how involved will midwife be during delivery?

xnbride

For those of you going with a midwife, have you discussed how involved she will be during L&D.  Are they usually more involved than OBs or do they too breeze in at the end when the baby is ready to come? 

I had an OB (whom I loved) for my first son and since I had him so fast, she practically had to race in and catch him.  I wonder if my midwife will be more involved during the actually L&D part or if she is really just like an OB in this regard and come in when she gets a call from the nurse when I am at 10cm?  I will ask her about it tomorrow at my appt. 

BakerMommy

My MW will be there with me the whole time, and will be as involved as I want her to be.  She said for some deliveries she coaches a lot, and steps back when moms want her to.  It's most likely I'll be her only patient at the hospital at the time, so she won't have to run back and forth between people and can give me her attention as I need it.

Mereou12

You'll probably have to talk to your midwife...or better yet, try to find someone that had the same midwife for their labor.

I did my nursing internship in L&D, and depending on the practice, some MWs acted just like OBs--they asked not to be called until delivery was inevitable, and often arrived just as the baby was crowning. One MW was notorious for missing deliveries altogether because she would wait so long. Other midwives were in and out through labor, and were present during the entire pushing phase.

emmyloustu

If we deliver at the birthing center, our MW will be by our side the entire time unless things are going really slowly and we want some down time. If we end up at the hospital, MW said she will leave the ball in our court as to how much we want her to stay by our side.

HRALFS

My sister had a MW and she was there the entire labor and delivery. She was very helpful and supportive, my sister was very happy with her experience!