Firstly, congratulations!
You are expecting a baby (ooo exciting!!), and moreover expecting one in Toronto Ontario, which means I am able to help provide SOME information on what you can expect.
Secondly, it was a question I too struggled with but have been too dumb to realize that other women may have the same question.
Not every woman has access to someone who has lived in Toronto and recently given birth, and this was my case as well, so here’s my short post on how I did it.
HOW DO YOU GET AN OB (OBSTETRICIAN) IN TORONTO, ONTARIO CANADA?
Newborn baby in the .. Wrinkly Raisin phase, would you say?
Note: OHIP = Ontario Health Insurance Plan
This is how I did it:
I did not take any pregnancy test at home, and found out at the doctor’s office.
Funny story: My intuition was apparently spot on because just before I went to my appointment to figure out why I wasn’t eating and why I felt so tired all the time, I bought a pregnancy test at Shoppers Drug Mart for $20 and went to the doctor’s.
I was thinking: Hey if they tell me everything is fine and nothing is wrong, maybe they missed that I’m pregnant and I can just test myself at home.
At the time, stupidly I did not think that I could just ask the doctor and have the test done there (FOR FREE under OHIP).
Anyway, turned out I was pregnant, and I returned the test and got my $20 back.
Once I found out I was pregnant with a urine test and blood work, she gave me the good news (I was in total shock, not expecting this happy surprise at all), and then immediately sent my files over to the nearest hospital to the clinic as a reference to obtain an OB.
I am not sure if you can do it any other way other than going through your family doctor first, but if you do not have a family doctor, you can always try and find the closest hospital to you and call their maternity ward to set up an appointment to get an OB.
I am iffy on this working even if you have OHIP because I think they probably want you to confirm it with a doctor, any doctor really even if it’s a walk-in clinic one, instead of relying on a home pregnancy kit.
So go find a doctor. Any doctor. Confirm that you’re pregnant and get an OB referral.
At the hospital you are assigned an OB that is available to take you on (depending on their current load of patients), and she or he stays with you the entire pregnancy as your OB.
They may even be the ones to actually deliver your baby, but don’t be too hung up on this happening. (I’m not.)
Also, the other question I had was a preference of a woman OB or a male OB.
In my opinion, they’re equal in terms of competence and ability, and you can get either at your delivery and there’s also nothing on or around the human body that they haven’t seen before so don’t be shy.
For my personal preference I think I prefer a male OB to be honest.
This is just because in the experience I have had rotating between some temporary OBs while mine was on vacation, I feel like they take more time to sit down with you, ask you questions, give you information and generally hold your hand through the process because they’re very detached from it all (obviously they have no idea what you’re going through, they can only imagine it in great detail).
Still if you get a great OB you get a great OB, male or female. Doesn’t really matter.
Just my two cents.
