https://www.kemh.health.wa.gov.au/Pregnancy-and-Birth/During-your-pregnancy/Family-Birth-Centre

Family Birth Centre, L Block, 374 Bagot Road, Perth (2025)

30/04/2025

The Family Birth Centre page is moving to a closed Facebook group for current and prospective families of the service.

The new closed group will be open to current and prospective families of the Family Birth Centre. The group will allow even more opportunities for us to communicate directly to families and for women to share the highs and lows of their pregnancy care journey with our service through their birth stories.

You can join the new group here Family Birth Centre, or search for the Family Birth Centre group.

This page will be closing on 30 May 2025.

29/01/2025

Tuesday 25 June (39+4) 3:30am I felt a gush of my waters breaking. I woke my partner to let him know and I’ve never seen him jump up so quickly. I didn’t have any contractions, so we went back to bed and at 5:30am I felt another gush and my mucus plug released.

9am we met our midwife at FBC to confirm my waters had broken with an internal exam. I was to return by 9pm Tuesday evening as it was 18 hours after my waters broke and I had agreed to antibiotics for GBS risks. I had only had period pain level contractions by this time. Once antibiotics was administered, my midwife offered a stretch and sweep. I was advised if I wasn’t in active labour by 24 hours post water’s breaking (3am) I would need to go to MFAU for monitoring and induction discussion.

By 11pm my contractions had ramped up - I told my partner to try and sleep. I spent some time in our lounge room on the exercise ball and with my TENs machine, listening to music. I felt like they were closer together and more intense. We went to FBC at 2:30am, feeling contractions consistently along the way.
Vaginal exam showed only 2cm dilated and the disappointment and tears hit me. I was so hesitant and scared of intervention. I had listened to many birth stories from podcasts and friends. I knew the synthetic oxytocin made contractions much more painful and therefore would require an epidural which I was also hesitant about due to the information and stories I had heard. I was hesitant to give birth on my back knowing that gravity would be working against me. I was also concerned for the pain medication effect on the baby. I was aware of the cascade of intervention, the likelihood that once interventions started, I would be more likely to have additional interventions required, and potentially resulting in a caesarean section. I was not opposed to a caesarean section; I was fearful of having multiple interventions and then still requiring a caesarean section. I had previously discussed this fear with my midwife, and this was described in my birth preferences. All these thoughts were running through my head whilst I was experiencing what felt like intense contractions that made me exhale with loud moans. My midwife took us to MFAU and provided the team with my birth preferences, she remained with us, the continuity of care was so important and made us feel comfortable in such an unknown time. The synthetic oxytocin and epidural were the interventions discussed with me. The doctor on duty was wonderful, I was a mess, I explained all my thoughts and fears to the doctor, and she validated all my concerns, she was kind and realistic and I never felt pressured. The monitoring showed baby was very happy and calm. I had always thought I would need to choose interventions if my baby was in distress but for me it was that my cervix and body just wasn’t ready for the birth in the appropriate time frame and that the contractions at such an early stage were already so painful and my body would be too exhausted to continue without intervention.

It took me 3 hours to make my decision and come to terms with the interventions. I asked for gas and air as a final attempt of a non-medical pain relief and intervention, it either didn’t have an effect or I was in such an emotional state that I couldn’t concentrate on it properly, so it wasn’t any use to me. My partner helped me through the decision to proceed with the interventions. Providing me with my reality of exhaustion and pain I was experiencing but also reminding me of my strength so far and that I still had more to do, even though this wasn’t what I wanted.

My midwife recommended I start the epidural before the synthetic oxytocin to avoid unnecessary pain. Around 6am we moved to the birthing suite in the hospital. My midwife tried to make the room as ‘birthing centre atmosphere’ as possible, so sweet.

Once this decision had been made, I truly relaxed into what was next. This was my surrender moment. The epidural was placed in by a lovely anaesthetist, as we chatted about our dogs. Then the oxytocin was administered. The epidural was bizarre. My legs felt like they had many layers to them and there is definitely a strong and consistent itchy feeling across legs something I would ask my partner to scratch harder forgetting I couldn’t actually feel it, so it was never going to be hard enough!

At 10am on Wednesday we had to say goodbye to my Midwife as her 16 hours was up. Another FBC midwife joined us, also so wonderful and positive. The next 12 hours was a lot of waiting, my partner trying to sleep in a chair and me slightly resting but unable to sleep with the reality of everything that was happening. It took till 4pm for me to get to 5cm dilated. I couldn’t feel contractions due to the epidural however I vomited a number of times. It took till 6pm for my contractions to regularly be 3-4 within 10 minutes and the pressure was increasing. Around 7:30pm I was able to feel the contractions quite a lot. Vaginal exam showed I was 8cm dilated. We had used my increase of epidural and the midwife’s and I was still able to feel the intensity of pressure and contractions. The Midwife called the anaesthetist back in to see what they could increase as I still had a few hours to go. Initial anaesthetist checked the epidural which was done well and said it’s likely just the pressure I can feel and that I’m nearly there and not much more could be provided. An hour later my midwife wasn’t happy with that, wanting me to be more comfortable, knowing there were more hours still to go, she got another anaesthetist in who administered something more and it worked within 5 mins. I remember thinking, wow, I am 9cm dilated and I’m having a nap. 9:30pm came and the midwives changed over again, now with my third FBC midwife.10:30pm The vaginal exams showed that the baby’s head was behind the cervical lip so there was still some time to go before baby could be delivered.
There were times that the baby’s heart rate dropped slightly, and our midwife would quickly warn us “a lot of people are about to come into the room” I was grateful for this warning and protection of our space. Those times were interesting, being questioned by doctors and knowing there were others in the room observing. Within a few minutes they would then leave, and the space returned to quiet.

11pm, the pressure was intensifying, and I was becoming vocal during these contractions.
By 12am Thursday, I was 10cm and I was feeling intense pressure of the baby transitioning. I had the feeling of needing to poo. The midwife told me how I had to use the contraction and pain to push and use the energy to bare down not to let it out of my mouth with sound as I had been doing. After teaching me this my body went into autopilot each contraction. At one point I was offered a rest time of an hour from pushing as baby can descend, I agreed to this, however my body was in autopilot so mind quickly changed back to pushing. I could feel each contraction, I didn’t need to be told when a contraction was occurring. Whilst it was so painful I was grateful to feel this as it felt like I was present and part of the labour, something I was worried the epidural would prevent me from experiencing.

I had no idea of time by this stage but when midwives were telling me baby was close, we had tried side laying, my partner holding my leg up, but it was recommended to use stirrups. I couldn’t believe at this point how different this was to my expectations of my birth. I had said to my partner early on in pregnancy that labour isn’t what it’s like on the movies, and here I was, waters breaking at home before contractions starting, and in stirrups in hospital giving birth!

1:30am, VE shows the head is almost in view. So, I’m baring down - eyes closed just doing this over and over. Next thing, we get the entourage of doctors in the room assuming baby’s heart rate dropped slightly. Then there is a doctor talking to me, I don’t quite recall but I believe they wanted to do another internal examination and I couldn’t understand why when the baby was coming. Doctor explained they were concerned I wasn’t going to have the energy to push the baby out. Once hearing this, I summoned a sentence (between contractions) to say something along the lines of “No exam, I can do this” with this, the doctor said “OK, I’ll be back in 20 mins”. Later the midwife explained that the doctor was likely to suggest instrumental delivery due to the length of the labour, but my strong response showed them it wasn’t needed.
What I remember was intensity, pressure, pain, squeezing, encouragement and ring of fire as the head was coming. I was able to feel baby’s head with my hand, and then the head coming out. At this point, I felt exhausted but invincible, my baby was here, I felt like I had a chat with the midwives at this point and a break in contractions, this could have just been my own warped sense of time and space. I asked if anyone was filming, and my partner quickly gave a midwife his phone who did any incredible job of filming and taking photos of the rest of the birth. Next lot of contractions and the rest of our baby was born, and apologies to those in surrounding rooms, there was swearing with the final push knowing it was done. My partner said her scream was ear piercing! Our baby came straight to my chest as I asked, it was unbelievable, completely surreal, I asked if baby was meant to cry more, and with a few seconds and rubs the cry came out of baby and me. After a couple of minutes midwife asked, “can we know the gender?” my partner came over and I lifted baby’s leg and said “oh it’s a girl” which is what we had been anticipating. With this he sat down, exhausted. We had both been in labour for 47 hours. Whilst it was happening in my body, he was also alert, awake, carrying so many emotions, he was exhausted. He had been watching everything happening to me, around me and was aware of all the monitoring, the staff and the decisions being made.
Annie Mariam came into the world on Thursday 27 June at 2:05am (39+6). After meeting three shifts worth of midwives our baby girl arrived safely and healthy to share her father’s birthday. Annie and I were able to have 3+ hours practically uninterrupted time together, she did her breast crawl and sleep on me. It was a truly special time, and it didn’t really matter the location of the birth once we were together like this.
I had an active delivery of my placenta and then a full explanation of the placenta by the midwife (I recommend filming this explanation to watch later as it was fascinating!) I had a 2nd degree tear and had stitches completed whilst laying with Annie on me, this healed well over the coming weeks.
I now realise why you can never truly understand birth before experiencing it. There aren’t words to describe, there aren’t prior experiences to empathise with. During pregnancy, we did a hypnobirthing course. One of the elements of this was to identify what a positive birth is to me. I identified:

• Feeling strong
• Feel in control and supported
• Energy to continue through labour
• Be ready for surges
• Feel love around me and baby
• Have time and space
• Feel safe
• Others having confidence in me and my body

Coming out of birthing I felt that each of these areas were met and applied to me. The labour experience was filled with shattered expectations, decisions, tears but also support, care, time and advocacy from both my partner and the midwives. Whilst things weren’t what I expected or anticipated they were I was still able to have a positive birth.

28/01/2025

As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to give birth at the family birth centre. It had everything I wanted; continuity of care with the same midwife, the option to have a water birth, being able go home as soon as possible after the birth and, most importantly, peace of mind knowing if things got hairy a hospital was right next door.

My primary midwife was kind, caring and passionate about her mums and their babies. I loved every one of my appointments with her and I still miss them now almost 4 months postpartum.

I didn't hate being pregnant, but I also didn't love it. I kept waiting for the moment when I would feel like an amazing fertile goddess, and it never came. I think there was maybe a week in the middle where I felt good, and I was getting quite excited and then of course it all went downhill at 34 weeks when I started my maternity leave. I went in for my midwife buddy appointment and everything seemed to go wrong. My urine test had trace amounts of protein, my fundal height was bigger than expected, and to top it off I had an elevated blood pressure. A long-time sufferer of white coat syndrome, somehow despite being a nurse myself, meant my blood pressure usually looked its best in a best out of 3 readings type of situation… but this time none of the readings were acceptable so off I toddled to MFAU for monitoring fighting back tears trying not to panic.

The staff in MFAU were a delight, my blood pressure seemed to settle down and baby girls trace looked good. I was sent home on my merry way and an ultrasound at KEMH was arranged to check baby's growth the next day.

The next morning the staff in ultrasound were amazing, they explained everything that was happening, what measurements they were taking and then "oh you knew your baby was breech right" I laughed, sorry what, yep home girl was in there bum first towards the exit. What I thought had been a rather large bottom had in fact been her head and the cute little fist punches down below had likely been kicks. I started to feel a bit guilty about the numerous times I had poked her probably right in the face. My midwife rang me to talk through some options and booked me in to see a Doctor at the East Wing Clinic the following Tuesday. My midwife explained I could try an ECV (External Cephalic Version) and hope baby girl was open to being turned around. If that didn't work, I could attempt a vaginal breech birth or book a planned caesarean.

I met Doctor A at my appointment, she did a bedside ultrasound and baby was still happily sitting in breech position, we discussed the options my midwife had mentioned and I ruled out vaginal breech birth because I just wasn't game enough to give it a go in case it went catastrophically wrong. I agreed to try an ECV. Doctor A got out the paperwork and we talked through the procedure. She then did my blood pressure, and it was high, 160/155, oops, off for some bloods and monitoring in MFAU again. But, seeing as I had to have another visit Doctor A rang the lovely MFAU staff and they said I could have my ECV that very same day while I was there! My husband and I thought why not, a formal ultrasound in radiology was arranged just to double check baby was definitely breech before the ECV. I went to see the blood ladies in pathology again and my husband put some more money on the parking, then we headed to MFAU.

I won't sugar coat it the ECV was awful. The staff again were all amazing, they gave me the floppy uterus drugs and we got into position. The doctor pressed down and hard, it bloody hurt and then...baby didn’t budge an inch. We tried again, it was worse, I cried. I had to tap out. I felt like a failure. My sweet husband Jono, the midwife, student midwife and both doctors present all tried to reassure me I was not a failure at all. We booked in the caesarean. We were getting ready to be discharged and I was feeling hot and sweaty and emotional. My heart rate was elevated, and my blood pressure continued to misbehave having only come down a little bit since the mornings appointment. The Doctor came back and informed me I was being diagnosed with preeclampsia. They prescribed me some anti-hypertensive drug to keep my blood pressure down and we arranged bi-weekly monitoring in MFAU up until my planned caesarean date which was just 2 weeks away.

For the next week I got puffier and puffier, but my blood pressure remained relatively stable on the medication and my baby kept on cooking as planned. On the Sunday I woke up feeling weird, I had a headache and I looked and felt like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when she turns into a blueberry. We went to MFAU, my blood pressure wasn't too bad but with the worsening preeclampsia symptoms the doctors decided we better bring the caesarean forward and they booked me on the list for the next day, 38 weeks gestation and only 4 days earlier than we had originally planned. Because it was after hours and last minute we went home for a last dinner, and I was instructed to fast from midnight and call first thing to get my time. Jono and I cooked a delicious last dinner, made our birth playlist, and I attempted to get some sleep despite my general pregnancy discomfort now coupled with some growing anxiety about the impending major abdominal surgery. I rang admissions first thing, and they told me to stay fasted and to come in for 11am. I wasn't taken into theatre until 4.30pm and by that point I was dreaming of my first meal like an inmate on death row. It took a couple attempts for them to place my spinal, the anaesthetist informed me I had a bit of a tricky back, but it wasn't painful or even uncomfortable and once in, the effect was immediate. It was a very surreal feeling. My midwife arrived to support us through the whole surgery and I was wheeled into theatre. We put on the birth play list Jono and I had made the night before and before I knew it, they were lifting up my beautiful baby girl like Simba in The Lion King. The paediatric doctors present checked her over, Jono cut the cord and I finally got the cuddle I had been dreaming of since that very first positive pregnancy test. But then I started to feel incredibly sleepy. I had to ask Jono and my midwife to take Holly back because I was worried I would drop her. I remember thinking it must be the drugs they've given me. I noticed our play list had finished and it was starting to feel like things were taking a while to wrap up. My midwife explained that her and Jono were going to take Holly because they were having a bit of trouble with my uterus, it was floppy and not contracting as it should so I was bleeding. They gave me some more drugs and I could now feel them trying to manually contract my uterus and it was getting quite uncomfortable. I was starting to feel nauseous as well as tired and I was starting to feel like the spinal was wearing off. The doctors ended up putting a stitch around my uterus which got the bleeding under control. I heard them estimating my blood loss as 1.8L, briefly thought to myself that can't be good, was stitched back up and wheeled to recovery. I was still so tired and fighting to keep my eyes open. My midwife came to check on me and reassured me Holly was doing fantastic and was with Jono having skin to skin and that he had given her my carefully harvested colostrum. I would meet them both in ASCU (adult special care unit). I was incredibly sore and that first night was a bit of a blur. Holly and I started our breastfeeding journey which I could do a whole other story on. The midwives in ASCU were kind and patient, I stayed there for 3 nights, Holly spent 2 of those down in special care so I was a complete mess, and they took care of me both emotionally and physically. I also had a visit from my midwife when I was feeling my absolute worst emotionally and her presence and kind words were honestly a life saver that day.

On one of the doctor’s morning rounds after a rough night without my baby by my side and worsening nausea I had just vomited everywhere and I mentioned that I felt incredibly bloated and asked them why do I still look about 9 months pregnant. They sent me down for an xray and I had a colossal ileus (complete blockage of either my small or large intestine I forget which one). Thanks to all of the manual compression of my floppy uterus my bowels had taken a holiday so had filled up with gas. Now we had to hope they turned themselves back on so I could get this gas out or I was in for a trip up the road to Charlie's. I agreed to a nasogastric tube to try and deflate the air. All I will say about the attempt to insert the nasogastric is that it was an experience. The tube felt humongous so I asked if we could try one smaller. Whilst my incredible ASCU midwife was on the phone ringing round for a smaller tube, I passed wind, and I've never been so happy in my life. No need for another nasogastric tube! Once my bowels started waking up, I felt more sprightly and was up and about and down to see Holly. The next day I continued to improve and both Holly and I were transferred to the post-natal ward for a night and finally discharged home

A planned caesarean for my breech baby then a 5 day admission with post op complications and a 2 day adventure for Holly in the special care nursery was definitely a long way from the low intervention water birth I had planned but the care I received at King Edwards and with my midwife by my side the entire time definitely saved me from a complete breakdown. I would recommend going through the Family Birth Centre to everyone and I am forever thankful because I am still around and have my beautiful happy baby and that's all that matters really.

20/01/2025

On Saturday the 2nd of November on my 41 week mark I went into King Edward MFAU for my check up to make sure Bub was going okay. At that appointment we discussed an induction date. I was not wanting to have an induction and my goal was to go into spontaneous labour and have a natural and unmedicated labour at the Family Birth Centre.

On Saturday I was experiencing mild cramping at my appointment but nothing I hadn’t felt before, I then requested a stretch and sweep after having my first one two days earlier and feeling it had made me feel like things were happening.

After the stretch and sweep I started to experience more painful cramps and more consistent. When I got home I decided to rest but struggled to as the contractions started to get more and more intense. By 4pm on Saturday I was in early labour. I had a bath and got on my ball and put my TENS machine on and laboured at home.

Once my labour had progressed and I was feeling contractions more and more intense and unable to speak through them, we called in and went into the Birth Centre around 1am. The pain got so bad that I was not having any breaks between contractions and feeling it so intensely I was no longer present in the world and shut off. My eyes were closed for hours as I tried to just work through the pain and be in the zone. Once we arrived at the birth centre I got checked and was 5cm dilated, which was very heartbreaking for me as it was 12 hours of labour and 1cm progression. I arrived at the birth centre convinced I was very close as I was uncontrollably pushing during my contractions.

I then requested gas and air and laid on my side to help Bub position better as she was posterior. I fell into a very calm zone, I had my TENS machine on, my music, gas and air and the support from my partner and the contractions started to feel more bearable. I was then checked two hours later and was 8cm dilated. At 8cm during a contraction (still uncontrollably pushing) my waters broke.

Not long after I was 10cm and it was time to start pushing. The bath was ready so I went into the tub and tried to push in the tub. It was unsuccessful. I then tried to push on the bed and again unsuccessful. Bub’s head was coming down during pushing then going back up. I tried multiple positions including sitting on the toilet, standing up, in the bath laying, squatting and nothing was working. At one point bubs heart rate dropped and the concern came that we were going to have to head up to the main hospital. I did not want to be transferred as I felt it would take longer and I was so exhausted and over being in pain that I knew she needed to come out and that is what motivated me to keep going.

Bubs heart rate came back up and so it was just a matter of trying more positions. After more tries of unsuccessful pushing the midwives suggested again to go to labour ward as my pushes were not long enough. I was so exhausted my body was giving up and I was sure I couldn’t get her out on my own. I kept trying and kept doing what I could.

Finally, the midwife set up the stirrups and eventually baby arrived at 6:45am on the 3rd of November. I managed to push out my baby girl who was posterior. Headfirst then body came out next push. I was so relieved and felt so much joy. I finally had my baby girl in my arms after 41 weeks and was no longer in excruciating pain. It was all worth it. Every bit and the pain was almost all gone as soon as she was in my arms.

13/01/2025

My biggest fear is giving birth on the side of the road,’ I joked to my midwife at one of our earlier appointments. Our first daughter was born within an hour of arriving at FBC, and my sister’s second pregnancy resulted in an unplanned home birth after a very speedy labour, so I suspected my second baby may make a reasonably quick entrance to the world.

I woke up with mild cramping in the early hours of October 26, my due date. It lasted a few hours so I woke my husband about 5.30am and told him to get things ready. Disappointingly, the contractions totally stopped at sunrise. I rested that morning and went for a walk late afternoon, doing some gentle squats and lunges, some curb walking and bouncing on a birth ball to try to get bub into the right position and kick start labour.

As the sun went down I felt mild contractions starting again. About 9pm they started feeling increasingly uncomfortable, but manageable. My parents came to collect our daughter close to 10pm. By this time I was managing moderate contractions with breathing, some rhythmic pacing/stomping and my TENS machine. We called our midwife and she suggested staying home a little longer until the contractions were more intense, lasting longer and coming more regularly. I was comfortable with that decision as established labour still seemed a little way off at this point as I could still easily talk and relax between contractions.

Shortly after chatting to the midwife, I felt lots of pressure and the discomfort increased suddenly. A few minutes later, my waters broke so we spoke to the midwife again and she advised us to make our way to FBC. Just before leaving I felt a very mild urge to push but assumed we would still have time to make it as we were 17 mins drive from FBC.

I felt another strong contraction in the car and a few minutes into the journey, the pressure in my bottom increased and I started to pull myself out of the seat by holding onto the grab handle. At this point I told my husband to drive fast but carefully and put his hazard lights on, not sure at this point we would make it to FBC in time.

Just moments later, about to turn onto the freeway, I yelled at my husband to pull onto the verge as the baby was coming and I could feel her head. He expertly swerved onto a tiny patch of grass, opened my door and helped me out. Realising I still had my PJ shorts and knickers on, he helped me out of them as I stood on the grass, leaning over the car seat. A couple of contractions later and our daughter Georgia was born at 10.44pm, my husband and I both catching her and bringing her to my chest.

The commotion had caught the eye of two very kind strangers. One helped to direct an ambulance to us, the other supported me in the moments after our daughter was born, helping me to rub her back, wipe out any fluid from her mouth and unwrap the cord which was a little tangled around her body. We were both wrapped in blankets, mine was a picnic blanket as we hadn’t considered the possibility of a roadside birth! A few moments after she was born I felt the placenta come out too which was placed in a plastic bag to take to FBC!

I called my midwife who, as always, spoke calmly and reassuringly to me, staying on the phone with me until the ambulance arrived.

My daughter and I were taken to FBC in the ambulance and met my midwife. We received wonderful care and, both of us doing well, were discharged after 4 hours so we could recuperate at home.

The follow up at-home care in the days following the birth was also excellent and some minor postnatal complications were resolved quickly.

I experienced exceptional care at FBC with my first pregnancy so there was no doubt that I would make the same choice for my second baby.

For all decisions relating to my antenatal care and birth, each option was discussed in full and I was provided with excellent resources to help me make informed decisions about my care and my baby’s.

Though my daughter’s arrival didn’t follow the plan of the calm water birth I had in mind, my greatest worry of a roadside birth wasn’t nearly as scary as I feared and was still a very positive birth experience. I felt confident my body knew what to do, and I had been given the education and tools to manage labour and birth through regular appointments with my midwife.

The midwifery team at FBC have provided outstanding care throughout both pregnancies and I can’t recommend them highly enough to anyone planning a physiological birth.

Family Birth Centre

30/04/2025

29/01/2025

28/01/2025

20/01/2025

13/01/2025

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