Fully Funded by Alberta Health Services

• For approximately 10 months a midwife from your team is available to answer any of your questions.
• Regular scheduled visits in our clinic allows time for physical assessment, questions, discussion & teaching on topics such as nutrition, discomforts of pregnancy, prenatal classes, and signs of labor & baby care.
• Your midwife will attend you during labour and birth either in your home, in the Birth Center, or in any of the 3 hospitals in Calgary.
• Using her skill & knowledge she will continually assess the well-being of you & your baby & monitor the progress of your labor.
• At the time of birth a second midwife will attend & both midwives will remain with you until both you & your baby are stable.
• One of your team will visit you at home at least 3 times and more if necessary in the first week after the birth, to assist you with breastfeeding, teach & advise & monitor the health of you & your baby.
• You & your baby are seen by your midwife at 2 weeks, to make sure breastfeeding is going well & that your baby is gaining weight.
• At 6 weeks you have your final visit with your midwife, when a full examination of both you & your baby is carried out.

Water Birth

There are many benefits to using water in labour and birth. Warm water induces a state of relaxation, reducing the production of stress hormones and stimulates the production of endorphins (nature's own pain killers). Warm water also stimulates touch and temperature nerve fibres in the skin, blocking impulses from the pain fibres to the brain (the gate control theory of pain). The labouring mother can adopt comfortable positions easily, because of the buoyancy of the water. The counter pressure of the water allows a more gentle delivery of the baby's head.