Parent-to-be hire midwives for a myriad of reasons, from wanting a home birth to more personalized prenatal care to in-hospital natural pain management to support during a cesarean section, but when you are trans or nonbinary, picking a midwife becomes much more complicated.Pregnancy is already an emotionally and physically vulnerable time that is only made more fraught when you are also worried about whether or not the medical professionals you have to rely on are going to use your correct pronouns, respect your relationship, or help you navigate complex feelings about your own body during this time.So how do you know how to pick the right midwife for you, what red flags should you be on the lookout for, and what questions should you be asking your care providers? We talked to author and LGBTQ+ midwife Marea Goodman, who works with the virtual queer community PregnantTogether, to break this all down.How is choosing a midwife for trans and nonbinary parents more complex or different than for their cisgender counterparts?Finding the correct midwife will make you feel more comfortable during your pregnancy and birth journey, but research also shows that having access to an affirming provider and inclusive care reduces health disparities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer populations and leads to better management of mental health conditions. When choosing any type of care provider as a trans and nonbinary person, its important to make sure that they are someone who understands you and your relationships, and can use your correct pronouns and other language that helps you feel safe and comfortable, Goodman tells PRIDE. This is especially important when choosing a midwife, since pregnancy, birth, and postpartum are intensely vulnerable times.To facilitate finding the best midwife for you, Goodman created a free resource on finding affirming care providers while growing your family, which you can access here.What are the benefits for trans and NB parents of having a midwife?Trans and nonbinary future parents are choosing to hire midwives at higher rates than the rest of the population because you get more personalized care. Midwifery care is generally associated with a higher level of personalized care when compared to seeing an obstetrician during pregnancy, they say. "In the United States, people may choose to work with a hospital-based midwife or a homebirth midwife, depending on their access to care, preferences, and health status (midwives are licensed to work with low-risk birthing people, so people with pre-existing conditions may need to see an obstetrician for health reasons).They say that midwives improve health outcomes for patients, including decreasing the risk of surgical intervention, and overwhelmingly improve peoples experiences of receiving medical care."What qualities should you be looking for in a midwife?According to Goodman you should try to find providers who regularly work with trans and nonbinary patients and have the type of medical experience that matches the birthing experience you are looking for. So whether you want a home birth or a hospital birth, look for a midwife who has that type of experience.Make sure that whoever you are interviewing has experience working with trans and/or nonbinary patients, and that everyone in their office does, too. Sometimes, people find a great, affirming provider, only to find out that the front desk personnel or medical assistant doesnt use their preferred pronouns and clearly doesnt have the experience or training to adequately support the queer community.What questions should you ask?Picking a midwife is an important decision so dont be shy about asking hard questions. Goodman recommends asking every potential provider the following:Are you experienced in caring for trans and nonbinary folks? Do you enjoy working with folks like me?What percentage of your practice is currently trans and nonbinary folks?How do your standards of care differ when working with folks in my particular position? How are they the same?Are your intake forms inclusive of trans and nonbinary folks?Have all of your staff, including front desk personnel, received training around supporting trans and nonbinary folks?What is your practices experience with insurance billing and advocacy for trans and nonbinary folks?Does your billing department provide assistance due to the discrimination that people in my position face?What red flags should you be watching out for?Finding the best healthcare provider for you when your trans or nonbinary can be a tall order and youre likely to come across midwives who arent inclusive or dont have the knowledge base to work with the LGBTQ+ community.There are some practices that put a rainbow flag on their website to advertise to the queer community, but havent actually done the work to make their practice a safe place for trans and nonbinary people, Goodman warns. I always recommend asking the hard questions (over email, first, if you can). It can also be extremely helpful to get recommendations from other trans and nonbinary folks in your community and ask them what their experience was working with a particular doctor or clinic.They say you should also one on the lookout for intake paperwork that assumes relationship status or the gender of your partner, negative reviews from community members, or if you have a pervasive feeling of discomfort in their office or in their presence.How can PregnantTogether help?PregnantTogether is a virtual queer family-building community which connect over 300 LGBTQ+ folks and solo parents all across the U.S. and beyond who are trying to grow their families. In the community, you can meet and connect with so many other people like yourselfand often get referrals to doctors and clinics other trans and nonbinary people recommend, Goodman says. We have tons of support and resources for queer folks navigating everything from trying to conceive, pregnancy, feeding their infants, and parentingand we even have local meetups in many cities across the US. You can use this special link to check out the community for your first month, free-of-charge (after that, its $20/month but Im always happy to share sliding scale memberships for those who need).Source cited:Marea Goodman is an author and midwife who founded Restore Midwifery, works with ParentTogether, and co-wrote Baby Making for Everybody: Fertility and Family Building for LGBTQ+ and Solo Parents.