Choosing Your Care Provider and Birth Setting

Your Choices Matter

The care provider you choose and where you plan to give birth are two of the most consequential decisions you will make in pregnancy. They determine the range of options available during labor, the philosophy of care you receive, and who will be in the room at the most vulnerable moment of your life. These decisions deserve careful thought, not automatic default to whatever is closest or cheapest.

Choosing a Provider

Obstetricians manage all aspects of pregnancy including high-risk situations and surgery. Family physicians provide whole-family care and attend births. Certified nurse-midwives specialize in low-risk normal birth with lower intervention rates.

Choosing a Birth Setting

• Hospital, immediate access to all interventions including cesarean and NICU
• Birth center, homelike, midwife-led, designed for low-risk pregnancies
• Home birth, maximum comfort and control with a trained midwife and transfer plan