I always like checking out Wave Magazine, which is the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s bi-monthly publication, and a headline on the most recent issue’s cover caught my eye: “Pregnant? You Have Delivery Options“.

The article is a spotlight on family doctors as maternity health care providers and specifically, Manitoba’s Family Medicine Obstetrics Network (FMON). I’d never heard about it before, and was thrilled and heartened to learn about this group of family doctors who are committed to some of the things I believe are critical in maternity care:

“The doctors provide pre- and post-natal care to their patients, and view childbirth as an important family event and as a natural process. They provide high-quality, safe, low intervention maternity care in their offices, says Kredentser, adding that the network only accepts patients with low-risk pregnancies. …

Women are enjoying having this option for delivery again, says Kredentser, adding that delivering newborns is a passion for her and all the other family doctors who participate in the network. “We offer family-centred care. We recognize the value of support persons for the laboring mother, and welcome their involvement,” she says. “And after the baby is born, we continue that care.”

I had mixed feelings about the “Delivery Options” sidebar on page 9 — while technically accurate, it’s misleading to portray midwifery care and the birth centre as options on equal footing with OBs, considering that the province hasn’t funded nearly enough positions to meet the demand there is for midwives. But I was delighted to see doulas mentioned within this section, because I think every woman should have a doula, especially if she doesn’t have a midwife.

I encourage you to check out the article; it’s an interesting read!

p.s. This list looks to be several years old, so it may have changed, but it has short bios of the family docs who are part of  FMON at St. B and HSC.