"Child Birth"

I live in Kalgoorlie and recently had a baby. Due to the limited model of care and lack of water birth options at the hospital I chose to have my baby at a Family Birth Centre in Perth. My birth was incredible and I’m so happy with the choices I made however it was very expensive for me to travel to each appointment with my assigned midwife in Perth and to stay in the city for over a month in anticipation of labour, I would much rather have had that experience here in Kalgoorlie. If Kalgoorlie hospital had the option of water birth I would be willing to stay in my home town for my next birth.

My experience with an MGP midwife as a model of care was unmatched and I think it’s a great shame we don’t have that in our town. I would strongly encourage the hospital to provide an MGP program and water births. My birth was intervention free, no medication and I was only at the birth center for the last 4 hours of labour. I’m sure this is not always the case however I strongly feel the model of care I chose and the birth pool were big factors in my outcomes. Less interventions, and women labouring at home for longer periods is surely, in my opinion, in the financial best interest of the hospital- providing an inflatable birth pool, which I believe is a smaller cost than the medications and procedures often used in births.