"Midwifery Group Care"

Following a difficult labour and birth of my first child which resulted in numerous emergency interventions in the second stage of labour, I was referred to the Midwifery Group Practice at KEMH for care in my second pregnancy.

My wish from the outset was to try for a natural birth and avoid any unnecessary interventions, including induction of labour. Due to my age, the hospital policy was to monitor the late stages of my pregnant more closely and recommended induction if I went past my due date which I felt soured my second trimester.

I was very grateful, however, to have a midwife (Sarah - Midwifery Group 5) who was understanding and supportive of my wishes and was able to weigh up my age-related risk with the absence of any other risk factors and the wellness of both myself and my baby throughout the pregnancy.

Sarah followed the hospital’s guidelines in advising with regards to the option of induction but also advocated for my wishes to avoid this option unless deemed necessary based on medical indicators in either myself or my baby. While I was booked for induction for 41 +10 this was done so that I was on the schedule should it be deemed necessary and I was reminded that I could not and would not be forced to go through with it if I did not want to and there was no medical need to do so. I went into labour naturally at 41 weeks and had a very positive, undisturbed both experience. 

I am sincerely grateful for the pragmatic and honest advice I received as it was critical in supporting my wishes in the face of policy and statistics-driven recommendations from the medical staff. The use of, what I felt were, scary graphs by obstetricians would likely have made me question my instincts had I not had Sarah there to put all the information in context.