Some Questions to Ask Your Obstetrician During Pregnancy

You've just found out you're pregnant, but you don't have an obstetrician yet. What questions should you ask potential candidates to figure out whether they're right for you?

Good prenatal care is one of the most important ingredients in the making of a healthy baby. The benefit to finding your perfect match now is that you’ll be able to build a strong bond with someone who can help you through all your gynecological needs. Here are a few questions you may ask your candidates:

1. Do you practice solo or as part of a group?
There are pros and cons to each scenario. Chances are you’ll get plenty of personal attention from a solo practitioner, but if your doctor is on vacation or at the hospital delivering someone else’s baby, you may have your appointment canceled…or you may end up delivering in the hands of someone you've never met. If you choose a group practice, you won't see your primary doctor at every visit, but everyone in the office will be thoroughly familiar with your medical history.

2. How involved can I be in making decisions about my own care?
The more pregnancy decisions you’re involved in making together — such as creating a birth plan and deciding when and whether you’ll be given an epidural — the better you’ll feel about your birth. By asking a potential candidate this question, you’ll get a better sense of how much the doctor will let you have a say in the process.

3. What’s your position on pain relief during labour?
Maybe you know for sure you’re going to birth your baby au naturel. Or perhaps you’ve decided you’re not going to decide on pain relief until you’re sweating it out on the delivery table. Whichever the case, you’ll want to make sure your doc is on the same page as you are when it comes to having pain meds or not. You should also find out if he or she will support your decision to try alternative methods of managing your labour pain, like massage, acupuncture, hypnosis, or hydrotherapy, if that’s something you’d like to try.

4. What’s your induction rate? And what are your criteria for induction?
About 20 percent of all labours are induced these days. Sure, there’s good reason for induction most of the time — medical risks like preeclampsia and diabetes, or when a pregnancy is two or more weeks past due (more commonly 1 week past due). But some docs might be inclined to induce to fit your delivery into his or her schedule — or to fit it into yours. And that might not be the best for you, or your baby.

5. What’s your cesarean delivery rate? When do you recommend a C-section?Cesarean deliveries are extremely safe and about 33 percent of babies today are cesarean delivered, but they should be done only when the health of a mom or baby is at risk. It’s a surgical procedure — one that comes with some risks and a lot of recuperation, and one that shouldn't be performed merely for scheduling convenience or for any other nonmedical reason. If your potential doc is performing C-sections most of the time it’s worth knowing why (it could just be that he or she has a lot of high-risk patients).

Here, I've found my No. 1 Choice ob-gyn in Singapore, and he's Dr. Adrian Tan from ACJ Clinic at Thomson Medical Centre.