How to Choose your Midwife or OB in LA: A Doula’s Guide to Finding Your Best Birth Team
Choosing an OB or midwife in Los Angeles can deeply influence your birth experience. This guide explains what to look for, what to ask, and how to find a provider who supports your goals.
Table of Contents:
OBs vs. Midwives,
Why Choosing the Right Provider in Los Angeles Is Important,
Spotlight on Moxie Birth Center,
Deciding What Kind of Birth You Want,
Questions to Ask a Provider,
Red Flags, Green Flags,
Recommended Podcasts,
How Can a Doula Help You Choose?
Choosing your obstetrician or midwife is one of the most important decisions you will make during pregnancy. Your provider shapes not only your medical care, but the atmosphere of your pregnancy, the tone of your labor, and the choices you are offered when birth becomes intense.
In Los Angeles, a city with widely varying hospital practices and C-section rates, your choice can make a meaningful difference.
As a doula in LA, supporting families across hospitals, birth centers, and home birth practices, I have seen that one of the most significant predictors of how supported a family feels in birth is their provider. The right provider can support physiologic birth, informed consent, and a calm experience. The wrong provider can create unnecessary pressure, rushed decisions, and avoidable interventions.
This guide will help you understand your options, identify red flags, and choose the OB or midwife who aligns with your values and your birth goals.
OBs vs. Midwives: Understanding Your Options in Los Angeles
Before choosing a provider, it helps to understand what each type of care offers, especially since LA has many practice models.
OB GYNs (Obstetricians)
Obstetricians are medical doctors and surgeons who attend births in hospitals. They are trained to manage complications and perform cesareans. OBs are essential for high-risk pregnancies. Some support physiologic birth, while others may follow more traditional hospital timelines or intervention protocols.
OB practices in Los Angeles often function as group practices, so you may see a different provider at each appointment and a different doctor on call when you give birth.
Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs)
CNMs are registered nurses with graduate-level midwifery training. They attend births in hospitals and birth centers. CNMs specialize in physiologic birth, informed consent, and a personalized approach to care. They typically spend more time with patients during prenatal visits and labor.
CNMs absolutely support epidural use when desired. Choosing a hospital-based midwife does not mean committing to an unmedicated birth.
Learn more about the midwifery model of care:
American College of Nurse-Midwives, Why Choose a Midwife?
Licensed Midwives (LMs/CPMs)
Licensed midwives provide care in homes and freestanding birth centers. They focus on physiologic birth, autonomy, and long, relationship-based prenatal visits. Licensed midwives achieve excellent outcomes in low-risk pregnancies and offer continuity of care uncommon in hospital settings.
Learn more here:
NACPM “Who are CPMs?”
Why Choosing the Right Provider in Los Angeles Is Important
People in Los Angeles have many options for giving birth, but the variation between hospitals and practices can be vast. This means your experience can look dramatically different depending on where and with whom you give birth.
Some important points for LA families:
C-section rates vary significantly across LA hospitals, from the low 20 percent range to over 40 percent.
Induction practices vary widely.
Policies regarding movement, pushing positions, eating during labor, and monitoring differ from hospital to hospital.
Some OB practices rely heavily on group rotations, so the provider you see prenatally may not be the one attending your birth.
CNM hospital teams are becoming increasingly available and offer a low-intervention approach within the hospital setting.
LA has a robust community midwifery network for home birth and birth center options.
A note on water birth:
Los Angeles hospitals do not offer water birth. Some hospitals allow laboring in water, but none allow delivering the baby in the tub. If water birth is a priority, consider a home birth or birth center option.
Spotlight: Moxie Birth Center in South Pasadena, CA
One truly unique option in the LA area is Moxie Birth Center in South Pasadena. Moxie offers a hybrid model that combines midwifery care with in-house obstetric collaboration for families in the LA area. This gives families the benefits of midwife-led care with integrated medical support when needed.
Moxie Birth Center offers:
Prenatal care with midwives
OB backup within the same practice
Out-of-hospital birth with a birth tub and nitrous oxide as the norm
Hospital birth if the pregnancy becomes high-risk
Water birth availability
Longer, relationship-based appointments
A community-centered environment
This model is particularly valuable for families who want the support of the midwifery model, combined with the reassurance of integrated medical care.
What Kind of Birth Do You Want? You can start by asking yourself some questions.
Your ideal provider depends on your personal birth values, your comfort level, and your medical needs. Learning about what will help you feel confident and safe is essential and unique to you and your previous lived experience.
Ask yourself:
How important is a low-intervention or physiologic birth?
What tools do I want to utilize for pain management?
How important is my desire for a vaginal birth?
Do I feel safer in a hospital, birth center, or at home?
Do I prefer longer, more personalized prenatal visits?
Am I planning a VBAC?
How does cost play into my decision of where to give birth?
Do I want continuity with one provider or comfort working with a group?
How far am I willing to travel? Do I want them to come to me?
If your goal is a low-intervention or physiologic birth
Consider a birth center, home birth midwife, or a hospital-based CNM. Some OBs are also very supportive of physiologic birth.
If you want an epidural in labor
Both OBs and hospital CNMs are excellent options. Hospital midwives regularly care for patients with epidurals and provide ongoing hands-on support, position changes, and guidance. Epidurals are not available at a birth center or home birth.
If you want a VBAC
Choose a VBAC supportive OB or a CNM group with OB backup. In LA, VBAC policies vary significantly by provider and hospital. Read more on the topic: VBAC: Your Guide to LA Birth Options
If you want a home or birth center birth
Licensed midwives or birth center midwives are the appropriate providers.
If you have a high-risk pregnancy
An OB or MFM specialist is appropriate, and a doula would be a great addition, offering holistic support throughout your entire birth experience.
Questions to Ask an OB or Midwife in Los Angeles
These questions will help you understand a provider’s true practice style.
What is your C-section rate for first-time parents?
In the last month, how many of your patients were given an induction? When do you think it is necessary?
How do you determine whether labor is progressing normally?
What positions do you most often see your patients pushing?
What are your policies around movement, hydration, and eating in labor?
What is your episiotomy rate? Read more on the blog: Episiotomy Rates in Los Angeles Hospitals
If my baby were breech at the beginning of the Third Trimester, what would my options be?
Do you have any planned time off that would affect you being able to attend my birth?
Who will attend my birth if you are not available?
How do you feel about working with doulas?
Red Flags to Watch For
These may indicate a provider who is not practicing Evidence-based care:
Dismisses or belittles your concerns or questions
Relying on outdated timelines, such as one centimeter per hour
Strong pressure toward induction without a clear medical reason
Only allowing pushing on your back.
Not allowing food or drink in labor.
Discouraging movement
Commenting negatively about doulas
Rushing through appointments
Not offering risks and benefits before interventions.
Green Flags
These suggest you have found a supportive, evidence-based provider:
They ask about your birth preferences and fears.
They give explanations that make sense and provide you with time to make decisions.
They welcome your questions and take time to listen to you.
They support mobility, alternate positions, and individualized care.
They have collaborative relationships with doulas.
They have reasonable C-section and induction rates.
They respect informed decision-making.
How a Doula Helps You Choose the Right Provider
Choosing a provider is a significant part of birth preparation, and it is something I help families navigate often. A doula can support you by:
Explaining differences between LA hospitals
Providing insight into various provider styles
Helping you prepare questions for appointments
Clarifying medical language
Supporting you if you decide to switch providers
Offering a perspective on how each provider approaches real-life labor situations
Helping you identify a provider who aligns with your values
You do not need to figure this out alone.
Recommended Podcasts About Choosing a Birth Provider
If you prefer to learn by listening, these podcast episodes offer thoughtful, evidence-based conversations about choosing an OB or midwife, navigating hospital culture, and understanding your full range of birth options. These are excellent resources for both pregnant parents and partners.
Evidence-Based Birth® Podcast
Top 10 Evidence-Based Strategies For Lowering the Risk of Cesarean -Episode 343
A clear, research-based discussion of how to reduce the chance of needing a cesarean.
What is Respectful Maternity Care? with Dr Jessica Brumley -Episode 338
Learn how respectful care can improve outcomes, build trust, and why a “midwife for every community” could change the landscape of maternal health in the United States.
Advocating for Yourself During Prenatal Visits with Dr Leslie Farrington, OB/GYN -Episode 332
Dr. Farrington also offers practical strategies for building confidence, addressing power imbalances in medical settings, and ensuring patients are heard and respected.
Rise of Home Birth in the US - Episode 22
Rebecca Dekker explores the rise in Home birth rates in the US.
Birthful Podcast
Why Choosing the Right Care Provider is Crucial for Your Pregnancy with Dr Robin Elise Weiss
A practical conversation about how to determine whether your provider’s philosophy aligns with your goals.
How to Know if Your Provider Is Truly a Good Fit? with Dr Brad Bootstaylor
Great for families planning a hospital birth who still want individualized, physiologic care.
These podcast episodes are a great way to deepen your understanding, consider new questions, and explore what type of provider and setting feels right for you.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right OB or midwife is a profoundly personal decision that can shape the tone, safety, and emotional experience of your birth. You deserve care that aligns with your values, supports shared decision making, and helps you feel genuinely seen and heard throughout pregnancy and labor. If you are preparing for birth in Los Angeles and want steady, evidence-based support from someone who knows the local landscape and understands how to navigate the many variables of LA birth, I would love to be your labor doula.
I offer birth and postpartum doula care, private childbirth education, and guidance throughout pregnancy. If you are curious about what working together could look like, you are welcome to schedule a discovery call to learn more about my services and see if I am the right fit for your family.
Rebecca Belenky is a Los Angeles–based postpartum doula, childbirth educator, and lactation specialist who has been supporting families since 2014. Through her practice, Los Angeles Birth, she offers compassionate, trauma-informed care that helps parents to feel informed, grounded, and confident throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum journey. Her expertise in postpartum support, newborn care, and lactation education makes her a trusted resource for families in Los Angeles seeking guidance and reassurance.
