"The birth of our son"

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the MGP at the Family Birth Centre - KEMH early in my pregnancy. Thanks to a low risk pregnancy, I was able to continue with the program through birth and beyond. The care I received throughout was truly extraordinary. I still cannot believe it is a public service available to all low risk women.

My midwife, Georgia, exuded passion for her job, despite the demands of the role (the more I learned about the role, the more impressed I was at midwives' ability to continue in such a demanding job). Georgia's knowledge of all aspects of antenatal care, birth and postpartum helped guide me seamlessly through a rather complicated process of acquiring relevant knowledge and making decisions that would affect myself and my son for the rest of our lives. 

With the support of Georgia and other midwives from the FBC (as well as my husband), I was able to have the natural, vaginal birth that I had hoped and planned for. What I am most thankful for though, is the continuity of care into postpartum. This was especially important to me as I had a complicated start to breastfeeding which involved donor milk, as well as syringe and line feeding. It was so helpful having the same midwife visit me at home each day. We were able to build on the previous day's success, and within a few days, I was breastfeeding my son. 

I really do believe our transition into parenthood would have looked very different had we not received the care we did.