I went with MAMA midwives and mothers since the first trimester of my pregnancy, by the second trimester I stopped with them. The midwife I had (whose name I won't mention), could never remember how far along I was, couldn't remember my due date, could not remember we'd told her we found out the sex of our baby (even after she guessed the sex and got it right on the previous visit), and when I discussed having a home birth with her (which costs $4,700), she proceeded to tell me that the last THREE home births she had had ended up in hospital, 2 of which had c-sections.

That's no way to make a customer feel good about spending the $4,700 on a home birth.

PLUS - I learned that when I go in to labour, if my midwife is with someone else, then I will end up with another coupld of midwives from the company whom I have not met or spent any time with during pre-natal visits!

MAMA has to pick up their game. Instead, I've found myself a kind independent midwife who LISTENS.

Approximate cost: $1,500

Jan and Kelly from MAMA provided all my pre- and post-natal care and attended the birth of our daughter in May. I was so happy with the care and support we received during the whole experience. I looked forward to every check up and felt that they really emphasised not only my physical health during the pregnancy but mental health and discussed how we were going to mentally prepare for becoming parents and the hurdles we might face. Having people I knew well and trusted completely at the birth made it a wonderful experience and my daughter was born naturally and without intervention. The support I received after her birth was also incredible, especially in regards to making sure I was able to successfully breastfeed after a few initial issues. Although there was a reasonable cost involved it was less than a private obstetrician and a lot of the pre and post natal visits was covered by medicare. I also attended pre-natal yoga with Cecily and Calmbirth classes with Kelly during my pregnancy which I felt really helped. They also have a whole range of practitioners such as acupuncture, massage and naturopathy. I would definitely recommend using a MAMA midwife to anyone!