MONTREAL -- Pregnant women in Pointe-Saint-Charles now have the option to be followed by a midwife after the Clinique communautaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles recently began offering midwifery services.

Access to the alternative care service is still extremely limited in Quebec, and the new centre is already in high demand.

"When you're birthing, you need to feel confident, you need to feel intimacy, you need to feel empowered, and I think our model of care promotes that," said midwife Claudia Faille.

Women who choose to be followed by a midwife benefit from having control over their birthing plan.

"If you want to give birth at a hospital, that's fine. If you want to give birth at home, that's fine," said Alycia Jenner, a client at the clinic. "If you want the lights on, that's fine. Lights off? That's fine."

The process is personalized, natural and holistic.

"We don't just focus on your baby and your health. We focus on your family, on your relationships, how you're adapting to your pregnancy," said Faille.

The centre offers all of the regular ultrasounds, blood tests and other care during a pregnancy at the clinic, as well as a host of follow-up services after the birth.

"Healthy women don't need specialized services for a normal birth," said Faille. "They need first line practitioners who are midwives and family doctors." 

Faille said the province needs more midwifery services to take some of the burden off OBGYNs and the healthcare system.

"There needs to be more trained midwives, (and) there needs to be more support, more finance," said Faille.

Two-thirds of women who seek midwifery services are unable to find one.