Choosing your pregnancy health care provider is one of the most important decisions you will make for your pregnancy. You will be spending an enormous amount of time with this person and he or she will be helping you through one of the most exhilarating and terrifying times of your life. It is important that you are comfortable with your health care provider and that you agree with his or her medical philosophies.
Getting to Know Your Health Care Provider
If your health care provider is a part of a group practice you will need to get to know his associates as well as the provider. If your doctor is unavailable when labor begins, who would you be assigned and are you comfortable with him or her? If you already have a birth plan, how amenable is the doctor to your plan? Additionally, you should find out what hospitals the provider has privileges with and then determine if that is the hospital you would prefer. Finally, possibly the best indication that a health care provider is the one you should choose is how comfortable you feel with him or her.
Medical Decisions: The Doctor Interview
You need to be aware of how your doctor feels about several medical procedures. Will your doctor perform an elective cesarean section? At one point during or under what conditions will he or she perform a cesarean section? What types of pain medication does the doctor prefer and is he or she agreeable to the methods you prefer? How many babies has he delivered and how many deliveries does he perform in a typical year? Out of that number, how many episiotomies were performed and are they considered a standard procedure? In addition to these issues you should make a list of any other procedures or policies you have questions about and have the provider address each before making your final decision.
The Intimate Details
Another huge factor in choosing the right health care provider for the birth of your child will involve the circumcision choices of the parents. Some physicians will perform the circumcision in the hospital before the baby leaves for that ride home. Others will choose to perform the circumcision in the office setting within the first week or so of birth. Parents who feel circumcision is best will need to find a doctor that mirrors their beliefs.
The Insurance Plan
Probably one of the most deciding of factors when choosing a health care provider for the birth of your baby is your insurance plan. The accepted plans will vary by doctor and without insurance coverage, the cost of a pregnancy can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Having a baby is one of the most exciting times on earth. When choosing the doctor for the birth of your child, make sure to conduct the physician interview, ask all of the questions you may have no matter how intimate and pick a doctor that you enjoy talking to every day. Chances are, that doctor will be the first person to see your new baby, so you will want to love the doctor you choose.
Your normal, everyday beauty regime need not stop while you are carrying a baby. Pregnancy is a time of grow and beauty and as long as the beauty regimes you choose are tweaked a bit for pregnancy, there is no real area of concern.