"Maternity care"

I'm a first-time mum who also works as a nurse. Being a nurse has made me strong and independent as a person and in turn, I wouldn't want to be an inpatient if I could. I chose to go through King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) Family Birth Centre and it was the best decision I've ever made. They held similar beliefs to what I had and I never needed to explain what my ideal birth plan was because they were always on the same page and were very supportive. I've learnt so much beyond pregnancy, about myself and also about my baby through the highly informative education sessions that are so kindly provided for free (government-run, oh how blessed are we in Australia).

My midwife, Mhairi, and her team (MGP 3), became my biggest source of resource, support and comfort zone in what was an unknown to me then, being my first child. Despite my birth journey looking quite different from my ideal, my birth centre family never left me and I'm forever grateful to Mhairi for being that familiar face of assurance and peace amidst my chaos. On top of this, I'm still amazed at the follow-up care. 

As my baby was born on the earlier side of "term", I was advised to see a lactation consultant. Emiko the LC I ended up seeing reassured and gave me really good tips on breastfeeding and even educated me in detail of how tongue ties affect oneself. (I do have a bad tongue tie so hearing from her, I could resonate and also felt reassured that I did the right thing in fixing my baby's tongue-tie).

Looking back on my journey so far, I cannot imagine having gone through all I went through without all of these well trained and lovely midwives who are a wealth of knowledge and filled with empathy. I wouldn't have wanted to go through my pregnancy and now post-natal care any differently despite the change in circumstances. These midwives have definitely given me the best options for my situation, allowing me to choose what's best as they advocated for me when I couldn't.