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Choosing a Caregiver for Your Pregnancy ::

books, websites, and other helpful resources


Childbirth Connection's Pregnancy Topic on Choosing a Caregiver for Your Pregnancy

We provide in-depth coverage through our Pregnancy Topic to help inform you about choosing a caregiver:

Other Childbirth Connection Resources Relating to Choosing a Caregiver for Your Pregnancy

  • Choosing a Birth Setting, an in-depth Pregnancy Topic for help with an important decision that goes hand-in-hand with choosing a caregiver

Learning More About Choosing a Caregiver and Different Types of Caregivers

Deliver My Baby: Here is a short quiz to help you narrow down the type of health care provider that best fits your needs. It will also give you a list of key questions to ask when interviewing potential care providers. The American College of Nurse-Midwives developed this tool.

Lamaze International: Why Transparency in Maternity Care Matters: A Fact Sheet: explains why transparency in medical interventions at the provider and facility level is necessary for quality improvements in maternity care.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer, a pregnancy book
Buy The Thinking Woman's Guide, a pregnancy book
 The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth (1999), by Henci Goer. (See chapter 12.)

Learn more about The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth from Amazon

The Birth Books, by William Sears and Martha Sears, a pregnancy book
Buy The Birth Book, a pregnancy book
 The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth (1994), by William Sears and Martha Sears. (See chapter 3.)

In this helpful resource guide, the Searses cover the gamut of possibilities, and teach readers what they need to know to take control of their own birthings. The Birth Book is divided into three parts: "Preparing for Birth," "Easing Pain in Labor," and "Experiencing Birth." You'll find details about vaginal births; cesareans; VBACs; water births; home births; best birthing positions; drugs; pain; how to design your own birth plan; the humor, chemistry, and sexuality of birth; and pages and pages of birth stories. Chapter 3 is especially relevant to choosing your birth setting.

Learn more about The Birth Book from Amazon Buy The Birth Book, a pregnancy book

Find a Local Midwife for Your Pregnancy

American College of Nurse-Midwives: Certified Nurse-Midwives and Certified Midwives: an online database from ACNM to identify practices with one or more Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) or Certified Midwives (CMs); with option to search for hospital, in-hospital birth center, out-of-hospital, and home birth practices

BirthPartners.com: Natural Birth Partners: an online directory for locating midwives and many other types of childbirth providers, including midwives who are willing to travel to women

Midwives Alliance of North America: Midwives, (email): to request lists of MANA members in specific states or provinces (MANA members have many different types of credentials)

Midwives practicing in out-of-hospital birth centers: an online directory of birth centers from American Association of Birth Centers

North American Registry of Midwives: Certified Professional Midwives (email): to find Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in your area, call toll-free 888-842-4784 or send an e-mail to info@narm.org

State-by-state midwifery laws and organizations: state-by-state information from Citizens for Midwifery to help you consider options and find midwives

Find a Local Physician Who Provides Maternity Care

American Academy of Family Physicians: Family Physicians: to contact your state's chapter of American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and ask which family physicians in your area offer maternity care

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Obstetricians: a directory of ACOG members

American Osteopathic Association: Osteopathic Physicians: a directory of AOA members with information about practice specialty
Most recent page update: 9/7/2012
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Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Our mission is to improve the quality and value of maternity care through consumer engagement and health system transformation. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families.
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Listening to MothersSM III is the third national survey exploring women’s experiences in pregnancy and childbirth. Commissioned by Childbirth Connection, conducted by Harris Interactive, and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the survey polled 2,400 women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals from 2011 to 2012. Results show that medically intensive experiences are typical, and evidence-based practices are underutilized. Childbearing women need better support and knowledge to navigate their maternity care.
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