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Pregnancy Providers: What to Know and How to Choose

By Dana Hardek January 29, 2016
Deciding on your care during your pregnancy and labor isn’t the same as it was a generation ago. Women would just go to their doctor, who was usually also their gynecologist, and deliver in a hospital. Now, there are more choices, giving women the opportunity to choose high-quality care during their pregnancy, labor, and post-pregnancy period. Here's a rundown of the different providers available to ensure you have a happy and healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery.

Primary Care Doctor
Your family practitioner takes care of people of all ages. While they are trained to handle many medical issues, they will likely refer you to an obstetrician for pregnancy-related care.

Schooling
Primary care doctors go to college to earn a bachelor’s degree, then attend medical school. Following that, they spend three or more years in a primary care residency. Primary care physicians may also choose further training, called a fellowship, in obstetrics.

Obstetrician
An obstetrician/gynecologist is a medical doctor who is trained in women’s health and obstetrical matters. Obstetricians are still the most common care choice for pregnant women. These doctors handle both routine and complicated pregnancies and deliveries, and they perform surgeries such as C-sections. Since an obstetrician delivers in a hospital, they have the equipment and medical support system that is needed for women or babies who are experiencing serious medical issues during delivery, such as an umbilical cord prolapse.

Schooling
OB/GYNs attend medical school and a four-year residency program, and may then choose to apply to a fellowship program to learn a sub-specialty. OB/GYNs will often coordinate and provide all care for a pregnant woman, including her labor, delivery, and post-delivery care. They will arrange necessary testing, including blood tests and glucose tests, and see women at appointments.

Certified Nurse Midwife
A Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) is a specially-trained practitioner. Like an obstetrician, a midwife sees patients and coordinates patient care. A midwife is qualified to provide gynecological exams and handle uncomplicated pregnancies and labors, and she also has experience with alternative care.  

Some CNMs work in obstetrical practices with doctors and deliver babies in hospitals while carrying a patient load. Healthy women with low-risk pregnancies may feel that a hospital birth is impersonal and prefer to work with a professional who understands the patient’s desire for care that involves more birthing options and fewer medical interventions. These women can choose a birthing center that is staffed by CNMs who consult with other obstetric practitioners.  

Schooling
CNMs are licensed RNs with a bachelor’s degree. They have also completed an accredited graduate-level program and are then certified by a test that’s administered through the American College of Nurse-Midwives or the American College of Nurse-Midwives Certification Council.

Doula
Doulas have an important role in a woman’s pregnancy, labor, and post-partum experience by caring for the mother and baby. Birth doulas can serve as birth coaches and assist the mother before and during delivery, teach labor positions that can be used to keep the delivery progressing, prepare women for the type of labor that they wish to have, and create a birth plan. They attend hospital births, birth center deliveries, and home births. It’s not unusual for a woman to have a doula present during a hospital, birth center, or home delivery. Post-partum doulas support mothers by assisting with their recovery, helping mothers successfully breastfeed, and guiding them through the first few weeks of infant care. While doulas don't provide medical care or deliver babies, they understand the labor and delivery process.

Schooling
Doulas must be certified through state procedures, go through training, and attend live births.