Statement of Service.

Thank you for considering our services for your pregnancy journey. We are passionate midwives who have extensive experience in supporting women, and their families to welcome their babies in a positive and empowered way.

We believe in woman’s autonomy and centre our care around the family and their individual needs.

Philosophy of care

It is our strong belief that the childbearing journey is a normal life event and in most circumstances does not need to be managed in a medical model.

Working with you one on one from early in pregnancy through to six weeks after birth allows us to gain a thorough and holistic understanding of your health and wellbeing. One of the strengths of this type of care is that it allows us to identify deviations from normal more readily due to a trusting relationship built over the course of your pregnancy.

Our aim is to allow your pregnancy and birth to unfold in its own natural course without unnecessary interventions or medical management. We support normal pregnancy and physiological birth and support you to be central to any decision making around screening and monitoring.

We focus on supporting you to have a healthy pregnancy and birth with a foundation of good nutrition and personal responsibility taken for overall wellness. We take into consideration and acknowledge the role of emotional, spiritual and cultural safety in relation to the pregnancy and mothering journey.

Aim of our service

To help you to prepare yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually for your birth and parenthood. This is achieved by individualised discussion and information provision, relationship building, and as indicated and agreed to, assessments of you and your baby.

Details of service provided

Midwifery care in our clinic room or at home throughout the antenatal period, birth, and for up to six weeks postpartum.

Our role is to create a trusting partnership with you and your family.

Pregnancy care typically involves checking on the growth and wellbeing of you and your baby. This usually involves abdominal palpation and listening to the baby’s heartbeat, blood pressure checks, and other clinical screening and tests as indicated. During visits, there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss your wellbeing and learn about your wishes and hopes for pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

There may be times when it is indicated to consult or refer with another care provider. If we feel this is necessary we will discuss this with you and gain consent before proceeding.

During labour and birth, care generally involves listening in to the baby regularly and completing observations on you to ensure both you and your baby continue to be well. We have many skills to support you to work with the sensations and possible challenges of labour. It is our goal to create and hold space for you to birth as your body and baby needs.

We do not have access to pharmacological pain relief options. In our experience women cope well at home with good emotional and physical support. Birth in water is available for those women who seek it.

We consider it a priority to support the physiological birth of the placenta and avoid the separation of mother and baby in the immediate postnatal period. Honouring this time provides safety for both mother and baby and promotes healthy family bonding.

As part of our professional practice, we are required to work in collaboration with your GP and the hospital you are booked into. We request your consent to share information with your hospital regarding your and your baby’s wellbeing as part of the collaboration process. To meet our professional responsibilities and the requirements of our MIGA insurance policy we are required to work within the framework of the Australian College of Midwives National Guidelines for Consultation and Referral. This guideline lists circumstances in which, if they arise we might recommend or refer care to a relevant health practitioner or health service during pregnancy, labour, birth or the postnatal period. It is also a legal requirement for two midwives to attend planned homebirths.

Antenatal Visits

Monthly visits until 36 weeks.

Fortnightly or weekly until birth.

Visits are usually at least one hour.

Birth Support

We will attend you in your home, from the time you want your primary midwife to come, remaining after the birth until you are comfortable, feeling well, and confident to care for your baby.

If transfer to a hospital is required, your primary midwife will accompany you and continue to support you. We do not have visitation rights to any hospital so support in that setting will not include clinical care.

We will provide you with the necessary birth documentation.

We do not carry professional indemnity insurance for labour and birth outside of a hospital. This is currently not available for any midwife in Australia attending homebirth.

Postnatal Visits

A visit will be made within 24 hrs of the birth. Further postnatal visits will be dependent on your individual needs.

On-call availability

Once you have booked in we are available to you to support you 24 hours a day. We ask that contact outside business hours be reserved only for those times when clinical care or information is required.

We usually restrict planned time off to those times when a birth is not anticipated. In the event that your primary midwife is unavailable, we will provide you with a backup contact for the time of absence.

Inability to meet service requirements

In the event of serious family illness, accident or death, or any circumstances in which your primary midwife feels unfit to attend you, with consent, we will arrange appropriate backup care from another midwife.

Should a situation arise where we feel our ability to provide safe care is compromised, we maintain our right to withdraw services. Referral to another care provider will be provided where requested.

You maintain a right to cancel our service at any time, you remain responsible for any fees owing for services already provided.