"VBAC at KEMH with MGP"

At the beginning of my pregnancy I didn’t know whether I wanted a VBAC or an elective caesarean. I had wanted a natural water birth for my first baby and had dealt with a lot of disappointment in the months following that first birth. I still wanted a natural birth experience but I felt scared about the outcomes. In our appointments, my midwife from MGP 4 didn’t push me to go for a VBAC, but she informed me, made me feel safe and she believed in me,

During my pregnancy i experienced significant grief over the stillbirth of my sister’s baby and my midwife was wonderful at supporting me through that - processing how it affected me and pointing me to places where I could receive more help.

When my midwife went on leave, I had her buddy midwife for a few appointments and I was very impressed with the communication between them - i was relieved to not have to explain my previous birth story or the situation with my sister - she knew what was going on and I immediately felt that I could trust her.

I felt really safe having a number I could call, knowing that someone I knew and trusted would be on the other end to help me if something seemed wrong with me or my baby.

I wanted to attend a VBAC class but I missed the date. However, the midwife who takes the class rang me up to talk to me and emailed me about resources I could use to inform my birth plan. She was really helpful and supportive. Overall, I felt very well-informed and by the time I was approaching birth, I was feeling confident and excited.

I went into labour in the middle of the night and my midwife answered the phone and told me to come in to the hospital. All the midwives I saw in MFAU made me feel calm and confident. When we got to the birth suite, a midwife from MGP 5 came, since all the midwives from MGP 4 were already attending births. I was nervous about this at first and was very glad that I had chosen to have a student midwife along for this whole journey. The two of them looked over my birth plan and the MGP 5 midwife hunted down the waterproof wireless CTG monitor, turning the sound off, according to my preferences. With her diligently watching over the medical side of things, I felt completely safe to trust my body’s natural process. Because of the way she enacted my birth preferences, I knew she trusted the natural process too and I could face a few medical decisions with confidence and clarity. The birth went very fast at the end and I didn’t make it into the pool. Aside from that, it went completely as I had hoped. I am convinced that the biggest contributor to this was the belief that all these midwives had in me. Having an empowering birth gave me renewed confidence going into my next parenting chapter and positively impacted my mental health.

The MGP 5 midwife went above and beyond when she chose to stay and see through the birth even after shift change. I am so grateful to her for that. Even though she’s gone away for extended leave I was able to leave her a message of gratitude through my MGP 4 midwife.

Based on my experience, I feel the MGP model of care should be the standard of care for every public maternity patient. It is associated with the best birth outcomes for mothers and babies and I would love to see more women having positive birth experiences like I did.