I gave birth to my first child in January of this year and was very fortunate to be able to give birth at the birthing centre. Although at times it didn't look like this was going to be possible.
When finding out I was pregnant at only a few weeks, I called my GP and he recommended I look for a midwife asap. It was really important to us that we had continuity of care, during prenatal, labour, and postnatal, so we were looking for a community LMC.
Our first choice was to have a midwife that was able to birth at the Birthing Centre. If we couldn't find one available, then our second choice was to have a community LMC so we'd still ensure continuity of care. Third option was to pay for an Obstetrician. And the last choice was to go through the hospital midwife group as this meant we'd be unsure who we'd see at appointments and more concerning for us, being unsure who would be there during labour.
You might be wondering why continuity of care was so important to us, this was because we wanted the process to be as relaxed and enjoyable as possible as we believed this would give us the best outcome when it came to the birth of our precious first child (the most natural birth with as little intervention as possible). This is the same reason we wanted to labour at the birthing unit.
The hunt began... I called and emailed numerous midwives to find most were already completely booked for our estimated due date - this was very surprising (and concerning) given I was only six weeks pregnant. It all became pretty stressful as I kept hunting day after day for someone to guide us through this unknown journey. I called, emailed, asked for recommendations, looked at local midwife pages, searched social media - all to get the same response, no one was available to help us.
After a few weeks we finally found a midwife who was a part of a new continuity group the DHB/Lower Hutt Hospital had pulled together - a group of midwives that would work in a similar way community midwives work, meaning we would get to see the same person for our appointments and they would also be there for the birth (all going to plan). We met this lady and felt comfortable to have her as our midwife - luckily, as we didn't have much choice. However, this meant I wouldn't be able to use the birthing unit which was upsetting for us. All was going until unfortunately, when I was 20 weeks pregnant this midwife called with some bad news - the hospital was disbanding the group as two of the midwives had left due to being overworked. I was left with no midwife and was extremely concerned that it would be impossible to find someone at this stage in the pregnancy when I had found it hard at the beginning... After speaking to a friend who had recently had a baby, she said she would ask her midwife if there was any chance she would be able to support us. We were very lucky that she said she would squeeze us in given our unfortunate circumstances.
We met with the second midwife, she was extremely lovely and knowledgeable and we felt comfortable with her - again we were lucky this was the case. The best part, she was registered to use the birthing unit! We worked with this midwife up until I was 40 weeks 3 days, when I received a call from her to say she needed to leave the industry immediately.
You can imagine how upsetting this was for us (and her) given how late in the pregnancy I was. We were very lucky that she had found someone to take over and we met with the new midwife that day - again, another amazing lady came to save the day. This midwife was also registered at the birthing unit, we were so happy this was the case as we'd mentally prepared ourselves that this is where our baby would be born.
Fast forward to the big event (I'll spare you all the details), after many hours in labour we arrived at the birthing unit - the room was ready for our arrival (lights dimmed, warm, bed ready, bath running), the staff were there to greet us, it was quiet and calm - I instantly felt relaxed. The environment was exactly what I had imagined would help me through the birth of our first child. I never felt at risk or like I wasn't receiving a high level of support. I had quite a long labour but we got there in the end - our beautiful baby boy was born with no intervention (from what I know I don't believe this would have been the case had we been at the hospital).
We spent the next two nights in the birthing centre and the support only got better. There were so many benefits in using the birthing centre - I was delivered delicious nutritious food and drinks which was so important after the energy used during labour, we were offered continuous support to help us with the unknowns of being first time parents, there was plenty of room for our guests who were made to feel very welcome, it continued to be quiet and calm meaning we were able to get much needed rest, and best of all my husband was able to stay with us in a queen size bed - an absolute game changer! No one wants their husband to have to leave them after the most amazing (and strenuous) event of their lives!!
The room had everything we needed and the staff were always available very quickly when we needed them. Although labour is not a pleasant thing to go through, the experience was positive given it was here and I was so grateful to use this facility for so many reasons - most of all for the caring, nurturing, calming environment.
I truly believe that things would have been much different if we'd been at the hospital.
These midwives are doing a phenomenal job, they carry so much responsibility bringing our precious babies into this world, and they continuously dig so deep to give the families they support everything they have. It would be an absolute waste for this facility to be closed.
The focus should be flipped to work on how it can be utilised more so others can look back on their experience as I do.
When finding out I was pregnant at only a few weeks, I called my GP and he recommended I look for a midwife asap. It was really important to us that we had continuity of care, during prenatal, labour, and postnatal, so we were looking for a community LMC.
Our first choice was to have a midwife that was able to birth at the Birthing Centre. If we couldn't find one available, then our second choice was to have a community LMC so we'd still ensure continuity of care. Third option was to pay for an Obstetrician. And the last choice was to go through the hospital midwife group as this meant we'd be unsure who we'd see at appointments and more concerning for us, being unsure who would be there during labour.
You might be wondering why continuity of care was so important to us, this was because we wanted the process to be as relaxed and enjoyable as possible as we believed this would give us the best outcome when it came to the birth of our precious first child (the most natural birth with as little intervention as possible). This is the same reason we wanted to labour at the birthing unit.
The hunt began... I called and emailed numerous midwives to find most were already completely booked for our estimated due date - this was very surprising (and concerning) given I was only six weeks pregnant. It all became pretty stressful as I kept hunting day after day for someone to guide us through this unknown journey. I called, emailed, asked for recommendations, looked at local midwife pages, searched social media - all to get the same response, no one was available to help us.
After a few weeks we finally found a midwife who was a part of a new continuity group the DHB/Lower Hutt Hospital had pulled together - a group of midwives that would work in a similar way community midwives work, meaning we would get to see the same person for our appointments and they would also be there for the birth (all going to plan). We met this lady and felt comfortable to have her as our midwife - luckily, as we didn't have much choice. However, this meant I wouldn't be able to use the birthing unit which was upsetting for us. All was going until unfortunately, when I was 20 weeks pregnant this midwife called with some bad news - the hospital was disbanding the group as two of the midwives had left due to being overworked. I was left with no midwife and was extremely concerned that it would be impossible to find someone at this stage in the pregnancy when I had found it hard at the beginning... After speaking to a friend who had recently had a baby, she said she would ask her midwife if there was any chance she would be able to support us. We were very lucky that she said she would squeeze us in given our unfortunate circumstances.
We met with the second midwife, she was extremely lovely and knowledgeable and we felt comfortable with her - again we were lucky this was the case. The best part, she was registered to use the birthing unit! We worked with this midwife up until I was 40 weeks 3 days, when I received a call from her to say she needed to leave the industry immediately.
You can imagine how upsetting this was for us (and her) given how late in the pregnancy I was. We were very lucky that she had found someone to take over and we met with the new midwife that day - again, another amazing lady came to save the day. This midwife was also registered at the birthing unit, we were so happy this was the case as we'd mentally prepared ourselves that this is where our baby would be born.
Fast forward to the big event (I'll spare you all the details), after many hours in labour we arrived at the birthing unit - the room was ready for our arrival (lights dimmed, warm, bed ready, bath running), the staff were there to greet us, it was quiet and calm - I instantly felt relaxed. The environment was exactly what I had imagined would help me through the birth of our first child. I never felt at risk or like I wasn't receiving a high level of support. I had quite a long labour but we got there in the end - our beautiful baby boy was born with no intervention (from what I know I don't believe this would have been the case had we been at the hospital).
We spent the next two nights in the birthing centre and the support only got better. There were so many benefits in using the birthing centre - I was delivered delicious nutritious food and drinks which was so important after the energy used during labour, we were offered continuous support to help us with the unknowns of being first time parents, there was plenty of room for our guests who were made to feel very welcome, it continued to be quiet and calm meaning we were able to get much needed rest, and best of all my husband was able to stay with us in a queen size bed - an absolute game changer! No one wants their husband to have to leave them after the most amazing (and strenuous) event of their lives!!
The room had everything we needed and the staff were always available very quickly when we needed them. Although labour is not a pleasant thing to go through, the experience was positive given it was here and I was so grateful to use this facility for so many reasons - most of all for the caring, nurturing, calming environment.
I truly believe that things would have been much different if we'd been at the hospital.
These midwives are doing a phenomenal job, they carry so much responsibility bringing our precious babies into this world, and they continuously dig so deep to give the families they support everything they have. It would be an absolute waste for this facility to be closed.
The focus should be flipped to work on how it can be utilised more so others can look back on their experience as I do.
