Midwives do continuity of care with clients, so normally during pregnancy they will discuss the couple's preferences for the birth.
So it's quite different, because we don't necessarily go to a hospital. If the couple chooses to go to a hospital, we will be responsible for that birth with them unless we transfer the care. When we transfer the care, we don't necessarily ask them to have a birth plan because then we get into complications. We transfer the care because it's not about trying to protect a normal birth. When we transfer the care, it's because it's getting into interventions so it's quite different.
During the pregnancy, we do discuss with the couples we are following their preferences and what they want for the birth. Decision-making is an important part of how we work. We call it le choix éclairé or informed choice. They can decide on a lot of the different details of what is going to happen and how it is going to happen in their birth, starting with where they are going to give birth.