Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto

I don’t have a lot of time to write a long review now, but I am hoping to come back when I have more time and write the details of my experience here. Or maybe I’ll just move on with my life, thankful that my baby is healthy and I am recovering.
For those who think the midwifery model of care is a warm, calm and non-​judgmental one, be prepared for disappointment. You’re not going to walk in and find Ina May in pigtails telling you your body and your baby are perfect forms of nature. This is true for any midwife clinic that I know of, not just this one. The first thing they will talk to you about is birth defects and death and the fear mongering — er, sorry; «informed choices» — continue from there.
All of my friends had amazing experiences with midwives (NOT at this clinic), so I was looking forward to the same, but quite frankly, SGMT doesn’t have their stuff together. Several appointments of mine were booked incorrectly or simply not booked at all, so after jumping major hurdles to get out of work on time to make the appointments, I’d arrive to someone at the front desk eating a sandwich, telling me to sit down and wait, then 15 or 20 minutes later telling me I didn’t have an appointment booked at all, or it was booked on the wrong day! This happened twice before I insisted on getting print outs of appointment times to make sure it was in the computer, not hand written on a little card.
Ah, there is so much to write, but so little time, so here are some bullet points:
— Unprofessional front desk staff. One actually said once «I have no idea what you are talking about» when trying to leave a message for my midwife about a very standard test.
— I had to chase down test and ultrasound results constantly, including faxes from my family doctor to the clinic that they lost or «never received» and did not follow up about.
— The back up midwife had no idea what my birth plan was, even though I had met with her many times and the plan was literally in her hands in front of her while she asked me the same questions over and over again and would talk about «routine hospital procedures» even though I had told her (and again, it was in writing right in front of her) that we were not planning a hospital birth.
— During the birth itself (I could write a book on just this alone) the midwives were CONSTANTLY on their cell phones, including one of them making plans for the weekend, and laughing overtop of my moaning during a contraction. This same midwife was just plain mean and only looked me in the eye once during the whole procedure. I won’t elaborate on her unprofessionalism here; that letter will be saved for the Ombudsman and the
Health Ministry.
— Post partum visits were riddled with guilt tripping and more unprofessionalism.
Look elsewhere for your care. Your child will only be born once; s/​he and YOU deserve better.

Ah, my experience has been quite different from the other reviewers. I’m sure this comes down to the midwives (that’s why my midwives’ names are included in this review) and factors specific to each pregnancy. Midwives aren’t for everyone: you have to have a low-​risk pregnancy to stay in their care. As soon as any small problem is detected they will tranfer you to a doctor. My pregnancy, aside from small fundal height, has gone relatively smoothly, so I rarely needed to contact them outside of our appointments (looking back, I think I’ve contacted them twice). This may be a key reason why my experience was quite different from the other posters.
When I first met with Seventh Gen I wanted continuity of care that comes with a midwife, but I was worried they would be against many things, like pain killers, c-​sections, vaccinations, induction, etc. In a nutshell, I was worried they would be overly into newage stuff. I was surprised to learn they are open to everything. They actually had to convince ME to keep myself open to options, like painkillers or induction, just in case it becomes a necessity.
My midwives, Alana and Kim, are both lovely. They are calm and knowledgeable. I wasn’t too excited about having a student midwife join us (I’ve had bad experiences with residents i.e. student doctors), but I understood that it was an option (i.e. I could request to no longer see her). Well, I lucked out; I love the student midwife Vanessa. She has such a warm bedside manner! I believe she’s nearly finished her training and I think she’ll make a great midwife.
If I have a question they are easily accessible. The pager doesn’t bother me; they offer birth centre births, home births, and hospital births, so this is a good way to stay in touch with them. When my cousin (a doctor) is on call, I believe he uses a pager as well, so I think it’s farly common in the healthcare industry. I wouldn’t want them answering their cell phone or office phone while they are with me, so I can’t expect them to do that with other patients. Leaving a message with the reception desk is always an option, like any clinic.
The receptionists are a little spacey. In my experience, if things get slightly disorganized it has to do with the front desk (e.g. booking the wrong time, booking too far down the line, forgetting to notify the midwife that the patient is in the waiting room). Although I was told to check the message on the pager before coming in, I have always been notified by phone on the rare occasion that clinic is rescheduled due to a birth. In terms of notifying current clients of clinic rescheduling, the front desk is running very well. I haven’t had trouble reaching the front desk on the phone. erm, excluding lunch hours, when they seem to sneak off :)
This is a long review, I suppose because it’s a more important decision to make compared with deciding where to eat :) The best thing you can do is follow your instinct. If a midwife sounds right, meet with them and see if you like them. If a doctor sounds better, do that. Maybe you’re unlike me and like newage stuff. Maybe doulas offer that. Everyone and every pregnancy is different. :)
I haven’t given birth yet. I’m due in May, so I’ll do my best to provide a follow-​up review then.

Like the last poster, I felt that the clinic is spread too thin. Communication is a real challenge. I had to change to an OB (very difficult) at 5 months because I just could not get through, get results, fax machine broken, still use pagers… etc. I am usually a very laid back person, but the culture there made me uneasy. I was excited to have a midwife, but was left feeling that midwives are not professional, which I am sure is not the case, just my experience.