Birth at Charlotte Jean

I did, about 9 weeks ago. It was an awesome experience! I wrote about my time there in my blog, I'll copy/paste the excerpt, but feel free to ask me any specific questions.

Charlotte Jean Maternity House

'Charlotte Jean', named after the midwife who established the facility, is not actually a hospital. The nearest hospital to us is in Dunedin, which is about an hour and 40 minutes away. Charlotte Jean Maternity House is just an ordinary brick house with four bedrooms and a large kitchen/lounge area. There are no doctors, but there is a midwife available 24/7, and the client's own midwife is there for the birth and aftercare. There is no pain relief available and if anything was to go wrong then the client would have to be transferred to Dunedin either by ambulance or helicopter. Other than having to be induced with Jude, the birth was straightforward and I was expecting the same this time so I didn't have any concerns about not being in a hospital. CJ was the ideal place to give birth. I had my own room with ensuite, a lovely queen sized bed, a television, and for most of my stay I was the only mum in there. At lunchtime the midwife would come in and ask what I would like from the bakery, and for dinner I was given a range of menus from the local restaurants and told to choose what I wanted (all free). Jason would have been welcome to stay with me, but it was best that he stayed with Jude. Nevertheless they were also well looked after when they came to visit, and in typical Jude fashion, he had Sharon the daytime midwife running around after him making toast and patiently answering all his questions (she thought he was great apparently). I feel very fortunate to have access to such a facility, and it has been a fantastic start to becoming a mum of two.



Edited by countingdown

I stayed two nights. I knew that with a preschooler I would have to hit the ground running when I got home!