"KEMH family birth centre"

As soon as I knew I was pregnant I knew I wanted to give birth at the KEMH family birth centre. It had everything I wanted; continuity of care with the same midwife, the option to have the low intervention water birth of my dreams and being able go home as soon as possible after the birth. My primary midwife was incredible. I loved every appointment with her. I felt listened to and safe. One of my favourite things in the lead up to my birth was reading the birth stories on the Facebook page. I enjoyed hearing about the different births, especially when things didn't go as planned. I was even honoured to have my own birth story featured.

I developed pre eclampsia so had to have a lot of monitoring appointments at the main hospital in MAFAU towards the end of my pregnancy. The staff here are skilled and very calm and friendly which is very reassuring for a patient. I felt valued and cared for every visit. My baby was in the breech position so I didn't get my water birth and instead had a planned caesarean which then resulted in a couple complications and a stay in ASCU. The staff throughout this period from pre op to discharge were faultless but the staff in ASCU were something else. Every person who interacted with me during my stay here was incredible, these midwives are extremely knowledgeable and caring. I also want to acknowledge the staff in the special care nursery where my baby stayed for a couple nights. Obviously I was quite emotional and the kindness and empathy I received here from not just one but multiple staff members was just what I needed during a tough week.

After my discharge I really enjoyed the opportunity to attend a morning tea put on by the birth centre, it was so lovely to meet other mums and mums to be and have a chance to reconnect with my midwife who played such a huge part of my life and then suddenly you no longer see them as soon as baby is here.