Obstetrician Perth
Midwifery Care
Obstetrician Murdoch
I'm pregnant. What happens now?
It is a question many women will ask. Once you have spoken with our rooms and we have confirmed Dr Anna Holmes’s availability, you will be put through to our Practice Midwife, Marie Cooper. That is when you will start experiencing the benefits of integrated midwifery care, in an obstetrics practice.
Marie has a plethora of experience having graduated as a midwife in the early 90’s. She has worked at several different hospitals in the Perth metro area and first started working with Dr Holmes at Galliers Private Hospital, then at Armadale Health Service as Midwifery manager before joining Anna’s rooms here at St John of God Murdoch Hospital.
Marie will go through all of your medical and surgical history and any medications you take or allergies that you may have. She will discuss your early pregnancy, what testing and ultrasounds you have had and what further screening options you have available to you.
Would you like to plan First Trimester Screening or Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), commonly known as the Harmony or Generation Test? This may all be foreign to you but Marie is here to help. She will go through what each test is, what it means and provide you with the relevant information to make an informed decision.
We believe that it is really important for our team to spend time with the patient. When you are expecting a baby, new questions pop up all the time. Our midwife will happily answer any questions you may have. And don't worry if you think they may be silly; she has probably heard these questions before.
Throughout your pregnancy, if you have any concerns or questions, Marie is always here and available to help. Whether it is answering the question ‘Can I eat sashimi?’ or getting you to come into the rooms to listen to your baby’s heartbeat, or to check your blood pressure, she will have spaces in her clinic to accommodate you.
Midwifery care really makes a difference. Our patients have found that the ability to contact or come and see Marie for an appointment at short notice without any additional charge is something that gives them peace of mind during the pregnancy. Our patients say they feel comfortable asking questions that they may imagine are ‘silly’ and would not necessarily ask their Obstetrician about.
Murdoch Obstetrics care
Antenatal care with the midwife
As a general rule, you will see our practice midwife during your pregnancy for regular antenatal care. A general framework of your appointments throughout your pregnancy will be something like this:
- 4-8 weeks - Contact the rooms and organise a booking with your obstetrician. Speak to our practice midwife and ensure that you understand all required investigations and that you have initiated the requests.
- 10-14 weeks - Your initial appointment with Dr Anna Holmes, timing dependent on the relevant early testing and screening options that you may have had. We regularly attempt to have relevant scans done on the same day as your initial appointment with Anna. It means that you will not need to take as much time off and that you will be able to do this with one visit to the hospital.
- 16-17 weeks - Your antenatal appointment with Marie. She will check your blood pressure and listen to your baby’s heartbeat. There will be plenty of time to discuss your pregnancy to date and answer any new questions that you may have. The midwife will also organise the requests for any tests or scans that may be required. This is where you will really feel that continuity of care really makes a difference when you are pregnant.
- 20-21 weeks - This appointment with Anna usually comes after you have had your main fetal anatomy scan. Our focus is on making it convenient for you, and we will endeavour to organise your scan here at St John of God Murdoch Hospital. Rather than running around for multiple appointments, it means that you need less time off work and you only plan one trip to the hospital campus.
- 24 weeks - Your regular check-up is once again with Marie unless there are any complications with your pregnancy at which point you will, of course, see Anna as your obstetrician.
- 28 weeks - This appointment with Anna will be following your gestational diabetes screening so Anna can give you the results and discuss any issues that may arise from these results. At this point, a formal growth scan will be performed. As a qualified obstetric ultrasonographer, Dr Holmes will be able to perform this in the rooms. Again, it makes the journey more convenient and it also means there is no additional cost.
- 30-41 weeks - As your pregnancy progresses, you will see Anna and Marie generally on an alternating basis, first fortnightly and then weekly assuming there are no other contributing factors requiring closer monitoring. Whenever you see Anna she will perform growth scans to monitor your baby closely. The goal is to potentially pick up any issues before they arise.
Obstetrics Murdoch
Gestational diabetes - Qualified diabetes educator
Some pregnant women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Our midwife Marie is also a qualified Diabetes Educator, so you will not need to go to a third party provider if you were diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
If this were the case, you would again benefit from this very important continuity of care. It really helps if you are seeing someone you have met before, and you have this relationship of trust. Marie will be able to provide you with education, to manage your gestational diabetes. What that means is that she will help you manage your blood sugar levels, to minimise the impact of gestational diabetes on your baby and on your own health.
Obstetrics Murdoch
CTGs - Regular monitoring if required
Antenatal Cardiotocography, more commonly known as CTG, means that a monitor is applied to your belly to record your baby’s heartbeat.
This type of monitoring is regularly used in labour, and it can also be applied during the later stages of your pregnancy. Your obstetrician or your midwife will suggest CTGs if there are any complicating factors such as reduced movements or concerns about growth.
We have a CTG machine here in our rooms and Marie will be able to perform a monitoring session when required. Being able to book a CTG here at our private practice saves you having to go to a busy ward, and it minimises your waiting time.
Murdoch Obstetrics care
Our postnatal midwifery care
After you have had your baby, you will be looked after on the ward by St John of God Murdoch Hospital’s midwives. Anna will also see you regularly whilst you are an inpatient, and so will Marie.
After the birth of your baby, you may still have many questions, and we believe that you deserve to see someone you already know.
And even as you are ‘discharged’ and take your baby home - especially if this is your first baby - there will be more questions. By then you will know Marie, and she will be there for you to answer questions over the phone or she may be available for you here at the rooms if you feel this would be beneficial.
As part of her role in your postnatal midwifery care, organised from our rooms here at St John of God Murdoch Hospital, our midwife will be able to direct you to the most appropriate resources to assist you.
