Finding out that you are expecting is the start of a beautiful journey, one that will be full of wonder and excitement. It will also be filled with questions, choices, and decisions, and the first one you may have to make is your where to receive your prenatal care.
Prenatal care is extremely important to help ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby. Throughout your pregnancy, your prenatal care provider will be play a significant role in tracking your baby’s growth, monitoring your health, and answering your questions; choosing a care provider you feel comfortable will make the experience that much smoother.
The first step in choosing prenatal care is to choose the type of care provider you want to have. Many women are not aware that they have options when it comes to prenatal care in Calgary, all of which are equally funded by the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. Your obstetrician or family doctor can provide prenatal care, but there are also specialized prenatal care clinics in Calgary. Each provides access to the same type of care, including regular screening and ultrasounds, however the approach may differ.
A family doctor may provide prenatal care in the course of their regular practice, however this is not their speciality, and in a busy practice, appointment times can be limited to allow for the most patients to be seen. Family physicians also do not typically deliver, and by the third trimester, patients will have their care transferred to an obstetrician.
If you already have a regular OB-GYN, they may provide prenatal care throughout your entire pregnancy, although many obstetricians reserve care for high risk pregnancies in the first 2 trimesters. A benefit of this type of care is having your baby delivered by a doctor you already know, however in most cases your baby will be delivered by the obstetrician on-call, who may or may not be your doctor.
A prenatal care clinic deals only with pregnancy care; their services are available to you before, during, and after your pregnancy. There will typically be a group of obstetricians or family medicine doctors who specialize in obstetric care, in addition to nurses, and support staff, all of whom deal solely with pregnancy and delivery. The physicians will all deliver at one hospital, and there is least one staff doctor on call for deliveries at all times, meaning the doctor who eventually delivers your baby will be familiar with your pregnancy, even if it’s not your regular doctor. Many women are comforted by the level of attention and specialized care they receive at a prenatal care clinic in Calgary.