Save. Spend. Splurge.
January 9, 2014

How do you go about getting an obstetrician or OB in Toronto Ontario Canada?

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?

stock-medical-baby-newborn-child-doctor-ob

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.

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30 Comments

  • Olaide
    August 8, 2023

    Hello. New in Canada and about 30wks pregnant. Just wanted to find out after confirming you’re pregnant and getting referred by the family doctor, how soon after that do you get an OBs appointment.?

    Reply
  • Claire
    March 31, 2021

    Thank you so much for this post!! It’s been so informative for me. I’m having my first pregnancy and there’s so much you need to do. You have these small questions in your head about how things work and it’s so hard to find answers. I know doctors will give you answers but it’s just nicer to go through all this not blind.

    Reply
  • Aliza
    July 3, 2018

    Hi, thanks for your article.
    I was just wondering how long did it take for your doctor to confirm the urine and blood test results?
    Did they call you the next day itself?
    I just got a positive pregnancy test at home and have booked an appointment to see my family doctor tomorrow.
    I just can’t wait to have it confirmed by the doc so I was wondering how long it would take.

    Reply
    • Sherry of Save. Spend. Splurge.
      July 4, 2018

      It was that day.

      I peed into a cup, she dipped in a stick she had for testing and she came back about 10 minutes later to confirm. It’s the same kind of test you use at home but a professional grade one that can tell you by the HCG levels approximately how far you are along.

      CONGRATULATIONS!!!

      Reply
  • Tay
    August 13, 2017

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I was looking for “how to find an OB in Toronto” and got to your page. I’m not in Toronto currently but we are moving there from the US. I’m actually pretty happy with my insurance and doctors here in the US, just worried I won’t get to “choose” my doctors in Toronto. My view may be totally wrong but I am a bit concerned. Despite all the cry, I must say the healthcare system in the states is phenomenal ( granted you have to be a bit higher than middle class).

    I’m just concerned about the waiting time and lack of making choices in Toronto. Are my fears irrational? Also do we have private clinics there that I can seek out? We will be having OHIP.

    Reply
  • Sam
    October 9, 2016

    Hi,

    My wife is pregnant with twins with an expected delivery date end of January 2017.  We are currently in Canada as visitors. We are not Canadians nor permanent residents.

    My question: can I bring my wife to see an obstetric doctor? We don’t have OHIP.
    Cost won’t be an issue to us and can cover all costs or fees required in advance.

    Please advise.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • save. spend. splurge.
      October 10, 2016

      Yes. You can, you will just pay out of pocket probably up front.

      Go to any hospital, say you’re visitors and you want your pregnant wife to see an obstetrician and you will pay out of pocket.

      You can also search for private clinics and explain the situation, and they may have already dealt with the issue before and know the procedure.

      Reply
  • Laura Ray
    February 8, 2016

    I did a home test last week and it was positive! im in Toronto its my first pregnancy! I thought what now? I was kinda freaking out a little bit! scoured google looking for answers watched a few youtube vlogs and the girl was talking about her ob and dumb as it sounds I had no idea what that was! searched how to find one in Toronto and came across your post… just wanted to say thanks for posting this! very helpful! and I will be getting myself to the dr. asap!

    Reply
  • Laurie @thefrugalfarmer
    January 16, 2014

    Wow, things are so different there!! Good choice on going with an OB, though. For our first, we went with our primary care physician and it was NOT a good birth. Our OB, however, was absolutely awesome, and we had him for all of our next three babies.

    Reply
  • Sonia
    January 15, 2014

    I think it depends on the hospital. The hospital I gave birth at they have shared care. So, your GP sees you earlier on in your pregnancy and the OBGyn sees you at around 18 weeks onwards. The OBGyn that delivers the baby is whomever is on call the day of.

    With the first delivery, the OBGyn was in the washroom and missed the delivery so the nurses handled it all. For the 2nd delivery, I lucked out and my OBGyn was on call.

    All the books in the world don’t prepare you for some of what happens in the hospital after delivery. So, when you have some time, give me a shout and I’ll share some advice with you. 🙂

    Reply
  • Potato
    January 9, 2014

    We called ~5 midwife clinics to get put on a waiting list (ended up getting our first choice near Finch & Senlac), and ~5 OB’s. Two of the OB’s receptionists just laughed at us, so 3 more waiting lists. Had an appointment with one OB at a teaching hospital. I’m all for letting residents and students poke at me — they have to learn somehow, and the teaching hospitals usually have the best facilities and specialists to back them up — but this guy was poking above the rib cage for the baby. Wayfare was like “dude, you’re off by a mile. Womb’s down there.” Got the slot at the midwifery clinic later that week so we bailed on the OB.

    Ended up being an emergency OB delivery anyway, but the midwife continued to do after care.

    Reply
    • save. spend. splurge.
      January 10, 2014

      They laughed at you!?

      I’m kind of giggling at the student poking you in the rib. I had something similar happen to me.. the nurse looked at him and said: Son, the baby is here, and you should start measuring HERE where this ridge is.

      *commence 15 minutes of him trying to find the ridge on my stomach to measure the fundus*….

      Reply
  • jolie
    January 9, 2014

    For my first I didn’t realize things were wonky until one day I did some math and said “hey it’s been 70 days since I had my last cycle.” Irregular monthlies made it harder to tell.

    With my second, I planned around ovulation day, took a HPT 10 days after and got a positive. The DR confirmed that about a month later when I finally got in.

    Make sure you read the C-section in your ‘what to expect’ book. I didn’t bother to thinking I wouldn’t need one. I was TOTALLY unprepared for a section with DS1 🙂

    Reply
    • save. spend. splurge.
      January 10, 2014

      You know, I thought I had just missed my period because I switched to being vegan which could change my body enough to make me stop (lack of iron perhaps).. at any rate I thought it was related to that so I didn’t think about it.

      Yes! I have read the C-section area and it sounds a lot easier than pushing a watermelon/grapefruit out….

      Reply
  • AdinaJ
    January 9, 2014

    It’s more or less the same in Alberta. I took HPTs each time, then confirmed at the family doctor’s office. He referred me to an OB. The difference was that he asked if I had a preference as to a particular OB. I gave him my first choice (based on friends’ recommendations) and was able to get in to see her. I’m guessing that if you don’t have a preference, they go about picking an OB for you based on the hospital you want to deliver at (who has privileges there, is taking patients, etc.)

    Reply
  • dojo
    January 9, 2014

    I chose my OBGYN after some very serious internet research, reading about the doctors in my city. It was years ago. She’s a female doctor, a WONDERFUL person and amazing doctor. She’s the type of OBGYN who actually makes you enjoy going for the consults 😀

    This year I went for my checkup, since I wanted to have a baby and wanted to know everything is in perfect condition. After solving a small problem, I got the ‘green light’ and in 6 weeks time (after the 3 week vacation in Croatia, where ‘it happened’), I got back to her.

    I ‘smelled’ I’m pregnant in 2 weeks since the ‘event’ and waited for another week, so that she doesn’t think I’m a lunatic. Did get a home pregnancy test and it was positive.

    She gave me a sonogram and noticed a small dot in my uterus. Hunch confirmed, I got pregnant. So I’m one of the few ‘crazy’ women who knew she was pregnant in a month’s time. The good thing is that I got the chance to see my daughter grow from that dot to an almost newborn size. She’ll be ‘arriving’ in 5 weeks and it’s really great to see how much she grew.

    I wouldn’t go to an OBGYN I don’t know or trust. This lady is so good that I’ve recommended her to everyone I know and I’m very confident that the birth (probably a c-section) will go great.

    Reply

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