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| - I tried to write a "before" review of my prenatal experience, with a plan to then update my review postpartum. Whoops. Too late.
The house is perfectly comfortable when you come in the front door. The waiting area is in the front sitting room, then through the kitchen to the back of the house is reception and a little office. After just a couple appointments they'll know you by name when you walk in. So nice!
I loved going to my midwife appointments and my prenatal classes. Most of my appointments were with Julie, who I absolutely loved. She has such a calm confidence. So knowledgeable and caring. She also had a student midwife working with her from the Ryerson midwifery program. She was absolutely great as well. She was in her last year and I could do most of my appointment with her before Julie came up to check me out. Because my due date was May, she actually graduated before the birth. I was sad to see her go, but Julie did get another student. She was fresh new and more of an observer than the previous. But we got along great and I'm more than happy to help midwives teach more midwives with hands on learning. I also had some appointments with Babette. She was fantastic. I felt comfortable with her right away. Such a calm voice, and so knowledgeable too. Made me feel at ease.
Julie ended up being at a recurrent training course on my birthing day so it was Babette and the student, Whitney, who attended to me. I was in great hands with Babette. My ideal home birth wasn't possible because of an irregular fetal heartbeat, but Julie had mentally prepared me for my new hospital birth reality the day before. They called the baby midwife right away after arriving to the hospital and Tiffany was a breathe of fresh air. I had never even met her prior. She was strong and encouraging and gave me that extra boost when I felt like I couldn't do it. No doctors or strangers were in the room interrupting our process because, even though they recommended the hospital birth to check the baby after delivery, it was not a transfer of care. So just me and the midwives, with a couple of my close friends in the room. Another bonus of midwife care is being discharged from the hospital so soon after delivery. We were heading home 3 hrs later! No matter how comfortable they think they can make a hospital, nothing compares to the comfort of your own home, and your own bed.
Postpartum care was also a huge reason I chose midwife care. The midwives care for you for 6 weeks postpartum. The first few weeks they come to your home to do all the medical checkups. The last thing I wanted to do was get up, get in the car (or worse transit!) and go to a clinic with a tiny newborn for any follow up. Plus they aren't just making sure you are recovering physically, but mentally as well. Julie always made it very clear that if I had any questions, worries, or just needed to talk, that she was available to me.
I recommend Riverdale Community Midwives to anyone!
p.s. I was planning to possibly birth, or at least labour in water (although it didn't happen because everything happened so very fast for me). RCM will lend out the inflatable birthing pool at no charge. I was told after speaking to some friends that RCM might be the only clinic that does so for free! They just require that you purchase the birth pool liner for sanitary reasons and that you thoroughly clean the pool before returning it.
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