"Prenatal and labour support"

The midwives at Northam Hospital were awesome (special mention to Eva) - the whole way through leading up to labour I felt supported and cared for. I appreciated the time they took to answer my never ending list of questions. I always looked forward to each appointment and felt calm and reassured by the midwives’ bright happy faces - they could light up a room with their positive energy. I appreciated their emphasis on me being in control of each decision that would be made during labour - being informed and being reassured that birthing decisions were in my control definitely helped me feel a whole lot less scared about labour!

Having my baby at Northam with Eva was a really great experience. The labour was very mother-driven, so I felt like I could do whatever I needed to do to feel better in the moment and cope with the pain, and never felt judged at all or like I was being watched or examined. Hubby and I were given lots of space and time to work together during the birth, which was a really sweet and intimate experience that I will never forget (complete with hubby singing to me while I was in the shower and both of us sitting together in the tub right towards the end, bub lying on my chest and hubby giving us both a relieving bear hug).

Eva was the comforting presence in the room that I needed - a calm, caring figure who made sure the room was warm, quiet, and dimly lit with little candles. The normally sterile and scary white hospital walls evaporated away and I could just focus on the incredibly powerful moments of birthing my son. Eva was so encouraging and I really appreciated her calm manner.

At every step of the way I felt in control of what was happening, and felt empowered to act and react and birth my son on my own strength, all the while knowing that if I felt like I needed a pep talk or some help, Eva and hubby were right there with me.

Post-natal care was a bit tricky with reduced home visits due to Covid, but Eva was on the ball straight away and brought a breast pump on our first appointment, which in hindsight if she hadn’t brought the pump I would have given up on providing my son with breastmilk altogether. Due to Eva’s quick thinking and the generosity of the hospital in lending me the pump for a few weeks, I was able to buy my own pump and have been successfully able to exclusively pump and feed my big boy all the milk he needs. It is a great joy to me to be able to still feed him breastmilk even though breastfeeding itself didn’t quite work out - and I have the staff at Avon Valley Midwifery Group Practice to thank for that.