QuoteReplyTopic: Newbie Posted: 21 June 2011 at 3:12pm
Hi all!
So this is my first ever post on here I am 5 weeks today (first pregnancy) and super excited! There are two things I am wanting to know right now if anyone has a minute?
1) Can anyone recommend a good pregnancy journal? I have a friend with a great one with daily info on what is happening and it asks heaps of questions, but its in German!! Am wondering if there is an NZ version.
2) Am I supposed to have been told how to go about finding a midwife? The doctor told me that this week I should start getting that organised, and yet I didn’t get a single pamphlet on it… do I just Google it or what? Is there a website on midwives and reviews or something? I am based in Hamilton if anyone knows any?
Umm I got a pamphlet of local midwives otherwise you can type into google 'midwives nz' and you get taken to various sites - Midwifery Council or College of Midwives... Forget which one has lists though!
I got a journal in a welcome kit from my mw... Whitcoulls, baby stores and Paper Plus or Borders sometimes sell journals.
There is this thread where OB members have recommended their mw. As a note Colleen van der Laan has retired *sob*. Also if you go to the websites for the local birthing centres (Waterford and River Ridge) you'll also find lists of midwives you can contact.
I'm in Hamilton and am using Shelley Sjaarda who I
If you want to have bubs at river ridge or waterford birthing centres in Hamilton you can contact them for a list of midwives who can birth there.
I had Therese James at Rivercity midwives for my first. She prefers River Ridge but I think she does waterford as well. If I was still living in Hamilton she would be my midwife for this bubs too! She is wonderful and was a nurse before she became a midwife so is super knowledgable and very experienced.
Hey thanks so much for your help people! Its such a foreign concept and all those links and names have led me to ring 4 people and leave messages and I spoke to a lady called Deb Cox who seems lovely :-) Cheers!!
Definitely suggest considering what you might look for in a midwife. When I first talked to various midwives to try and pick one I felt so unprepared.
Luckily, I LOVE my midwife
Questions I ask included:
Quals and experience
Home visits
Stats around births - e.g. what percentage were emergency C-section
Birth philosophy - I am super keen on HB so needed a midwife that supported this
You could probably ask for referrals or feedback from prior clients too
But the best thing I have found about my midwife (apart from her knowledge and experience of course!) has been that we both feel really comfortable around her.
We get the Oh Baby weekly emails and they are really good. Tell you what is happening with you and bub and what you should be doing at the stage of your pregnancy. Hubby and I read ours together each week, it's our little thing You should also get a Bounty Pack from your midwife and there is a book in there that tells you what is happening each week.
If your interested in having a midwifery student follow your pregnancy and attend your birth, one of my family members is a 2nd year midwifery student in Hamilton.
You can also phone 0800 mum 2 be (0800 686 223). They sent me about 5 pages of MW's in my area. It doesn't give you alot of info on each person though. Just there name address and phone number. From there I used internet searches to get info on a few and after I came up with a name I also phoned my local maternity hospital and got there feedback.
The important thing is to feel really comfortable with you you have. Last time I ended up having a student with me as well and I have to say I wouldn't do it again. She made a big mistake at one point that lead to me getting an over dose.
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