Registered Midwives in Alberta are primary health providers who care for low risk people giving birth during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.
FAQs
Registered Midwives in Alberta are funded by Alberta Health Services. Find out more here. When midwives are at capacity for taking on new patients due to funding, some people choose to pay privately.
Registered Midwives order all the ultrasounds and lab tests indicated for normal and low risk pregnancies. If you have a high risk complication, we will consult with the appropriate physician for their recommendations. Some situations require a transfer of care to a high risk specialist, such as an obstetrician or a paediatrician. If you are under the care of a midwife you do not need to access routine prenatal care with a family doctor or obstetrician.
Midwives are experts in normal, low risk pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding care. People choose midwives because we offer three important pillars to maternity care: choice of birth place (between home, birth centre, and hospital), informed consent (your right and responsibility to choose what’s best for your body and baby) and continuity of care (continuous philosophy of care and often care provider from beginning of pregnancy to 6 weeks of postpartum). Many research studies have shown that midwifery care reduces birth intervention and cesarean delivery, and increases maternal and family satisfaction with birth experience. Midwifery appointments last between 30-60 minutes and midwifery clients benefit from home visits prenatally, during labour, as well as in the first week postpartum.
Birth Doulas provide physical and emotional support during labour and birth. Postpartum doulas support a family in the immediate days and weeks postpartum including help in the home after a baby is born and help with breastfeeding. Doulas are privately paid. Doula training involves a 16 hour course as well as attendance at at least three births. For more information on doula training click here
Registered Midwives are University trained health care professionals and primary care providers funded by Alberta Health Services. Midwives provide medical care to low risk pregnant people from the beginning of pregnancy to 6 weeks postpartum. Doulas and Midwives work very well together. Many of their skills and recommendations regarding natural birth overlap. Having a doula at your birth, especially if it’s your first baby, is a very good idea!
Lucina Midwives will take clients into care who live up to a 45-50 minute drive (about 80 km) from our clinic locations (north-east Edmonton and west Edmonton are out two clinic locations). See Contact Us page for detailed addresses.
We offer choice of birthplace to all our clients, which includes Lucina Birth Centre (register here), home, or hospital. Midwives in Edmonton can have privileges at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Sturgeon Community Hospital, Misericordia Hospital, Grey Nuns Hospital, and Fort Saskatchewan Hospital. Please make sure to check with your midwife to see which hospitals they hold privileges at.
Once you have been accepted as our client, you will be assigned a primary midwife who will complete most of your care. However, at Lucina Midwives we work closely together so there will likely be other midwives in our clinic who will care for you as well. There is always a possibility that your primary midwife will not be available at the time of your labour and delivery, in which case another team midwife will provide excellent care for you. Once you have had your first appointment at Lucina, your primary midwife (or another team member) will be on call for you 24-7.
The routine appointment schedule for prenatal and postpartum care in Alberta is as follows:
- Monthly in the clinic from 10- 28 weeks
- Every 2 weeks in the clinic until 36 weeks
- Every week in the clinic until your birth
- After your baby is born, your midwife will see you and your baby at home on day 1, 3 and 5
- You will return for clinic visits for mom and baby at 2, 4, and 6 weeks postpartum
- At 6 weeks postpartum you will be discharged back to your family physician or paediatrician for continued follow up care.
You must currently be in the care of (any) Registered Midwife in Alberta before you can register to use the Lucina Birth Centre. Registering for the Lucina Birth Centre is easy and quick and can be done as early or late into your pregnancy as you’d like, pending availability. Follow this link to apply to use the Lucina Birth Centre
Yes, you can get midwifery care without Alberta Health Care coverage. If you’re in Alberta from another Canadian province, your out-of-province health care is valid in Alberta for 3 months from time of baby’s birth. If you are from outside of Canada, you can choose to pay privately. Please email our Intake Coordinator for more information at intake@lucinamidwives.ca .
Lucina Midwives is a teaching practice and we support midwifery students of varying educational levels from the Midwifery Education Programs within Canada. With client consent, we welcome students to be involved in our client care. We also invite nursing and nurse practitioner students to spend some time in an observational capacity to learn about midwifery care. Some of our midwives also teach medical students from UofA about birth.