What Makes Our Care Different?

You will be cared for and supported by the SCBP team of family doctors, midwives, nurses and doulas. Approximately six-weeks after your baby is born, you will be discharged back to your family physician. If you do not have a family physician, we will help to find one to care for you and your baby after you leave SCBP.

The family doctors and midwives at the SCBP all share the same philosophy of care and strive to keep birth normal. We work hard to provide you with a seamless transition from one on-call care provider to the next. SCBP is the only program in Canada in which midwives and family doctors work collaboratively and fully share the care of women and their families.

You will receive your care from both doctors and midwives throughout your pregnancy, during your labour and birth, and after the baby arrives. When you go into labour, either a doctor or midwife will be on call and be present throughout your labour and when your baby is born. We rotate our call and one of us is available to address any concerns you might have during pregnancy as well as attend you in labour and when you give birth. We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

Our SCBP nurses and breastfeeding specialists, Lori Wolfe and Jamie Roots, are very involved in your care after the birth, helping you establish breastfeeding. The SCBP has a large supply of breast pumps to be loaned out if needed. Our nurses also run a Wednesday afternoon postpartum drop-in clinic from 12:00 to 2:00 where each week a different topic is discussed. These clinics are designed to help you adjust to your new life as a parent. Details are posted in the CP room. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Our goal is to make sure you have a safe and positive birth experience. Research shows that it is good for a healthy mom and baby to be discharged from the hospital early. In the first 24 hours after your baby is born, a Community Health Nurse will contact you to set up your first postpartum visit. You will have home or clinic visits with our family physicians or midwives within the first 7 days after your babys birth. The doula will also visit you at home after the birth to debrief your childbirth experience. We will continue to care for you for three to six weeks after the birth of your baby.

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Your first few appointments are done one-on-one with a doctor or midwife, where all testing and physical exams are completed. Around 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, you will be invited to join a Connecting Pregnancy (CP) group with approximately ten other women and their partners who are due to have their baby the same month as you. Each group is facilitated by a doctor or midwife alongside one of our nurses. Our doula program coordinator, Jalana, attends the groups to discuss doula support in labour. The CP groups are 10 regular two-hour sessions, which run throughout your pregnancy and after the baby arrives. They are initially held once a month then every two weeks. At each group session you will have a few minutes ("the belly check") with the doctor/midwife for a check up. If there are complications requiring a private one-on-one visit, this is booked outside the CP group. Along with the other members of your group, you will learn about important issues related to pregnancy and birth such as: nutrition and exercise during pregnancy, back care from a physiotherapist, relaxation and comfort measures for labour, the birthing process, what to expect in the hospital, pain management options, breastfeeding and infant care, plus several DVDs on birth and babies. The group setting allows you more time to ask questions, discuss concerns and is also a great opportunity to meet other pregnant women, make friends and share ideas.

If you choose not to attend the CP group, you will continue your care one-on-one throughout your pregnancy with a doctor and/or midwife.

Jalana, our doula coordinator, offers a "Preparation for Birth" workshop at SCBP for those families not attending CP groups. This is held in one day (6 hours) at SCBP. Details are posted in the CP room.

At SCBP you will get to know your CP leader very well as the majority of your prenatal care will be done by the doctor or midwife that leads your group. This continuity with one provider is very good for your care, ensuring that it is comprehensive and that your individual needs are met. Your history and plans for birth are communicated to all of the doctors and midwives who may be on-call to attend you in labour. While we all share the same philosophy of care and discuss our client care on a daily basis. In order to make you more comfortable with our entire team, we hold "Meet the Team" events every month.

For example, if your due date is in March, you are invited to attend this event in February. All of the SCBP team who are not at a birth will attend: the doctors and midwives, our nurses, our doula coordinator, as well as some of our doulas. You join a small group and we "speed date" around the room. A doctor and a midwife will sit with your group and when the bell rings, we move to the next group. The next "date" to join you may be our nurse, or a few of our doulas. You can ask us any questions you want as we pass by.

It is a fun event held every month in the CP room, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. You will receive an invitation to attend when your due date is approaching.

A doula provides you with continuous one-on-one physical and emotional support during labour and birth. The doula does not provide clinical care nor does she take the place of your partner during the labour. She works with your partner and family members during the birth to ensure that your physical and emotional needs are met. All of our doulas have a "bag of tricks" that may include massage oil and massage tools, and a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machine to help you during your labour.

Every effort is made to match you with a doula who speaks your first language. Currently we have 44 doulas and 24 language groups, including Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Indonesian, Tamil, Bengali, Japanese, Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Czech, German, Slovak, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and American Sign Language.

They work together as a team to meet the individual needs of the women cared for at SCBP and to provide back-up and support to each other when needed. They are all proud to be a part of this unique program and we are lucky to have them!

The SCBP provides doula support at no cost to you. The doulas receive a small honorarium from BC Women’s Hospital.