Hi everyone,

This is our first post of many to come and comes at the beginning of our journey.
Our applications have been submitted to Nova Scotia and expect to move to SE Calgary this time next year.

My skilled worker application as a 'welder' is our basis to obtain our residency but how is midwifery percieved as a career in Alberta? Is this the same as the UK?

Can anyone recommend area of information for my wife's profession, please?
Also any additional relaible info or websites on job search and Houses for rent?

Many Thanks
Tony & Debbie

Hi Tony & Debbie, and welcome to the forum.

The Immigration section of the forum is really for visa related queries, so as yours is a more general enquiry I will move it to the Canada forum. If in doubt, the 'Newcomers' sticky thread has loads of info in for you to read, including a guide as to which bit of the forum is for what.

I'm not a midwife and not in AB, so can't answer your questions, but I'm sure others will be along that can shortly. And a quick search of the forum will throw up some answers too.

Good luck.

I'm sure doing a search will bring up more information.

Up until last year, I understand that using the services of a midwife in Alberta was perceived as slightly left field - the profession existed as a choice for mums to be - and they paid maybe $3,000 to $5,000 for the use of a midwife.

Now, finally, the profession has been brought in under the "regular" childbirth options umbrella and all mums should be able to freely choose their midwife if they want to use one. The fact is that there are definitely not enough to go around, and one ought to be trying to choose one as soon as the line goes blue in that little window!

Midwifery isn't viewed the same here as in the UK - it's not automatically in the normal birthing route plan. Doctors and nurses have traditionally taken on all the responsibilities (someone correct me if I am wrong) and I think you would find a period of adjustment, but your services would be sought-after.

I suspect it doesn't take long for a good midwife to build up her reputation and patient base. Good luck

I don't know how it works in Alberta. But, in Ontario when we were there....midwives were a SERIOUS shortage. They were always, every month, booked to quota. That said, because they went regulated, they also had a number of restrictions placed on them that were not there before regulation. They also had areas of the province where the OB's at the hospital were not necessarily 'in favour' of midwifery and this caused a number of issues for those midwives and a real 'political game' to play for them. That said, I'm not 100% sure how establishing a practice is handled under the regulated system. Her best bet would be to contact a couple of midwifery practices in Alberta directly and talk to them about how things work there. She can also contact the College of Midwives to find out about transferring her accreditation to Canada.

As far as I know, the cost of a midwife is now covered under the Alberta heath plan, but there is a SERIOUS shortage of midwives.

At the moment, there is nowhere in Alberta to train as a midwife and that is part of the problem.

If Canadians have not been used to using midwives, I`d be interested in knowing how there can be a serious shortage of them. Surely, not all pregnant women in Canada are ex-Brits

I am in BC, and I am a RN rather than a midwife. But I work closely with them all in Victoria...thats what its like here. So I have friends that work in BC as Midwives and could advise you. PM me if you want me to put your OH in contact with them.

Because until regulation midwives were "a-legal". That is, not legal, but not technically illegal either. This meant women who wanted them had to pay out of pocket for their services and birth at home. Now, with regulation, women can choose between homebirth and hospital birth when they have a midwife. Women have VERY quickly figured out that the standard of "personal" care they get with a midwife is far superior to that with an OB. A midwife appointment is at least 30 mins long...and OB appt...10 if you're lucky. The midwife puts more of a focus on the person than just the 'pregnancy' than the OB does....partly because they have more time to do it than the OB does! Because of this type of thing, the popularity of midwives exploded and the demand far exceeds the supply.

The downfall to this is that some women who WANT a homebirth..which is only done by a midwife...can't get it because they can't get a midwife (tho some practices will try to make sure they take on the clients who want a homebirth).

Because now they don't have to pay for the midwife out of their own pockets, the Canadian women ARE using the midwives. But there are not enough of them to go round.

Where do doulas fit into this equation or is that just anther name for a midwife?

http://www.chinookdoula.com/

Doulas do labour and post partum support (Depending on the type of doula). They are NOT midwives. Well, I suppose technically a midwife that is not practicing as such could work as a doula, but no, the terms are generally not interchangeable.

http://www.alberta-midwives.com/index.php

There is the link to the Albert Association of Midwives. They should be able to answer any questions.

This. They're not supposed to do anything medical, more for emotional support/advice.

I appreciate how that would work from an English perspectivel but not from a Canadian one. We all know that, generally speaking, Canadians know of one way of doing everything and are reluctant to try new things (at least if the evidence of posts on this forum are anything to go by). That being the case, one would think that most Canadian women would want to have things done the way their mothers and friends did, using the "standard" procedure as opposed to the "new age" procedure of a midwife, particularly if the rest of the medical profession (as evidenced by the posts above) are reluctant to push midwives.

All of my kids were delivered by a midwife so I am not against them at all but if they require referrals from other members of the profession, I would imagine that it will be hard, initially at least, for them to take market share away from the more traditional care givers.

A doula supports the woman in labour and her partner, helping with birthing positions and breathing, they do not actually do any "checking" administer pain relief or deliver the baby. Some hospitals have a doula on call if a woman is struggling by herself for example and needs the additional support and couples hire them if they are apprehensive about how they are going to work through the whole experience (well my friend told me it was because she didn't think her husband could cope...).

I had a labour & delivery nurse sit in the room with me in hospital who was pretty hands off but I had a very straightforward and pretty easy labour and my husband was amazing. If we had been struggling she would have helped far more. I then had an obsteatrician do the actual delivery.



Good luck!
Helen