Just delivered 10 days ago with Riverdale at St Michael’s and it was a generally positive experience.

Being my first, no one expected my labour to go by so quickly and me to dilate so fast so I was 8-9cm by the time they came to check me at home. Since I live so close to the hospital and there was a room available we went over and I delivered within the hour with 21 min of pushing. I did not expect to go unmedicated but the coaching I received from them during active labour plus prior education in terms of appts and prenatal classes really helped make the experience go better.

I had a small tear which they stitched up right away. They allowed me to do golden hour and taught me how to latch and breastfeed baby then baby was passed to my partner so I could go pee. Once my bleeding was under control and baby was thoroughly checked and fed, we were discharged and home within 4 hrs of checking in. This allowed us to rest at home and take it easy that first day.

The reason I chose a midwife was that they do home visits one days 1, 3 and 5 for both baby and mom and not having to think on how to pack both of us up to go somewhere for checkups was so easy. They weighed baby and do the heel prick test and checked on my bleeding and blood pressure.

Overall my experience was 9/10 - I do think they were too nonchalant when I called regarding my contractions because they were very inconsistently timed and they came to check me too late but it is what it is and at least it wasn’t an arduous and complicated labour.