MARLBOROUGH

- Sue Hudson- i cant reccomend her enough! she was totally amazing from when i was dumped with her at 28 weeks when my last 2 MWs resigned/left the country.. she did anything and everything i wanted, and supported me in every decision i made whilst giving me honest opinions and advice the whole way through. thanks to her i was able to have a completely natural drug free waterbirth without induction at 13 days past my due date! (when at the same time would totally have supported my decisions if id asked for drugs etc) as she said to me the whole way through (in her gorgeous english accent hehe) "Ill do ANYTHING you ask me, except swing from the chandeliers!" hehe. not having my mum or any family nearby she was so lovely and mumsy and so commited to her job and looking after the mummas- amaginw post natal care too which is SO important! completely supported me to get BFing established when i struggled because she knew it was something i felt strongly about, yet will support any decision you make to so what you feel is best for you and bubs. just love her! :D

NORTH CANTERBURY
•     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be.

CHRISTCHURCH
•     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2!
•     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure!
•     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough.
Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh.
•     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are.
•     Adrienne Hill - Merivale Midwives - Highly recommend. Cannot recommend her enough. She was fantastic both pre and postnatal. Highly professional but also very personable too. Has an extensive amount of knowledge and gives great advice for the smallest things. If I was having more babies she would be my MW without a doubt.

TIMARU
•     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years


DUNEDIN
•     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend
•     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too!
And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely
•     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them.
•     Lisa Wang - absolutely AMAZING! Can't rate her highly enough, nothing is too big or too small or too hard for her - she is available for your every little question no matter how silly it may seem. Great for first timers who need lots of reassurance! Also very good at hearing what your problems/concerns are and supporting you with your decisions. I want another baby so i can have her again!


INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND
•     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!!
•     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife.
•     Kathy Harrington - professional and yet laidback, managed the birth calmly when baby went into distress, and therefore I didn't panic. 

Edited by Emmi_]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:58:39 +0000 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34012&PID=1428210&title=recommend-your-midwife#1428210 https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34012&PID=1426656&title=recommend-your-midwife#1426656 Author: KelzF09
Subject: 34012
Posted: 30 January 2012 at 1:24pm

AUCKLAND
North Shore
•     Debbie Greenwood from Maternity Associates. She was wonderful, particularly with her post-natal care.
•     Wendy Devereaux http://www.shoremidwives.co.nz/ absolutely fantastic, very friendly, always listens to what you want and never makes you feel silly or annoying with any of your questions or concerns
•     Delwyn Evans from Mat associates. Was amazing and came highly recommended. Nothing’s too much of a bother for her. Very friendly & relaxed.
•     Cherie Davis from Close to Nature. Great mw, always there for you whenever needed and no question is silly. She's booked me in for this pregnancy.
•     Helena Humphries from Hibiscus coast Midwives - shes awesome - no bulls**t - had three babes of her own and is just a really nice chic. Is licensed for NSH and Waitak too
•     Karen Carsen from The Cottage Midwives www.thecottagemidwives.co.nz based on the Shore
Everything's been a breeze with her. She is also involved in Parents Centre, and I think is their breast feeding go to person as well.

Central
•     The Tui Team (Megan / Cherry) at Birthcare Parnell. They were both absolutely fantastic, reassuring, great follow up, available for me at any time, funny, really good at relaxing me, but also taking questions/concerns seriously and not making me feel stupid.
•     Brigid Beehan based in Pt Chev. I had amazing post natal care from her and one of my friends is using her for her 2nd (on my recommendation) and is really happy with her care. She was great, she only works part time so takes less mums to be on so if you are keen get on to her quickly.
•     Rhondda Kerrins (Grey Lynn). She delivered both my kids and i wouldnt of done it without her, she is AMAZING.
•     Gaylene Bogle -Gaylene was a star when it came to my labour (which was very difficult) and has been a great help since as well

South
•     Deborah Young (Manukau) She is calm, friendly, easy going person. Even though she is young, she has plenty of experience and is very confident.
•     Danielle North (Papakura/Pukekohe) Can't recommend her highly enough, she was brilliant!
•     Cathi Wintle (Waiuku/Pukekohe). She is fantastic!! She saw me through both pregnancies and will see my through my next :)
•     Ruth Davison (Pukekohe) She encouraged me with my VBA2C and we had a planned HB and are now having another HB for this bubs. Partly named my son after her as a tribute to what she helped me to achieve



West
•     Angela Scott, Baby on the Way Midwives is AWESOME. Very thorough and just amazing while you are labouring. She does homebirth/home waterbirth as well and her back-up Rochelle is just as amazing and lovely.
•     Midwives Independent - Heidi Copland 027 226 6655 (09) 420 7931 Covers helensville birthing centre, waitakere hospital, northshore hospital. Highly recommend her,shes been my midwife for both my last pregnancy and current,lovely lady couldnt ask for a better person to be in the care of during pregnancy and all:)
•     Bunny Cummings, I haven't had my baby yet but she's just been awesome the whole way through my pregnancy! Plus i've heard other mums talk about her and never anything bad!
West Auckland: Gail Kiss from Henderson (can't remember the name of the practice). She delivers at Waitakere Hospital and home births. She's got something like 12 years of obstetric emergency experience and she's very onto it from the medical perspective. I feel very safe in her hands. She's also caring, loves to exclaim over beautiful bumps and has a wicked sense of humour!
•     Sandy Grey, over 20 years experience, can do home births, very knowledgable and easy to get along with. Didn't feel rushed. She took her time and explained everything.
•     Maria Backhouse-Smith (Ranui). my friend had children many moons ago to and Maria is a friend of hers who trained as a midwife recently even though she has older children

East
•     Catherine Overfield (Howick). I had her all the way through my last pregnancy , and she was good, I found her very nice, unfortunatly she wasn't at my son's birth (she was off for the weekend ) but a lady in my coffee group ended up with her during labour and she says she was very good ,calm , and reassuring etc
•     Yvonne Daji (Glen Innes)for my second baby and she was AWESOME.She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)I know quite a few OHBaby mums have used her as well. She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She was happy to let me commute for my appointments, and managed things perfectly for me. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)

WAIKATO
Hamilton
•     Colleen van der Laan, works out of Waterford. She is fantastic!! A lactation consultant as well, and an experienced NICU nurse as well. She was my sister's MW as well, I couldn't recommend her highly enough!
•     Colleen van der Laan was my mw for number 1 & 2 and I her! She delivered Ollie, however I had her back up mw (Shelley Sjaarda) for Lilia's birth. Colleen is great because I felt I could ask her anything and she never made me feel silly, or like I was wasting her time. She was relaxed and friendly but also acted promptly and confidently when required (I had a PPH due to fully retained placenta with Ollie).
•     Rebekah Tainui (Ham East) was absolutely brilliant and her backup Kathryn Duggan was also great. They both went above and beyond the call of duty. And even though I was handed over to the hospital for induction, Kathryn was still there for the birth of my boy.
•     Shelley Sjaarda with number 3 as Colleen was out of the country. Again an excellent midwife who I have no hesitation in recommending. As with Colleen she is friendly and approachable, happy to 'see how we go on the day' but as she is also a RN I felt confident that had anything happened she could make the right decisions for me & my baby (nothing did happen though!).
•     Dawn McHugh - HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I don't live in Hamilton, but knew we were going to birth in Hamilton. We had so many issues with our local mw and so many complications. She would call me on my cell regularly to check up on me even though I wasn't under her care then and would go above and beyond. After the birth she drove all over Hamilton on a public holiday to buy me nipple shields and a cream to save us the trouble of doing it after a long drive home. She is completely focused on you and your needs. Will do whatever makes you feel comfortable and never make you feel bad for any decision you make.
•     Therese James: She literally saved my babies life too!! Argued black and blue with the Register at the hospital for me to have an emergancy C-Section after Meconium and 32 hrs labour....finally got her way. If baby hadnt come then, we would have been dealing with an oxygen deprived bubba. She will forever be our angel. If you can get her (shes in high demand), you'd NEVER look back!! XX

TAURANGA
•     Leigh O'neill (Bethlehem) from Bay Births. I've had her for both my pregnancies and she's fantastic. Really laid back, but incredibly switched on at the same time. She's always made me feel comfortable and at ease with any "bumps" along the way. Leigh was away when I delivered Hannah, so I had Pat Shanks, who I would rate incredibly highly, too. In fact, ANY of the ladies at Bay Births. They're all like-minded and work really well together as a supportive team.
•     Andrea Smith, (Tauranga/Mount/Papamoa/Te Puke) brilliant supportive MW, long appointments, fully engaged in your care the whole time.
•     Linda Steadman who delivered DS2, so brilliant, she does home antenatal visits and have had friends who highly recommend her.
•     Belinda Beetham and Margaret Searancke (Waihi / Katikati) are totally awesome. Margaret was my MW and the Birth was a lot easier with her.

TE AROHA :
•     Jen Hubbard from Aroha Midwifery - cover Morrinsville/Te Aroha/Paeroa (not sure of exact areas). She is just fantastic!

TAUPO
•     Sonia Ransom is an amazing midwife. Perfect for me as a first time mum. Fabulous at the birth - the minute she walked into the room I knew everything was okay.


ROTORUA
•     Maria Johnson: Maria has been great (recommended by another OhBaby Member) with my health concerns she hasn't battered an eye lid and was very prompt to make a specialist app for me to ease my worries! And they do quite a few homebirths from what I understand

HAWKES BAY
•     Teresa Cornes was best i could have asked for - wonderful!
Paula Hardy is amazing used her for my 1st and now using her for my 2nd would recommend her to all Hastings/Havelock based mums2b

MANAWATU
•     Kim Porthouse (Otaki) from Otaki Midwifery, does any birth from home to palmy hospital and covers most of manawatu
Palmerston North:
•     Megan Holloway from Heretaunga Midwifery. I couldn't have wished for a better midwife, and bonus, she trained as a nurse before changing to midwifery so has a lot of great knowledge and experience.
•     Kendra Mackey: I’d like to recommend my wonderful midwife kendra..shes wonderful and I totally recommend her
•     Fiona McCrae: A fantastic midwife, I had a fantastic home birth through her I couldnt have had a better midwife.
•     Za Vivan: The second midwife at my homebirth. She was wonderful.
•     Cathy Symes. She is a wondeful lady and has birthed 3 of my babies... and i have just booked her in for #4! Yay!
•     Megan Holloway was fantastic! Very knowledgable and matter-of-fact. The only prob is I only saw her for probably just over half of my appointments (a locum often just met me at the clinic when I thought I was meeting megan)... When I did see her she was AWESOME!! Will def try to book her again one day :)
South Wairarapa –
•     Kate Wilson. I'm now pregnant with #2 and Kate's was the first number I dialled! She's really lovely, down to earth and unflappable - she always manages to calm me down when I'm freaking out about things!!

WELLINGTON
Northern Suburbs
•     Michelle Vincent from Ngaio medical centre. She is just fantastic! The whole time.
Michelle Vincent - She came highly recommended to us and so far (I'm 30 weeks and high risk) she has been FANTASTIC!
-another Michelle Vincent fan. Kind, supportive and extremely open to all sorts of ways of birthing. already 1 million times better than my first mw
•     Margaret Hadley, from Capital City Midwives. She is very onto it (very experienced, was a nurse before a MW) she can be quite blunt, but you know where you stand with her and she is more than capable.
•     Victoria Panteleeva (Johnsonville to Pukerua Bay): My midwife was through Birth Options Awesome midwife!!! Can't recommend her enough!
-I second this! Victoria delivered DD for me and is my midwife again for this baby

Hutt Valley/Whitbyish area:
•     Christine Griffiths. I can't rave about her enough she was just awesome. Has been a MW / nurse for over 20 yrs knows what she is doing and doesn't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do.
•     Julie Thompson – (Lower Hutt) she was just fabulous in every possible way.
•     Jill Adamson is wonderful. I can remember what group in Lower Hutt she from. She is a great time with you when needed and also she great when things get stressful in labour keeps you calm. Her after care with you and baby is great as well.

NELSON
•     Lynn Hilden, an independant midwife who works out of the motueka birthing unit. Fantastic lady, originally from England. She only takes on 2 or 3 ladies a month so has lots of time to see you. Very cruisey- into natural birthing but will take on anyone. I will be ringing her when we decide to have another one. http://www.nelsonmidwives.co.nz/midwife.php?id=14

MARLBOROUGH

- Sue Hudson- i cant reccomend her enough! she was totally amazing from when i was dumped with her at 28 weeks when my last 2 MWs resigned/left the country.. she did anything and everything i wanted, and supported me in every decision i made whilst giving me honest opinions and advice the whole way through. thanks to her i was able to have a completely natural drug free waterbirth without induction at 13 days past my due date! (when at the same time would totally have supported my decisions if id asked for drugs etc) as she said to me the whole way through (in her gorgeous english accent hehe) "Ill do ANYTHING you ask me, except swing from the chandeliers!" hehe. not having my mum or any family nearby she was so lovely and mumsy and so commited to her job and looking after the mummas- amaginw post natal care too which is SO important! completely supported me to get BFing established when i struggled because she knew it was something i felt strongly about, yet will support any decision you make to so what you feel is best for you and bubs. just love her! :D

NORTH CANTERBURY
•     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be.

CHRISTCHURCH
•     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2!
•     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure!
•     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough.
Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh.
•     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are.
•     Adrienne Hill - Merivale Midwives - Highly recommend. Cannot recommend her enough. She was fantastic both pre and postnatal. Highly professional but also very personable too. Has an extensive amount of knowledge and gives great advice for the smallest things. If I was having more babies she would be my MW without a doubt.

TIMARU
•     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years


DUNEDIN
•     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend
•     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too!
And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely
•     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them.
•     Lisa Wang - absolutely AMAZING! Can't rate her highly enough, nothing is too big or too small or too hard for her - she is available for your every little question no matter how silly it may seem. Great for first timers who need lots of reassurance! Also very good at hearing what your problems/concerns are and supporting you with your decisions. I want another baby so i can have her again!


INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND
•     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!!
•     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife.

• Kathy Harrington - professional and yet laidback, managed the birth calmly when baby went into distress, and therefore I didn't panic.   

MARLBOROUGH

- Sue Hudson- i cant reccomend her enough! she was totally amazing from when i was dumped with her at 28 weeks when my last 2 MWs resigned/left the country.. she did anything and everything i wanted, and supported me in every decision i made whilst giving me honest opinions and advice the whole way through. thanks to her i was able to have a completely natural drug free waterbirth without induction at 13 days past my due date! (when at the same time would totally have supported my decisions if id asked for drugs etc) as she said to me the whole way through (in her gorgeous english accent hehe) "Ill do ANYTHING you ask me, except swing from the chandeliers!" hehe. not having my mum or any family nearby she was so lovely and mumsy and so commited to her job and looking after the mummas- amaginw post natal care too which is SO important! completely supported me to get BFing established when i struggled because she knew it was something i felt strongly about, yet will support any decision you make to so what you feel is best for you and bubs. just love her! :D

NORTH CANTERBURY
•     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be.

CHRISTCHURCH
•     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2!
•     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure!
•     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough.
Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh.
•     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are.
•     Adrienne Hill - Merivale Midwives - Highly recommend. Cannot recommend her enough. She was fantastic both pre and postnatal. Highly professional but also very personable too. Has an extensive amount of knowledge and gives great advice for the smallest things. If I was having more babies she would be my MW without a doubt.

TIMARU
•     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years


DUNEDIN
•     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend
•     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too!
And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely
•     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them.
•     Lisa Wang - absolutely AMAZING! Can't rate her highly enough, nothing is too big or too small or too hard for her - she is available for your every little question no matter how silly it may seem. Great for first timers who need lots of reassurance! Also very good at hearing what your problems/concerns are and supporting you with your decisions. I want another baby so i can have her again!


INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND
•     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!!
•     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife.

• Kathy Harrington - professional and yet laidback, managed the birth calmly when baby went into distress, and therefore I didn't panic.   

_Soda_ wrote: Blankney94 wrote: AUCKLAND North Shore •     Debbie Greenwood from Maternity Associates. She was wonderful, particularly with her post-natal care. •     Wendy Devereaux http://www.shoremidwives.co.nz/ absolutely fantastic, very friendly, always listens to what you want and never makes you feel silly or annoying with any of your questions or concerns •     Delwyn Evans from Mat associates. Was amazing and came highly recommended. Nothing’s too much of a bother for her. Very friendly & relaxed. •     Cherie Davis from Close to Nature. Great mw, always there for you whenever needed and no question is silly. She's booked me in for this pregnancy. •     Helena Humphries from Hibiscus coast Midwives - shes awesome - no bulls**t - had three babes of her own and is just a really nice chic. Is licensed for NSH and Waitak too •     Karen Carsen from The Cottage Midwives www.thecottagemidwives.co.nz based on the Shore Everything's been a breeze with her. She is also involved in Parents Centre, and I think is their breast feeding go to person as well. Central •     The Tui Team (Megan / Cherry) at Birthcare Parnell. They were both absolutely fantastic, reassuring, great follow up, available for me at any time, funny, really good at relaxing me, but also taking questions/concerns seriously and not making me feel stupid. •     Brigid Beehan based in Pt Chev. I had amazing post natal care from her and one of my friends is using her for her 2nd (on my recommendation) and is really happy with her care. She was great, she only works part time so takes less mums to be on so if you are keen get on to her quickly. •     Rhondda Kerrins (Grey Lynn). She delivered both my kids and i wouldnt of done it without her, she is AMAZING. •     Gaylene Bogle -Gaylene was a star when it came to my labour (which was very difficult) and has been a great help since as well South •     Deborah Young (Manukau) She is calm, friendly, easy going person. Even though she is young, she has plenty of experience and is very confident. •     Danielle North (Papakura/Pukekohe) Can't recommend her highly enough, she was brilliant! •     Cathi Wintle (Waiuku/Pukekohe). She is fantastic!! She saw me through both pregnancies and will see my through my next :) •     Ruth Davison (Pukekohe) She encouraged me with my VBA2C and we had a planned HB and are now having another HB for this bubs. Partly named my son after her as a tribute to what she helped me to achieve West •     Angela Scott, Baby on the Way Midwives is AWESOME. Very thorough and just amazing while you are labouring. She does homebirth/home waterbirth as well and her back-up Rochelle is just as amazing and lovely. •     Midwives Independent - Heidi Copland 027 226 6655 (09) 420 7931 Covers helensville birthing centre, waitakere hospital, northshore hospital. Highly recommend her,shes been my midwife for both my last pregnancy and current,lovely lady couldnt ask for a better person to be in the care of during pregnancy and all:) •     Bunny Cummings, I haven't had my baby yet but she's just been awesome the whole way through my pregnancy! Plus i've heard other mums talk about her and never anything bad! West Auckland: Gail Kiss from Henderson (can't remember the name of the practice). She delivers at Waitakere Hospital and home births. She's got something like 12 years of obstetric emergency experience and she's very onto it from the medical perspective. I feel very safe in her hands. She's also caring, loves to exclaim over beautiful bumps and has a wicked sense of humour! •     Sandy Grey, over 20 years experience, can do home births, very knowledgable and easy to get along with. Didn't feel rushed. She took her time and explained everything. •     Maria Backhouse-Smith (Ranui). my friend had children many moons ago to and Maria is a friend of hers who trained as a midwife recently even though she has older children East •     Catherine Overfield (Howick). I had her all the way through my last pregnancy , and she was good, I found her very nice, unfortunatly she wasn't at my son's birth (she was off for the weekend ) but a lady in my coffee group ended up with her during labour and she says she was very good ,calm , and reassuring etc •     Yvonne Daji (Glen Innes)for my second baby and she was AWESOME.She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)I know quite a few OHBaby mums have used her as well. She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She was happy to let me commute for my appointments, and managed things perfectly for me. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!) WAIKATO Hamilton •     Colleen van der Laan, works out of Waterford. She is fantastic!! A lactation consultant as well, and an experienced NICU nurse as well. She was my sister's MW as well, I couldn't recommend her highly enough! •     Colleen van der Laan was my mw for number 1 & 2 and I her! She delivered Ollie, however I had her back up mw (Shelley Sjaarda) for Lilia's birth. Colleen is great because I felt I could ask her anything and she never made me feel silly, or like I was wasting her time. She was relaxed and friendly but also acted promptly and confidently when required (I had a PPH due to fully retained placenta with Ollie). •     Rebekah Tainui (Ham East) was absolutely brilliant and her backup Kathryn Duggan was also great. They both went above and beyond the call of duty. And even though I was handed over to the hospital for induction, Kathryn was still there for the birth of my boy. •     Shelley Sjaarda with number 3 as Colleen was out of the country. Again an excellent midwife who I have no hesitation in recommending. As with Colleen she is friendly and approachable, happy to 'see how we go on the day' but as she is also a RN I felt confident that had anything happened she could make the right decisions for me & my baby (nothing did happen though!). •     Dawn McHugh - HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I don't live in Hamilton, but knew we were going to birth in Hamilton. We had so many issues with our local mw and so many complications. She would call me on my cell regularly to check up on me even though I wasn't under her care then and would go above and beyond. After the birth she drove all over Hamilton on a public holiday to buy me nipple shields and a cream to save us the trouble of doing it after a long drive home. She is completely focused on you and your needs. Will do whatever makes you feel comfortable and never make you feel bad for any decision you make. •     Therese James: She literally saved my babies life too!! Argued black and blue with the Register at the hospital for me to have an emergancy C-Section after Meconium and 32 hrs labour....finally got her way. If baby hadnt come then, we would have been dealing with an oxygen deprived bubba. She will forever be our angel. If you can get her (shes in high demand), you'd NEVER look back!! XX TAURANGA •     Leigh O'neill (Bethlehem) from Bay Births. I've had her for both my pregnancies and she's fantastic. Really laid back, but incredibly switched on at the same time. She's always made me feel comfortable and at ease with any "bumps" along the way. Leigh was away when I delivered Hannah, so I had Pat Shanks, who I would rate incredibly highly, too. In fact, ANY of the ladies at Bay Births. They're all like-minded and work really well together as a supportive team. •     Andrea Smith, (Tauranga/Mount/Papamoa/Te Puke) brilliant supportive MW, long appointments, fully engaged in your care the whole time. •     Linda Steadman who delivered DS2, so brilliant, she does home antenatal visits and have had friends who highly recommend her. •     Belinda Beetham and Margaret Searancke (Waihi / Katikati) are totally awesome. Margaret was my MW and the Birth was a lot easier with her. TE AROHA : •     Jen Hubbard from Aroha Midwifery - cover Morrinsville/Te Aroha/Paeroa (not sure of exact areas). She is just fantastic! TAUPO •     Sonia Ransom is an amazing midwife. Perfect for me as a first time mum. Fabulous at the birth - the minute she walked into the room I knew everything was okay. ROTORUA •     Maria Johnson: Maria has been great (recommended by another OhBaby Member) with my health concerns she hasn't battered an eye lid and was very prompt to make a specialist app for me to ease my worries! And they do quite a few homebirths from what I understand HAWKES BAY •     Teresa Cornes was best i could have asked for - wonderful! MANAWATU •     Kim Porthouse (Otaki) from Otaki Midwifery, does any birth from home to palmy hospital and covers most of manawatu Palmerston North: •     Megan Holloway from Heretaunga Midwifery. I couldn't have wished for a better midwife, and bonus, she trained as a nurse before changing to midwifery so has a lot of great knowledge and experience. •     Kendra Mackey: I’d like to recommend my wonderful midwife kendra..shes wonderful and I totally recommend her •     Fiona McCrae: A fantastic midwife, I had a fantastic home birth through her I couldnt have had a better midwife. •     Za Vivan: The second midwife at my homebirth. She was wonderful. •     Cathy Symes. She is a wondeful lady and has birthed 3 of my babies... and i have just booked her in for #4! Yay! •     Megan Holloway was fantastic! Very knowledgable and matter-of-fact. The only prob is I only saw her for probably just over half of my appointments (a locum often just met me at the clinic when I thought I was meeting megan)... When I did see her she was AWESOME!! Will def try to book her again one day :) South Wairarapa – •     Kate Wilson. I'm now pregnant with #2 and Kate's was the first number I dialled! She's really lovely, down to earth and unflappable - she always manages to calm me down when I'm freaking out about things!! WELLINGTON Northern Suburbs •     Michelle Vincent from Ngaio medical centre. She is just fantastic! The whole time. Michelle Vincent - She came highly recommended to us and so far (I'm 30 weeks and high risk) she has been FANTASTIC! -another Michelle Vincent fan. Kind, supportive and extremely open to all sorts of ways of birthing. already 1 million times better than my first mw •     Margaret Hadley, from Capital City Midwives. She is very onto it (very experienced, was a nurse before a MW) she can be quite blunt, but you know where you stand with her and she is more than capable. •     Victoria Panteleeva (Johnsonville to Pukerua Bay): My midwife was through Birth Options Awesome midwife!!! Can't recommend her enough! -I second this! Victoria delivered DD for me and is my midwife again for this baby Hutt Valley/Whitbyish area: •     Christine Griffiths. I can't rave about her enough she was just awesome. Has been a MW / nurse for over 20 yrs knows what she is doing and doesn't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do. •     Julie Thompson – (Lower Hutt) she was just fabulous in every possible way. •     Jill Adamson is wonderful. I can remember what group in Lower Hutt she from. She is a great time with you when needed and also she great when things get stressful in labour keeps you calm. Her after care with you and baby is great as well. NELSON •     Lynn Hilden, an independant midwife who works out of the motueka birthing unit. Fantastic lady, originally from England. She only takes on 2 or 3 ladies a month so has lots of time to see you. Very cruisey- into natural birthing but will take on anyone. I will be ringing her when we decide to have another one. http://www.nelsonmidwives.co.nz/midwife.php?id=14 MARLBOROUGH - Sue Hudson- i cant reccomend her enough! she was totally amazing from when i was dumped with her at 28 weeks when my last 2 MWs resigned/left the country.. she did anything and everything i wanted, and supported me in every decision i made whilst giving me honest opinions and advice the whole way through. thanks to her i was able to have a completely natural drug free waterbirth without induction at 13 days past my due date! (when at the same time would totally have supported my decisions if id asked for drugs etc) as she said to me the whole way through (in her gorgeous english accent hehe) "Ill do ANYTHING you ask me, except swing from the chandeliers!" hehe. not having my mum or any family nearby she was so lovely and mumsy and so commited to her job and looking after the mummas- amaginw post natal care too which is SO important! completely supported me to get BFing established when i struggled because she knew it was something i felt strongly about, yet will support any decision you make to so what you feel is best for you and bubs. just love her! :D NORTH CANTERBURY •     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be. CHRISTCHURCH •     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2! •     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure! •     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough. Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh. •     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are. TIMARU •     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years DUNEDIN •     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend •     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too! And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely •     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them. •     Lisa Wang - absolutely AMAZING! Can't rate her highly enough, nothing is too big or too small or too hard for her - she is available for your every little question no matter how silly it may seem. Great for first timers who need lots of reassurance! Also very good at hearing what your problems/concerns are and supporting you with your decisions. I want another baby so i can have her again! INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND •     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!! •     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife. Kathy Harrington - professional and yet laidback, managed the birth calmly when baby went into distress, and therefore I didn't panic.

• Lisa Wang

AUCKLAND
North Shore
•     Debbie Greenwood from Maternity Associates. She was wonderful, particularly with her post-natal care.
•     Wendy Devereaux http://www.shoremidwives.co.nz/ absolutely fantastic, very friendly, always listens to what you want and never makes you feel silly or annoying with any of your questions or concerns
•     Delwyn Evans from Mat associates. Was amazing and came highly recommended. Nothing’s too much of a bother for her. Very friendly & relaxed.
•     Cherie Davis from Close to Nature. Great mw, always there for you whenever needed and no question is silly. She's booked me in for this pregnancy.
•     Helena Humphries from Hibiscus coast Midwives - shes awesome - no bulls**t - had three babes of her own and is just a really nice chic. Is licensed for NSH and Waitak too
•     Karen Carsen from The Cottage Midwives www.thecottagemidwives.co.nz based on the Shore
Everything's been a breeze with her. She is also involved in Parents Centre, and I think is their breast feeding go to person as well.

Central
•     The Tui Team (Megan / Cherry) at Birthcare Parnell. They were both absolutely fantastic, reassuring, great follow up, available for me at any time, funny, really good at relaxing me, but also taking questions/concerns seriously and not making me feel stupid.
•     Brigid Beehan based in Pt Chev. I had amazing post natal care from her and one of my friends is using her for her 2nd (on my recommendation) and is really happy with her care. She was great, she only works part time so takes less mums to be on so if you are keen get on to her quickly.
•     Rhondda Kerrins (Grey Lynn). She delivered both my kids and i wouldnt of done it without her, she is AMAZING.
•     Gaylene Bogle -Gaylene was a star when it came to my labour (which was very difficult) and has been a great help since as well

South
•     Deborah Young (Manukau) She is calm, friendly, easy going person. Even though she is young, she has plenty of experience and is very confident.
•     Danielle North (Papakura/Pukekohe) Can't recommend her highly enough, she was brilliant!
•     Cathi Wintle (Waiuku/Pukekohe). She is fantastic!! She saw me through both pregnancies and will see my through my next :)
•     Ruth Davison (Pukekohe) She encouraged me with my VBA2C and we had a planned HB and are now having another HB for this bubs. Partly named my son after her as a tribute to what she helped me to achieve



West
•     Angela Scott, Baby on the Way Midwives is AWESOME. Very thorough and just amazing while you are labouring. She does homebirth/home waterbirth as well and her back-up Rochelle is just as amazing and lovely.
•     Midwives Independent - Heidi Copland 027 226 6655 (09) 420 7931 Covers helensville birthing centre, waitakere hospital, northshore hospital. Highly recommend her,shes been my midwife for both my last pregnancy and current,lovely lady couldnt ask for a better person to be in the care of during pregnancy and all:)
•     Bunny Cummings, I haven't had my baby yet but she's just been awesome the whole way through my pregnancy! Plus i've heard other mums talk about her and never anything bad!
West Auckland: Gail Kiss from Henderson (can't remember the name of the practice). She delivers at Waitakere Hospital and home births. She's got something like 12 years of obstetric emergency experience and she's very onto it from the medical perspective. I feel very safe in her hands. She's also caring, loves to exclaim over beautiful bumps and has a wicked sense of humour!
•     Sandy Grey, over 20 years experience, can do home births, very knowledgable and easy to get along with. Didn't feel rushed. She took her time and explained everything.
•     Maria Backhouse-Smith (Ranui). my friend had children many moons ago to and Maria is a friend of hers who trained as a midwife recently even though she has older children

East
•     Catherine Overfield (Howick). I had her all the way through my last pregnancy , and she was good, I found her very nice, unfortunatly she wasn't at my son's birth (she was off for the weekend ) but a lady in my coffee group ended up with her during labour and she says she was very good ,calm , and reassuring etc
•     Yvonne Daji (Glen Innes)for my second baby and she was AWESOME.She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)I know quite a few OHBaby mums have used her as well. She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She was happy to let me commute for my appointments, and managed things perfectly for me. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)

WAIKATO
Hamilton
•     Colleen van der Laan, works out of Waterford. She is fantastic!! A lactation consultant as well, and an experienced NICU nurse as well. She was my sister's MW as well, I couldn't recommend her highly enough!
•     Colleen van der Laan was my mw for number 1 & 2 and I her! She delivered Ollie, however I had her back up mw (Shelley Sjaarda) for Lilia's birth. Colleen is great because I felt I could ask her anything and she never made me feel silly, or like I was wasting her time. She was relaxed and friendly but also acted promptly and confidently when required (I had a PPH due to fully retained placenta with Ollie).
•     Rebekah Tainui (Ham East) was absolutely brilliant and her backup Kathryn Duggan was also great. They both went above and beyond the call of duty. And even though I was handed over to the hospital for induction, Kathryn was still there for the birth of my boy.
•     Shelley Sjaarda with number 3 as Colleen was out of the country. Again an excellent midwife who I have no hesitation in recommending. As with Colleen she is friendly and approachable, happy to 'see how we go on the day' but as she is also a RN I felt confident that had anything happened she could make the right decisions for me & my baby (nothing did happen though!).
•     Dawn McHugh - HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I don't live in Hamilton, but knew we were going to birth in Hamilton. We had so many issues with our local mw and so many complications. She would call me on my cell regularly to check up on me even though I wasn't under her care then and would go above and beyond. After the birth she drove all over Hamilton on a public holiday to buy me nipple shields and a cream to save us the trouble of doing it after a long drive home. She is completely focused on you and your needs. Will do whatever makes you feel comfortable and never make you feel bad for any decision you make.
•     Therese James: She literally saved my babies life too!! Argued black and blue with the Register at the hospital for me to have an emergancy C-Section after Meconium and 32 hrs labour....finally got her way. If baby hadnt come then, we would have been dealing with an oxygen deprived bubba. She will forever be our angel. If you can get her (shes in high demand), you'd NEVER look back!! XX

TAURANGA
•     Leigh O'neill (Bethlehem) from Bay Births. I've had her for both my pregnancies and she's fantastic. Really laid back, but incredibly switched on at the same time. She's always made me feel comfortable and at ease with any "bumps" along the way. Leigh was away when I delivered Hannah, so I had Pat Shanks, who I would rate incredibly highly, too. In fact, ANY of the ladies at Bay Births. They're all like-minded and work really well together as a supportive team.
•     Andrea Smith, (Tauranga/Mount/Papamoa/Te Puke) brilliant supportive MW, long appointments, fully engaged in your care the whole time.
•     Linda Steadman who delivered DS2, so brilliant, she does home antenatal visits and have had friends who highly recommend her.
•     Belinda Beetham and Margaret Searancke (Waihi / Katikati) are totally awesome. Margaret was my MW and the Birth was a lot easier with her.

TE AROHA :
•     Jen Hubbard from Aroha Midwifery - cover Morrinsville/Te Aroha/Paeroa (not sure of exact areas). She is just fantastic!

TAUPO
•     Sonia Ransom is an amazing midwife. Perfect for me as a first time mum. Fabulous at the birth - the minute she walked into the room I knew everything was okay.


ROTORUA
•     Maria Johnson: Maria has been great (recommended by another OhBaby Member) with my health concerns she hasn't battered an eye lid and was very prompt to make a specialist app for me to ease my worries! And they do quite a few homebirths from what I understand

HAWKES BAY
•     Teresa Cornes was best i could have asked for - wonderful!

MANAWATU
•     Kim Porthouse (Otaki) from Otaki Midwifery, does any birth from home to palmy hospital and covers most of manawatu
Palmerston North:
•     Megan Holloway from Heretaunga Midwifery. I couldn't have wished for a better midwife, and bonus, she trained as a nurse before changing to midwifery so has a lot of great knowledge and experience.
•     Kendra Mackey: I’d like to recommend my wonderful midwife kendra..shes wonderful and I totally recommend her
•     Fiona McCrae: A fantastic midwife, I had a fantastic home birth through her I couldnt have had a better midwife.
•     Za Vivan: The second midwife at my homebirth. She was wonderful.
•     Cathy Symes. She is a wondeful lady and has birthed 3 of my babies... and i have just booked her in for #4! Yay!
•     Megan Holloway was fantastic! Very knowledgable and matter-of-fact. The only prob is I only saw her for probably just over half of my appointments (a locum often just met me at the clinic when I thought I was meeting megan)... When I did see her she was AWESOME!! Will def try to book her again one day :)
South Wairarapa –
•     Kate Wilson. I'm now pregnant with #2 and Kate's was the first number I dialled! She's really lovely, down to earth and unflappable - she always manages to calm me down when I'm freaking out about things!!

WELLINGTON
Northern Suburbs
•     Michelle Vincent from Ngaio medical centre. She is just fantastic! The whole time.
Michelle Vincent - She came highly recommended to us and so far (I'm 30 weeks and high risk) she has been FANTASTIC!
-another Michelle Vincent fan. Kind, supportive and extremely open to all sorts of ways of birthing. already 1 million times better than my first mw
•     Margaret Hadley, from Capital City Midwives. She is very onto it (very experienced, was a nurse before a MW) she can be quite blunt, but you know where you stand with her and she is more than capable.
•     Victoria Panteleeva (Johnsonville to Pukerua Bay): My midwife was through Birth Options Awesome midwife!!! Can't recommend her enough!
-I second this! Victoria delivered DD for me and is my midwife again for this baby

Hutt Valley/Whitbyish area:
•     Christine Griffiths. I can't rave about her enough she was just awesome. Has been a MW / nurse for over 20 yrs knows what she is doing and doesn't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do.
•     Julie Thompson – (Lower Hutt) she was just fabulous in every possible way.
•     Jill Adamson is wonderful. I can remember what group in Lower Hutt she from. She is a great time with you when needed and also she great when things get stressful in labour keeps you calm. Her after care with you and baby is great as well.

NELSON
•     Lynn Hilden, an independant midwife who works out of the motueka birthing unit. Fantastic lady, originally from England. She only takes on 2 or 3 ladies a month so has lots of time to see you. Very cruisey- into natural birthing but will take on anyone. I will be ringing her when we decide to have another one. http://www.nelsonmidwives.co.nz/midwife.php?id=14

NORTH CANTERBURY
•     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be.

CHRISTCHURCH
•     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2!
•     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure!
•     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough.
Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh.
•     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are.

TIMARU
•     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years


DUNEDIN
•     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend
•     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too!
And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely
•     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them.

INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND
•     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!!
•     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife.

• Kathy Harrington - professional and yet laidback, managed the birth calmly when baby went into distress, and therefore I didn't panic.   

kabe wrote: kabe wrote: If you are recommending your midwife, please copy and paste the list below and add your midwife recommendation to the appropriate area. Thanks. NOTE: I have just fixed the list. Hopefully it's easier to follow! AUCKLAND North Shore •     Debbie Greenwood from Maternity Associates. She was wonderful, particularly with her post-natal care. •     Wendy Devereaux http://www.shoremidwives.co.nz/ absolutely fantastic, very friendly, always listens to what you want and never makes you feel silly or annoying with any of your questions or concerns •     Delwyn Evans from Mat associates. Was amazing and came highly recommended. Nothing’s too much of a bother for her. Very friendly & relaxed. •     Cherie Davis from Close to Nature. Great mw, always there for you whenever needed and no question is silly. She's booked me in for this pregnancy. •     Helena Humphries from Hibiscus coast Midwives - shes awesome - no bulls**t - had three babes of her own and is just a really nice chic. Is licensed for NSH and Waitak too •     Karen Carsen from The Cottage Midwives www.thecottagemidwives.co.nz based on the Shore Everything's been a breeze with her. She is also involved in Parents Centre, and I think is their breast feeding go to person as well. Central •     The Tui Team (Megan / Cherry) at Birthcare Parnell. They were both absolutely fantastic, reassuring, great follow up, available for me at any time, funny, really good at relaxing me, but also taking questions/concerns seriously and not making me feel stupid. •     Brigid Beehan based in Pt Chev. I had amazing post natal care from her and one of my friends is using her for her 2nd (on my recommendation) and is really happy with her care. She was great, she only works part time so takes less mums to be on so if you are keen get on to her quickly. •     Rhondda Kerrins (Grey Lynn). She delivered both my kids and i wouldnt of done it without her, she is AMAZING. •     Gaylene Bogle -Gaylene was a star when it came to my labour (which was very difficult) and has been a great help since as well South •     Deborah Young (Manukau) She is calm, friendly, easy going person. Even though she is young, she has plenty of experience and is very confident. •     Danielle North (Papakura/Pukekohe) Can't recommend her highly enough, she was brilliant! •     Cathi Wintle (Waiuku/Pukekohe). She is fantastic!! She saw me through both pregnancies and will see my through my next :) •     Ruth Davison (Pukekohe) She encouraged me with my VBA2C and we had a planned HB and are now having another HB for this bubs. Partly named my son after her as a tribute to what she helped me to achieve West •     Angela Scott, Baby on the Way Midwives is AWESOME. Very thorough and just amazing while you are labouring. She does homebirth/home waterbirth as well and her back-up Rochelle is just as amazing and lovely. •     Midwives Independent - Heidi Copland 027 226 6655 (09) 420 7931 Covers helensville birthing centre, waitakere hospital, northshore hospital. Highly recommend her,shes been my midwife for both my last pregnancy and current,lovely lady couldnt ask for a better person to be in the care of during pregnancy and all:) •     Bunny Cummings, I haven't had my baby yet but she's just been awesome the whole way through my pregnancy! Plus i've heard other mums talk about her and never anything bad! West Auckland: Gail Kiss from Henderson (can't remember the name of the practice). She delivers at Waitakere Hospital and home births. She's got something like 12 years of obstetric emergency experience and she's very onto it from the medical perspective. I feel very safe in her hands. She's also caring, loves to exclaim over beautiful bumps and has a wicked sense of humour! •     Sandy Grey, over 20 years experience, can do home births, very knowledgable and easy to get along with. Didn't feel rushed. She took her time and explained everything. •     Maria Backhouse-Smith (Ranui). my friend had children many moons ago to and Maria is a friend of hers who trained as a midwife recently even though she has older children East •     Catherine Overfield (Howick). I had her all the way through my last pregnancy , and she was good, I found her very nice, unfortunatly she wasn't at my son's birth (she was off for the weekend ) but a lady in my coffee group ended up with her during labour and she says she was very good ,calm , and reassuring etc •     Yvonne Daji (Glen Innes)for my second baby and she was AWESOME.She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!)I know quite a few OHBaby mums have used her as well. She is beyond lovely, and was totally amenable to keeping me on, despite me moving 2 hours away from Auckland halfway through my pregnancy. She was happy to let me commute for my appointments, and managed things perfectly for me. She even offered me a stretch & sweep off her own bat at 39 weeks just to see if things were getting going (which they were!) WAIKATO Hamilton •     Colleen van der Laan, works out of Waterford. She is fantastic!! A lactation consultant as well, and an experienced NICU nurse as well. She was my sister's MW as well, I couldn't recommend her highly enough! •     Colleen van der Laan was my mw for number 1 & 2 and I her! She delivered Ollie, however I had her back up mw (Shelley Sjaarda) for Lilia's birth. Colleen is great because I felt I could ask her anything and she never made me feel silly, or like I was wasting her time. She was relaxed and friendly but also acted promptly and confidently when required (I had a PPH due to fully retained placenta with Ollie). •     Rebekah Tainui (Ham East) was absolutely brilliant and her backup Kathryn Duggan was also great. They both went above and beyond the call of duty. And even though I was handed over to the hospital for induction, Kathryn was still there for the birth of my boy. •     Shelley Sjaarda with number 3 as Colleen was out of the country. Again an excellent midwife who I have no hesitation in recommending. As with Colleen she is friendly and approachable, happy to 'see how we go on the day' but as she is also a RN I felt confident that had anything happened she could make the right decisions for me & my baby (nothing did happen though!). •     Dawn McHugh - HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I don't live in Hamilton, but knew we were going to birth in Hamilton. We had so many issues with our local mw and so many complications. She would call me on my cell regularly to check up on me even though I wasn't under her care then and would go above and beyond. After the birth she drove all over Hamilton on a public holiday to buy me nipple shields and a cream to save us the trouble of doing it after a long drive home. She is completely focused on you and your needs. Will do whatever makes you feel comfortable and never make you feel bad for any decision you make. •     Therese James: She literally saved my babies life too!! Argued black and blue with the Register at the hospital for me to have an emergancy C-Section after Meconium and 32 hrs labour....finally got her way. If baby hadnt come then, we would have been dealing with an oxygen deprived bubba. She will forever be our angel. If you can get her (shes in high demand), you'd NEVER look back!! XX TAURANGA •     Leigh O'neill (Bethlehem) from Bay Births. I've had her for both my pregnancies and she's fantastic. Really laid back, but incredibly switched on at the same time. She's always made me feel comfortable and at ease with any "bumps" along the way. Leigh was away when I delivered Hannah, so I had Pat Shanks, who I would rate incredibly highly, too. In fact, ANY of the ladies at Bay Births. They're all like-minded and work really well together as a supportive team. •     Andrea Smith, (Tauranga/Mount/Papamoa/Te Puke) brilliant supportive MW, long appointments, fully engaged in your care the whole time. •     Linda Steadman who delivered DS2, so brilliant, she does home antenatal visits and have had friends who highly recommend her. •     Belinda Beetham and Margaret Searancke (Waihi / Katikati) are totally awesome. Margaret was my MW and the Birth was a lot easier with her. TE AROHA : •     Jen Hubbard from Aroha Midwifery - cover Morrinsville/Te Aroha/Paeroa (not sure of exact areas). She is just fantastic! TAUPO •     Sonia Ransom is an amazing midwife. Perfect for me as a first time mum. Fabulous at the birth - the minute she walked into the room I knew everything was okay. ROTORUA •     Maria Johnson: Maria has been great (recommended by another OhBaby Member) with my health concerns she hasn't battered an eye lid and was very prompt to make a specialist app for me to ease my worries! And they do quite a few homebirths from what I understand HAWKES BAY •     Teresa Cornes was best i could have asked for - wonderful! MANAWATU •     Kim Porthouse (Otaki) from Otaki Midwifery, does any birth from home to palmy hospital and covers most of manawatu Palmerston North: •     Megan Holloway from Heretaunga Midwifery. I couldn't have wished for a better midwife, and bonus, she trained as a nurse before changing to midwifery so has a lot of great knowledge and experience. •     Kendra Mackey: I’d like to recommend my wonderful midwife kendra..shes wonderful and I totally recommend her •     Fiona McCrae: A fantastic midwife, I had a fantastic home birth through her I couldnt have had a better midwife. •     Za Vivan: The second midwife at my homebirth. She was wonderful. •     Cathy Symes. She is a wondeful lady and has birthed 3 of my babies... and i have just booked her in for #4! Yay! •     Megan Holloway was fantastic! Very knowledgable and matter-of-fact. The only prob is I only saw her for probably just over half of my appointments (a locum often just met me at the clinic when I thought I was meeting megan)... When I did see her she was AWESOME!! Will def try to book her again one day :) South Wairarapa – •     Kate Wilson. I'm now pregnant with #2 and Kate's was the first number I dialled! She's really lovely, down to earth and unflappable - she always manages to calm me down when I'm freaking out about things!! WELLINGTON Northern Suburbs •     Michelle Vincent from Ngaio medical centre. She is just fantastic! The whole time. Michelle Vincent - She came highly recommended to us and so far (I'm 30 weeks and high risk) she has been FANTASTIC! -another Michelle Vincent fan. Kind, supportive and extremely open to all sorts of ways of birthing. already 1 million times better than my first mw •     Margaret Hadley, from Capital City Midwives. She is very onto it (very experienced, was a nurse before a MW) she can be quite blunt, but you know where you stand with her and she is more than capable. •     Victoria Panteleeva (Johnsonville to Pukerua Bay): My midwife was through Birth Options Awesome midwife!!! Can't recommend her enough! -I second this! Victoria delivered DD for me and is my midwife again for this baby Hutt Valley/Whitbyish area: •     Christine Griffiths. I can't rave about her enough she was just awesome. Has been a MW / nurse for over 20 yrs knows what she is doing and doesn't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do. •     Julie Thompson – (Lower Hutt) she was just fabulous in every possible way. •     Jill Adamson is wonderful. I can remember what group in Lower Hutt she from. She is a great time with you when needed and also she great when things get stressful in labour keeps you calm. Her after care with you and baby is great as well. NELSON •     Lynn Hilden, an independant midwife who works out of the motueka birthing unit. Fantastic lady, originally from England. She only takes on 2 or 3 ladies a month so has lots of time to see you. Very cruisey- into natural birthing but will take on anyone. I will be ringing her when we decide to have another one. http://www.nelsonmidwives.co.nz/midwife.php?id=14 NORTH CANTERBURY •     Valerie Melling - Great midwife, does home births and hospital births. Highly recommend. She went out of her way to make my pregnancy and birth the best it could be. CHRISTCHURCH •     Vicki De Grut from Halswell Village Midwives - She was just awesome! Was recommended to me by a friend who also loved her! I still miss her. She was just so easy to get along with. I could txt her whenever I had a question and she was always quick to txt/ring me back. Will definitely be using her for #2! •     Jacqui Newell from Birth Choice. Jacqui Newell - wasnt my MW but as a friend was always there to answer questions for me and reassure me. If I had lived in CHCH I would have transferred to her for sure! •     Wendy Walton of Midwifery Associates . I can highly recommend Wendy. Bubs isn't born yet, but the level of care I've received to date is fantastic - I can't rave about her enough. Roy Finn is awesome. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Laid back, clinically excellent and a great laugh. •     Lindsay Smale - I know it's early days, so my 'vote' doesn't count for much as such. But I'm going with her. She's lovely, so warm and open and obviously loving her job. Her main theme seems to be to want to support the mother with whatever her choices are. TIMARU •     Dianne Cox (independant) .This is my first and she's always fielding anxious phone calls from me, and last week i burst into her office to ask tearfully if she can use her heartbeat magic stick because I’m convinced something’s wrong and she did straight away without fuss and even ordered blood tests that im sure i didnt need but reassured me. Shes lovely and friendly and spends lots of time on you and i think she's been practicing for over 20 years DUNEDIN •     Jennie Crawshaw, She is fantastic (or at least i think so). And if you want a student id recommend •     Jane (littlebug from here) She is great too! And i 2nd Jane (littlebug) as a student midwife. she is so lovely •     Heather LaDell and Adrienne Mulqueen. can't speak highly enough of them. INVERCARGILL / SOUTHLAND •     Liz Whyte & Terryl McDowall (they work together) They have maximum experience and both are just so lovely & trustworthy!!! Great for homebirth, too!! •     Louise Hammond. I had Louise Hammond for 2nd pregnancy (isabella) She was a awesome midwife.

• z