We are due to immigrate to Calgary on 30th October 2009 as my husband is joining the police, so we have a permanent residency visa. The only thing is that I have just found out I am 9.5 weeks pregnant, which was a shock but we are still going to go to. My history is I have two children both by c-sections, one for placenta previa, which was then redone and then my second due to a breach baby and complications from first c-section. I have been told by my consultant that I can only have one more child which would have to be delivered by c-section again, so I was hoping that I could have by tubes tied at the same time. I am having my 12 weeks scan here and seeing a consultant, but then I am flying at 18 weeks, so I will miss my 20 week scan unless I can persuade them to give me one early.

Can anyone please advise me what I should do when I get to Calgary, as how to register myself with a hospital consultant or midwife, do you receive scans. This would be really helpful as obviously with not knowing anyone I will not know where to start.

Thanks
Julie

I don't know the answers to your questions, but this is a midwifery service, but I'm sure someone could point you in the right direction.
http://www.calgarymidwives.ca/

Thankyou, I will take a look

Julie

Congratulations!

The first thing to do is get a Alberta Healthcare number. You can then register with a GP. GP's handle births here (they meet you at the hospital).

Visit the website for info on how to get your number http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-...ance-plan.html

Good luck!

While GPS do handle most births here, Midwifery is now covered by Alberta Health Care so you can get a midwife. However there aren't many so you need to book early and promptly to ensure they have availability to take you.

We are 4 months into our second pregnancy and have signed up with Aurora Midwifery. We didn't let our GP know until just the other day.

You need to make contact with a midwife as soon as possible, and even then your chances are slim to none. There are only a few midwives in Calgary and I mean a few...like 7 or 8, and since the province started paying for them they are even more in demand than they already were. You literally need to call the day you find out you're pregnant to stand a chance. You can still add your name to the waiting lists they have, but make sure you make other plans if you do. We've just been through this. I personally called every single registered midwife in Alberta and we were so lucky to get one in Calgary. PM me for details and I can put you in contact. Some are trying to hire new midwives right now to cover the demand (which is how we got one).

Another thing that's a nightmare are is finding a doctor here. I think there's currently only one doctor taking new patients still in the NE of the city. We've been here three years and still can't get in with anyone but the worst doctor in calgary (the only reason we could get it). And I mean THE WORST doctor in Calgary.

Sorry to be all doom and gloom, but that's how it is here.

Just a quick follow-up to be a little more positive, while finding a midwife in Calgary will be tough as you are going to be around half-way through your pregnancy, you may have a little more luck getting a GP as a pregnant lady.

While finding a long term family Dr might not happen, we did find a practice that was taking only new pregnant women as patients when we had our first child here. We were then referred onto a maternity clinic.

Head here for similar info to what others posted. it suggests calling health link to get more details, you may even be able to do this prior to landing just to get some pointers in the right direction for when you land. As brummi said though, first thing is to get your Alberta health care number.

i thought my doc in the NW was the worst lol

Ha. You can only have one issue at a time with ours. He won't talk about, for example, the pain in your leg in you're there to see him about a throat infection. He'll just point at the sign that says one issue only. You have to book a seperate appt to discuss something else. Also, he's just hilariously rude and inapropriatte. The first time I ever met him my wife had a bad bruise from getting hit by a ski lift and he said "Heyyy you been knocking her about eh" and belly-laughed. We just looked at eachother in horror. Some of the comments about him on this website are hilarious....

http://www.ratemds.com/filecache/doc....jsp?did=88282

Didn't know GP's take pregnant women even if they're not taking regular patients. That's something at least. Didn't mean to be so negative!

Hi

Thanks for all your replies, I have emailed some midwifes, but does anyone know if I can receive by health care number before I arrive as I thought I had to wait until I was actually in Calgary.

Thanks
Julie

Just a quick reply as I am a Midwife in the UK going to BC. Midwives in Alberta probably would not take you on as you have 2 previous csections. you would be best advised to find a consultant via a GP as you will have a planned elective Csection. Look for a hospital in the area where you are going to live and phone them, you will need your SIN etc but you will get scans etc I am sure.
The way it works in Canada is completely different to the UK. There are obstetric nurses, nurse midwives and doctors that deliver in hospital. Home births are done by Midwives (a new profession in Canada) and they can also deliver in hospital where they have priviliges. Midwives take on low risk women. As you have had 2 csections I am sorry to say that you are high risk! although things are changin and i am sure there will be more and more women having vaginal births after 2 c sections.

Sarah Still in grotty NHS London

I think there is a place called the north west maternity clinic in calgary where you can go for your prenatal stuff if you don't have a GP yet.

A midwife seems to be the exception rather than the norm here - its more a case of you either have a family doctor or get referrred to an obstetrician who does your prenatal care.

My family doc didn't do deliveries so referred me to an obstetrician. I saw the OB on a regular basis for 5 min appointments (!) i.e. weight, blood pressure, quick prod, etc and when it came to delivery at the foothills in July I just had whichever OB was on call anyway.

Might be worth you doing a prenatal class here despite your 'previous experience' as it will help highlight procedures and any differences, plus will give you some local contacts and potential new friends - we now meet up for walks every week. We did a 10 week one which runs after the birth so you take your baby along too - check out www.birthandbabies.com (they have hospital orientations on the website too).

I have no complaints about the standard of care received at foothills hospital, although I think the other two hospitals are probably just as fine and it will depend on where you live.

Oh, and here's the link to doctors taking on new patients: http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/doctor/index.html

Good luck!
Flossie

i can tell you that over here VBAC ( vaginal birth after ceasarean) is being pushed as a safer option to repeted surgery so it may be an option for this third baby. either way good luck and HH9M

Congratulations.

We are in BC and Baby L2S is due in January so I can only speak of our experience here.

It seems the norm to have your GP deliver in a hospital and then be referred to a OB if there are any complications. We are very unusual in that we have so far, with no complications, opted for a midwife and a home birth.

I was rather surprised that so many people had their GPs do their deliveries. I almost laughed in the face of the GP who confirmed my pregnancy when she said asked if I wanted her to deliver. This is a woman who I had just met at a walk-in GP clinic.

We also find that it is safest not to assume anything is the same as the UK so do your research almost from scratch as if you know nothing. I like Flossie's suggestion of doing some prenatal classes here as well.

As an aside, when we went to view some of the hospitals at their open evenings, I was the only woman not showing. The rest looked like they were about 12 months pregnant only now only just deciding on where to deliver!

Surely they'd have been induced by now...

Congrats L2S - we're due in early Feb and are also going the midwife route with home birth here in Calgary. Wasn't an option with Mini-Hobbess1 as Alberta didn't cover midwives last year when he popped out.

So far been a pleasant process though not that different than the maternity clinic that we went through for no 1, other than the fact that the midwives office is someones house. Be interested to hear the story afterwards particuarly on the home birth aspect if you don't mind sharing.