After your baby arrives
A midwife who comes to you
The core of what EverNurture does. An unhurried visit in your own home in the weeks after birth, looking after your recovery as carefully as your baby.
Why at home
Because getting out the door is the hard part
In the first weeks, a ten-minute appointment can cost you two hours and most of your composure. Feeding, changing, parking, the car seat, then doing it all again in reverse.
A visit at home removes that entirely. It also shows a midwife things a clinic never will: where your baby sleeps, the chair you feed in, whether you have eaten today, who else is around to help. Much of what is useful in a postnatal visit comes from what she can see rather than what you remember to mention.
Visits are planned care. If something is urgent, ring 000, or Healthdirect on 1800 022 222 for registered nurse advice at any hour.
Two people, one visit
Your recovery counts as much as your baby's progress
Postnatal care is often described as if it were only about the baby. It is not, and the mother's half is the half most often skipped.
Looking after you
- How you are healing after the birth, including wound checks where they apply
- Your sleep, your eating and how you are physically holding up
- Your emotional wellbeing, asked about directly rather than skirted around
- A debrief about your pregnancy and birth, if you want one
Looking after your baby
- A full check, written up in your blue book as she goes
- Whether what your baby is doing is ordinary for this age
- A feed, watched rather than only discussed
How long, how many
Usually around ninety minutes
Long enough that nothing is rushed, and long enough for the questions that surface once you have relaxed. Some families want a single visit to settle one thing. Others want a midwife alongside them across several weeks.
There is no set course to sign up for. Ask the midwife you contact what she would suggest for your situation, and how far into the postnatal period she visits.
Fees and rebates
What you are likely to pay
Because every EverNurture midwife is endorsed, eligible families can claim a Medicare rebate on a postnatal visit, and it covers a substantial part of the fee. The rebate applies within a limited window after the birth, and the largest published rebates apply once the Medicare safety net has been reached.
Fees are set practice by practice, so confirm her fee, your eligibility and the gap you would actually pay in the first conversation.
Between visits
You are not left holding it alone
Most midwives are reachable between visits for the question that will not wait until next time. What that looks like varies: her hours, how quickly she usually replies, and what she would rather you did outside them.
Ask her at the first visit and you will save yourself a fortnight of wondering whether a message is too trivial to send. It rarely is.
Who else can be there
Bring in whoever is helping you
Partners, grandparents and anyone else doing the night shifts are welcome to sit in. A great deal of early-weeks tension comes from two people having been told slightly different things, and the simplest cure is for them both to be in the room.
Older children generally carry on as usual. Nobody expects the household to be quiet or tidy.
Arrange a visit
Ready to have a midwife come to you?
Each midwife takes her own bookings by phone or email, and can tell you the areas she visits and when she is free.