Midwife Alliance

I have had two fantastic birth experiences with midwife alliance.
For my first daughter, I thought I was going to go with a midwife and a hospital birth, but when I found out I’d have to share a bathroom with other women in labour at St. Jo’s, I decided on a home birth.
My husband was not convinced at first, but he met with our midwife and she laid out all the facts, concerns, etc. She reassured him that our house was only 10 minutes from the hospital, so if an emergency were to come up (which apparently does not happen very often like it does on TV-​usually there is time), they would call the hospital and we’d likely still have to wait for a room upon arrival. She also assured him that if there was a snowstorm on the day I went into labour, we would have to have a hospital birth ‘just in case’ we needed to get there.
After his chat with her and some additional research on his own, he was convinced!
My water broke when I was on the toilet, my midwife came when I needed to her and I had an extremely successful first home birth experience (baby arrived 6 hours after my first symptom).
For my second pregnancy, I had threatened preterm labour at 28 weeks and had to go live in Sunnybrook hospital for a couple of weeks. My midwives were quite reassuring through the whole ordeal and even said they would try to come and be labour support if I did end up having a preemie (since midwives are not allowed to deliver before 34 weeks or something like that).
Fortunately, my scares went away and I had another succesful home birth just 3 days before my due date. My second birth happened so quickly, I would not have made it to the hospital, so thank goodness I had midwives!

My decision to go with Midwife Alliance was the best decision I made for my pregnancy.
Midwives can be reached for emergencies 24 hours a day. I had weird pains that caused great pain when I walked, so I called my midwife and was assured that it was normal. When you’re pregnant with your first child, you have no clue what to expect and what kind of pains are normal and what should be cause for concern. Having the option to call my midwife at any time was a nice luxury. Try calling an OB at 8pm and you get their voicemail, if you’re lucky.
When we had a near-​birth experience, the midwife met us at the hospital within 10 minutes of calling her. She also called the hospital so that they would be ready for our arrival. Then she made sure the ultrasound technician saw us as quickly as possible.
We had a complication with the pregnancy, so they referred me to an OB. They also helped me booked my C-​section with the best OB at the hospital. The incision was small and inconspicuous (as much as possible anyways), with the use of dissolvable stitches — not staples.
The postpartum home visits were the best part. At negative 10 degrees, I did not want to bring my newborn out for her check ups. The midwives came to our house for the first few weeks, sparing us the trouble of taking the baby out in the cold.
These ladies are caring, warm and wonderful people to work with. Most people think that having a midwife means you must have a home birth. That is not the case. Midwife Alliance is associated with St. Joseph’s Health Centre. I highly enjoyed my experience with them and hope you do too.