.
07 - Collaborative Care
Midwives are autonomous health care providers, working independently and in collaboration with other health care professionals as needed. The principles of continuity, informed choice, partnership and choice of birthplace remain essential elements of midwifery care within a collaborative practice.
Midwifery Philosophy
The practice of midwifery is based on the understanding that pregnancy, labour and birth are profound experiences, which carry significant meaning for an individual, their family and their community.
Midwifery is grounded in the principles of health and wellbeing, recognizing that conception, pregnancy, birth and chest/breastfeeding are natural life processes. Midwifery care enhances these life experiences and provides continuity of care through a reciprocal relationship between midwives and families.
Midwifery is traditionally holistic, combining an understanding of the social, emotional, cultural, spiritual, psychological and physical aspects of a woman or other birthing person’s reproductive experience. Midwives promote wellness in parents, babies and families, both autonomously and in collaboration with other health care professionals.
Midwifery is a partnership based on mutual respect. With midwifery care, the client is the center of the childbirth experience and has great influence on their own health and wellbeing. The practice of midwifery is based on the individual and recognizes each client’s unique strengths and needs. Midwifery care promotes self-care, growth, awareness and confidence, and is provided in a manner that is flexible, creative, empowering and supportive.
Midwives actively encourage informed choice throughout the childbearing cycle by providing relevant, objective information to facilitate informed decision-making. The practice of midwifery enables individuals to develop the understanding, skills and motivation necessary to take on the responsibility for and control of their own health.
“Some may say midwives deliver babies. But we are blessed to know the truth. Midwives deliver hope, support, reassurance, patience, confidence, bravery, dreams, calm, skill, knowledge, courage, advocacy and much more. Really, midwives change the world, and the world is an infinitely better place because of them."
— Jenn Armstrong
