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Mila

I am always excited and eager to share our experience with Access Midwives. However, I often find it difficult to do so without becoming emotional, and can never seem to find the right words to justify and describe the incredible impact they had on our lives.

I was certain I wanted midwifery services for our pregnancy long before becoming pregnant. My husband was never hard set on any option. It was not that he didn’t care, he just strongly felt that I should make the decision for a variety of reasons- it was my body, I had done the research, and I was a health care provider with more knowledge and education in the medical field than he had. He encouraged me to choose an option I felt most comfortable with, and it was an important decision that I took seriously for our family. I knew that I wanted to have a strong, open, and trusting relationship with my birthing provider, as well as thorough care for baby and I postpartum. Midwifery services were for my husband and I, the easy and right choice.

Throughout our pregnancy, my husband and I always felt well supported, and looked forward to our clinic appointments with our midwifery team (Ashley K, Ashley P and Lauren). Their professionalism, openness, caring nature and positive attitude fostered a wonderful relationship with us both. We found it incredibly reassuring that we could page both urgent and non urgent issues as needed, and we were always impressed when results from scans and bloodwork were always quickly looked after.

When I went into labour and called the paging service, I was answered by a midwife that was not a part of our team. This initially worried my husband and I. We soon learned that it was a particularly busy day for births and that I would be looked after by one of the other midwives, Tamara, as mine were all occupied. When I was admitted to the hospital, I was greeted by Tamara. Our initial worries of not getting to see a familiar face quickly disappeared. The care and compassion she demonstrated was beyond incredible. She was our full support during the labour - for both myself and my husband. I was exhausted from being awake the previous night labouring, and too irritated to explain to my husband how to support me. Tamara recognized this, and she provided the calmness, strength and encouragement where my husband and I were lacking. We were feeling overwhelmed and at times, scared. She knew exactly what we needed, and where we needed it. She assisted us in having a beautiful, safe, natural and healthy birth.

A pivotal point for my husband, as he recounts, where he truly was in awe of Tamara, was during Mila’s delivery, which was complicated by meconium-stained amniotic fluid. The competency, expertise and confidence that she showed was unlike anything he had ever seen or experienced before. Our daughter, Mila was born healthy, crying and perfect!

The postpartum visits that followed were invaluable. It was reassuring to us and to our families to know that both Mila and I would be well looked after for the next six weeks while I healed, she figured out breastfeeding, and we navigated the new world of parenthood. Mila’s poor weight gain in her second week of life was caught during one of these visits, which we likely wouldn’t have noticed ourselves, as it was not immediately obvious, and occurred after her first appointment with our family physician. We received help with breastfeeding, answers to our countless questions that seemed to keep multiplying as the days and weeks went on, careful jaundice and output monitoring, emotional support, and excellent resources upon discharge.

We are so incredibly grateful for our wonderful experience, and love referring Access Midwives. We truly look forward to using their services again in the future.