Maternity FAQs

We strongly recommend receiving a vaccine for COVID-19 in pregnancy. For more information please read the Alberta COVID-19 Vaccination and Vaccine in Pregnancy Handout.

We generally recommend Birth and Babies. These are group classes that are run by Alberta Health Services by trained nurses.

We are extremely fortunate to have our own prenatal registered nurse Jerrai Dais who is a wealth of knowledge. We encourage patients at our clinic to book with her at ~36 weeks to discuss labour, different methods to manage pain including stretching and acupressure, and how your partner can be involved.

We strongly recommend having all obstetrical ultrasounds completed at EFW Radiology in Calgary. EFW specializes in obstetrical ultrasound and are the only clinic in Calgary who have specialized physicians who take a look at your baby.

Alberta Public Labs (formerly Calgary Lab Services) are our centralized lab clinics in Alberta. There are many locations all over the city. We recommend booking an appointment, which you can do online, to decrease the amount of time you have to wait. The blood work we recommend you complete at 26-28 weeks will take 1 hour, so bring something to read and prepare to be at the lab for that time.

This is a common question. Most airlines will allow women to fly until 36 weeks. Two important factors to consider are whether your private insurance will cover you abroad (many will not cover pregnancy beyond 28-34 weeks) and whether you are traveling to a Zika endemic area.

We still recommend avoiding areas with potential exposure to Zika for at least two months prior to conception for women and three months for men. Here are the current recommendations and areas with known Zika outbreaks.

If you are traveling by plane at any point in pregnancy, it is important to prevent blood clots by staying hydrated, walking frequently on the flight and wearing compression stockings.