"Maternity Services before and after birth"

We wanted to say a huge thank you to the maternity staff at Kununurra Hospital after the recent birth of our baby, as well as provide some feedback.

We appreciated seeing the same lovely midwife, Hanneke, for all of our antenatal appointments, though were nervous not knowing many of the maternity ward midwives, who might be at the birth.

As it turned out, we had nothing to be nervous about! We felt incredibly safe and supported by midwives Denise and Bridget, and later by Dr Davina. We are so grateful for the calm, positive and empowering labour and birth that you all shared and facilitated for us - thank you, thank you!

We also have nothing but praise for the midwives who supported us after the birth, including community midwife Dyanna and anyone who answered the maternity ward phone - what great services, that certainly set us up for a positive start to breastfeeding and new parenthood.

Unfortunately, our experience with a different obstetric doctor on the ward the day after our birth, was not so positive. As first time parents, about 12 hours after a long labour, running on very little sleep, I felt we were not met with any warmth or kindness. Worse, we were actually made to feel awful about my wishes and decisions for some of my post partum care. We believed these to be informed decisions and not at all outrageous (like seeking some of my own follow up privately and wanting further assessment before deciding on a post partum intervention). However, regardless of how anyone might appraise my decision about my care, it is exactly that and I feel should be respected. I feel that health care providers should endeavour to empower patients at all times, and especially when they are newborn mothers. 

Our only other criticism about our experience would be the midwife staffing levels the day after the birth. Whilst any midwife who attended to us was lovely and helpful, I felt they were very busy and seemingly not very available. By late morning, we had to buzz for any care and support we needed (including prescribed medications) and these needs were sometimes able to be provided by nursing staff, were provided hours later by midwives or not provided at all. The lack of access to midwife support on the ward in these important early hours and days for new parents, I felt, highlighted the essential and highly valued work they do. 

Again, thank you to Denise, Bridget and Davina for helping us bring our tiny human into the world, they way we had hoped. We hope this feedback can be utilised to make positive changes to what is, in my opinion, otherwise a great service, in a small country hospital.