"Midwifery Group Pracitice and Caesarean"

After having gone through MGP (Midwifery Group Practice) with my second pregnancy, I knew that with my third baby, MGP would be my chosen route of care.

I was elated to find out that MGP could look after me and that Mariann, who was a student midwife that followed me in my previous pregnancy, was now a fully qualified midwife and worked for MGP. 

From the start she was amazing, she got me in early as I was travelling overseas for 6 weeks and gave me advise about long haul flying whilst pregnant and when I got back we had our regular appointments. She is so knowledgeable, helpful, kind and considerate and I’m so thankful that she could be my midwife this time. She listens to all your concerns, talks you through them and answers all your questions.  

I had a caesarean and Mariann helped me have exactly the birth I wanted, with delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin and made it feel much more natural rather than clinical.

Once I got home Mariann visited me over a 6 week period and I looked forward to her visits. She always took the time to talk about me and how I was doing, thoroughly checked the baby and made me feel like I was doing a great job. My other children also loved seeing her too! 

I always highly recommend MGP and especially Mariann, she is certainly an asset to MGP. MGP and the women who she looks after are very lucky to have her.

My hospital stay was fine but I wasn’t happy about my surgery being changed the day before my procedure. I had received a letter a month previously confirming the caesarean for the morning time slot. I then received a phone call the afternoon before surgery and was told that my surgery would now be in the afternoon. I was upset as we have no family in Townsville and I had made arrangements with friends for my other children to be dropped off at school/daycare and that my husband would collect the children in the afternoon. I asked the hospital to reconsider the time and they said they would try to get me in before midday and I would still need to fast from midnight the night before. I arrived at the hospital at 6.30am and was expecting to go to theatre around 11.30. I finally got called around 1.30pm and by that time I felt so dehydrated and so hungry. I gave birth at 2.50pm and got back to the ward around 5pm, my husband then rushed off to pick our other children up.

Soon after I had to call a nurse as I felt very unwell, my blood pressure and sugar levels had plummeted and I was pumped full of fluids, given juice and biscuits. I believe that being without food and minimal fluids at 9 months pregnant for nearly 24 hours caused this. I think that fasting pregnant patients should be given priority for caesareans. Unless of course there is an emergency, and as my time slot got changed the day before the operation, I don’t believe the surgery that was carried out before me should have been first on the list. Especially as it was a four hour procedure and a caesarean takes considerably less time, so hence should have been carried out prior to it.

It also isn’t fair on the MGP midwives as Mariann was stuck there all day with me when really she should have only been there for a few hours. 

I was so thankful to her for staying with me and keeping me informed of the progress etc.

I also had an issue with my pain relief not working after the operation. I was still in a lot of pain and as I had a PCEA (Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia) I wasn’t allowed any other pain relief. I waited hours and hours for the pain team to come and see me, but they never came and then a midwife realised that it was not in fact, administering any pain relief at all. I ended up getting oral pain medication and having the PCEA removed the next morning. I never did get an explanation as to why it didn’t work.

The maternity ward staff were great and looked after me really well. I enjoyed my stay at the hospital and it allowed me time to recuperate from the surgery.

The unit is really lovely, but I do feel that there should be private rooms for all women. I think that after having a baby, a woman is at her most vulnerable, needs rest, privacy and the last thing you want to do is share with a stranger, especially if their baby cries constantly, or they have an excessive amount of visitors. Also sharing a bathroom with another lady and visitors is not ideal after giving birth. 

Overall I had a lovely experience with Mariann from MGP, a wonderful birth, a great stay and cannot thank the staff enough for looking after me and my baby.