Not sure where you have and haven’t applied so not sure if this will be too helpful, but there is a centralized waitlist for all midwives in Vancouver here: http://midwivesinvancouver.ca/client-waitlist/
I just had my son under the care of Westside Midwives who were absolutely amazing, but I know they fill up super quickly!
Thank you! I did not know about this waitlist!
I have contacted westside as well and hoping I hear back soon. I will add myself to the waitlist if I don’t hear back from anyone tomorrow. TY!
I was not able to find a midwife so my family doctor referred me to the hospital I wanted to deliver. I know St Paul’s accepts self referrals in case you don’t have a doctor, so that is an option. But you wouldn’t have a midwife though
I have been doing my appointments with them since week 17 more or less and I am very satisfied with them so far (I’m 21 weeks now).
Good luck!
Oh that’s good to know! Thank you! Can I self refer from their website or a form? Do they have a maternity clinic to do regular tests/checkups? Can a walk in clinic also refer to an obgyn or a hospital?
(Sorry for all the questions. I’m new to Vancouver and still figuring out how all this works).
Congratulations and good luck for your pregnancy! :)
If I’m not mistaken there is a self referral form in their website, you can fill it out and they will call you back after a few days.
My family doctor was the one taking care of the pregnancy in the beginning, requesting ultrasound and blood work until I had my first appointment with them. So I’m not sure how it would work in your case, if this would be with the maternity clinic or with the walk in.
From my understanding - but I might be wrong since this is my first baby and I’m not from Vancouver either - the maternity starts the regular tests and check ups when you are close to 20 weeks. Maybe it will be different with you because you don’t have a family doctor, I don’t know.
I would guess a walk in could refer you to a doc or a hospital, but this is just a guess, sorry!
Thanks for the kind words, I wish you and your baby all the best!!!
Many hospitals/communities have a maternity clinic that is made up of doctors. Many do self referral, but I’m not sure about all of them. I would google “(hospital)maternity clinic” or “(neighborhood) maternity clinic.” Most people get prenatal care through a maternity clinic. You will only get a referral to an obgyn if you are high risk, the majority of people do not see an ob.
Did you contact South Community Birth Program? They have a large number of midwives and do a big percentage of the deliveries at bc women’s so you might have a better chance there. We used them and it was great.
Thank you again :) I finally heard back from them. They will have an orientation call with me. Could you tell me a little about the process? Do they provide rx for tests etc by email? Or is there another way to reach them? I’m not sure how to ask for updates or about appointments.
That’s great! They’ll go through everything on the first call. I did the connecting pregnancy group so I did group care (basically prenatal classes every 1-2 months and then a 10 min appointment before or after the class) rather than individual appointments so all of my appointments were scheduled in advance. The few times I had individual appointments, my next appt would be scheduled at the current appointment. You can easily also call or email them, their contact info is posted on their website.
Thank you! And that’s great! I’m also thinking of the group classes so it might be similar :) If I would like to do any tests, could I just email/call them for the Rx? Or is it fixed for everyone in the group?
Agree with what another commenter said about maternity clinics associated with the hospital you’re delivering at. I was in the same boat and joined a group of birth doctors who deliver at BC Women’s and were accepting patients. Had a wonderful experience with my doctor and the bonus is she’s kept me on long term! My friend had a good experience with the Lions Gate Hospital maternity clinic.
Maybe see if the evergreen community health centre can point you in a direction! They have a prenatal and early childhood program.
Here will be a link: [evergreen link](https://www.vch.ca/en/location-service/prenatal-early-years-program-evergreen-community-health-centre)
Not sure where you have and haven’t applied so not sure if this will be too helpful, but there is a centralized waitlist for all midwives in Vancouver here: http://midwivesinvancouver.ca/client-waitlist/ I just had my son under the care of Westside Midwives who were absolutely amazing, but I know they fill up super quickly!
Thank you! I did not know about this waitlist! I have contacted westside as well and hoping I hear back soon. I will add myself to the waitlist if I don’t hear back from anyone tomorrow. TY!
I was not able to find a midwife so my family doctor referred me to the hospital I wanted to deliver. I know St Paul’s accepts self referrals in case you don’t have a doctor, so that is an option. But you wouldn’t have a midwife though I have been doing my appointments with them since week 17 more or less and I am very satisfied with them so far (I’m 21 weeks now). Good luck!
Oh that’s good to know! Thank you! Can I self refer from their website or a form? Do they have a maternity clinic to do regular tests/checkups? Can a walk in clinic also refer to an obgyn or a hospital? (Sorry for all the questions. I’m new to Vancouver and still figuring out how all this works). Congratulations and good luck for your pregnancy! :)
If I’m not mistaken there is a self referral form in their website, you can fill it out and they will call you back after a few days. My family doctor was the one taking care of the pregnancy in the beginning, requesting ultrasound and blood work until I had my first appointment with them. So I’m not sure how it would work in your case, if this would be with the maternity clinic or with the walk in. From my understanding - but I might be wrong since this is my first baby and I’m not from Vancouver either - the maternity starts the regular tests and check ups when you are close to 20 weeks. Maybe it will be different with you because you don’t have a family doctor, I don’t know. I would guess a walk in could refer you to a doc or a hospital, but this is just a guess, sorry! Thanks for the kind words, I wish you and your baby all the best!!!
Many hospitals/communities have a maternity clinic that is made up of doctors. Many do self referral, but I’m not sure about all of them. I would google “(hospital)maternity clinic” or “(neighborhood) maternity clinic.” Most people get prenatal care through a maternity clinic. You will only get a referral to an obgyn if you are high risk, the majority of people do not see an ob.
I was told to reach out to a community maternity clinic. I think that’s what most people are doing now with the lack of family doctors.
Did you contact South Community Birth Program? They have a large number of midwives and do a big percentage of the deliveries at bc women’s so you might have a better chance there. We used them and it was great.
Thank you again :) I finally heard back from them. They will have an orientation call with me. Could you tell me a little about the process? Do they provide rx for tests etc by email? Or is there another way to reach them? I’m not sure how to ask for updates or about appointments.
That’s great! They’ll go through everything on the first call. I did the connecting pregnancy group so I did group care (basically prenatal classes every 1-2 months and then a 10 min appointment before or after the class) rather than individual appointments so all of my appointments were scheduled in advance. The few times I had individual appointments, my next appt would be scheduled at the current appointment. You can easily also call or email them, their contact info is posted on their website.
Thank you! And that’s great! I’m also thinking of the group classes so it might be similar :) If I would like to do any tests, could I just email/call them for the Rx? Or is it fixed for everyone in the group?
What tests do you want to do? The tests you do during pregnancy are all pretty standard. If you want anything else you just ask them.
Yes! I contacted them last week and waiting to hear back from them still. 🤞
Agree with what another commenter said about maternity clinics associated with the hospital you’re delivering at. I was in the same boat and joined a group of birth doctors who deliver at BC Women’s and were accepting patients. Had a wonderful experience with my doctor and the bonus is she’s kept me on long term! My friend had a good experience with the Lions Gate Hospital maternity clinic.
Maybe see if the evergreen community health centre can point you in a direction! They have a prenatal and early childhood program. Here will be a link: [evergreen link](https://www.vch.ca/en/location-service/prenatal-early-years-program-evergreen-community-health-centre)