Lead Maternity Carer (LMC)
In New Zealand women are required to choose an LMC to co-ordinate the care they will receive throughout their pregnancy, labour and birth and up to 4-6 weeks after the baby is born. Your LMC can be a midwife, a GP, a hospital-based team, or an obstetrician. The first health professional a woman sees during her pregnancy should inform her of the options available for care and birth. The LMC will provide information and education that will enable you to make informed choices about your care during pregnancy, preparation of the birth, the first few weeks following the birth and for parenting.
Finding the right person to care for you is very important. One way of ensuring you have found the right person/s is by interviewing different health care practitioners in early pregnancy or better still before pregnancy. I welcome interview appointments as an opportunity to find out more about each other and our philosophies.
It is helpful to prepare questions before attending the interview. You may find the New Zealand College of Midwives leaflet " Questions to ask your midwife" helpful. I can post this leaflet to you prior to the first interview if required. The interview appointment generally takes at least one hour. Once the interview has concluded I encourage you to spend time deciding whether or not I am the right health professional for you. I advise you to contact me for further appointments if you would like me to be your LMC.
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The following subjects will be covered:
- nutrition,healthy eating and food safety in pregnancy to avoid listeria and toxoplasmosis
- the risks of smoking, drugs and alcohol
- exercise during pregnancy
- labour and the birth process, pain relief, Use of ecbolic
- postnatal issues such as place of postnatal care, Vitamin K, breastfeeding, baby care, immunisation, community services,
- contraception and many more
For more information about your choices, phone 0800MUM2BE.
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