Midwives help people out.
Primary care providers for your pregnancy, birth, and post partum.
Registered Midwives provide maternity care to pregnant people and their newborn babies from early pregnancy, through labour and birth, until six weeks postpartum.
Prenatal
Meet with your midwife regularly in our clinic, receiving complete prenatal care and building a trusting relationship with your care providers.
Birth
Deliver your baby with one-on-one support and medical care from your midwife at Victoria General Hospital, or out of hospital for low-risk pregnancies.
Post Partum
Receive home visits throughout the first week with your new baby, support for your recovery and transition to parenthood, and follow-up until baby is six weeks old.
Midwives in the BC maternity health care system.
- Midwives are primary care providers who operate within BC’s maternity health care system. Pregnant people in BC may choose to have a midwife or a family doctor for their pregnancy, birth, and six weeks postpartum.
- Midwives order tests such as ultrasounds, blood tests and genetic screening; they prescribe pregnancy-related medications; and they arrange consultations with specialists (e.g., obstetricians, paediatricians) as needed.
- Midwives guide birthing people through their labours and help them deliver their babies. They offer the choice of birthplace to clients (in or out of hospital). This choice is guided by clients’ preferences and screening criteria used to identify those who are lower- or higher-risk.
- After delivery, midwives provide home visits for the first week to support new parents and their babies as they rest and recover, and then continue clinic follow-up until six weeks postpartum.
- Midwifery care is completely covered by the BC Care card. If you do not have a BC Care card, you can pay for your care privately - please call our clinic to discuss this.
Midwifery care is a safe option.
- Research has shown that women and babies under midwifery care in BC have equally safe outcomes compared to physician-led care, with increased client satisfaction and decreased interventions such as cesarean birth. Midwives deliver more than one-third of the babies in Victoria, BC.
- Midwives are regulated by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives, whose role is to ensure that midwives provide safe care. Midwives undergo regular training and certifications to manage medical complications.
- Midwives have guidelines about when to consult with or transfer care to specialists (e.g. obstetricians) if complications arise. In Victoria our relationship with specialists is collaborative, enabling clients to easily access care for both low and high-risk pregnancies.
The choice of primary care provider during your pregnancy is up to you.
- You don’t need a referral to register for midwifery care. If you are interested in receiving your prenatal care with us, you can submit a registration form. Our clinic will respond to confirm whether we have space to take you into care, and after reviewing your health history, we can help you to determine whether midwifery care is appropriate for you.