RPA Birth Centre

Hi! Just to check - do you mean Royal Prince Alfred hosp in Sydney?

Hi Emilie, one of my friends delivered in the birth centre with midwives and found it great. I've booked in with the MGP at RPA birth centre and have found it good so far. 19 weeks and my midwife has been very helpful and reassuring.

I had my baby at RPA birth centre 4 weeks ago - absolutely fantastic experience. I did the birth centre and not delivery ward, but you can swap if you need to in labour. I had Concord MGP and i cannot recommend them enough! All the midwives on the team are amazing and so much education during visits. If we have another baby, i would 100% do everything the same. If you want MGP get in quick with a refferal as spots fill up fast, but it is a fantastic model of care. Also, sign up for the RPA parenting courses early as they book out x

Hay Emilie, I gave birth in Feb this year to my first child. All in the birth centre, which are very spacious and a good size bath in each suite. No complaints what so ever, I was through Concord MGP midwives and highly recommend that group of lady’s also. We stayed in for 3 days following birth and we got plenty of support from the midwives at RPA. Hope this helps and feel free to reach out any questions you have! Best of luck ❤️

I gave birth there and just had a midwife and stayed in a public room. Overall it was a good experience, all the midwives I had during the birth were amazing. They really encourage my choice with going with natural birth. The whole birth suites was great, very spacious to walk around and lay on the floor. My only downside was after the birth. My baby and myself were great after the birth, however I felt that we were a little forgotten about. It'd take my nurses usually 30mins or more to come when I pressed the button for assistance. I believe this might be because we didn't have any issues as the lady next to me had pumping issues and her nurses were very prompt. As a FTM though it was hard not having the nurses come when needed.

I had my baby at RPA birth centre. I had a midwife there - they were all absolutely AMAZING.

I didn’t have my baby at the birth centre but if you have an uncomplicated pregnancy it’s a fantastic option with continuity of care and the midwives are fantastic. If anything goes wrong delivery ward, theatres and NICU are right next door - not to scare you, but just in case. If you want a private obstetrician I can highly recommend Joyce Wu who is in charge of birth centre and is fantastic. Just be mindful that they can’t do epidurals there but they are fantastic. Like anywhere it can get busy but is a rather small space, so I think it’s a good choice if it suits your risk profile.

I should also add that our baby had to go straight to resus and nicu for about 4 days, and the staff and doctors were all amazing at keeping us in the loop and getting me involved with everything in her recovery. The level of care she recieved was fantastic, and i had 3 lactation consultants to help as well as a physio for my abs

I'm currently with RPA, 13W high risk with autoimmune. They took me in to see in house OB in week 8, and they have booked me in to see them every month along with ultrasound. I was handled by 2 rheumatologists and 1 dermatologist alongside, all in RPA where they communicate with each other frequently. So far I feel really well taken care of, despite of initial hiccups where they lost my paperwork, but with a bit of proactivity, calls and emails, once I'm in the system, I got all the immediate attention and care I need, so far. I also know 3 other friends who had their babies in RPA with positive exprience too. I started everything with my GP, once I got referred to RPA, it's all handled by RPA, all covered by Medicare too so far for now. Congrats and good luck!

I had my delivery at RPA hospital, at the delivery ward. Not sure if it’s the same as birthing Center, I think they are separated but overall the staff is amazing there! I recommend the ward because I had to do an emergency cesarean. Happy to answer any questions, feel free to dm

@Sejal yep that’s correct 😊

Thanks shannan! When you say MGP is that shared care with your GP? Sorry still learning the lingo 😁

@Sarah awesome to hear you received such great care in what I can imagine would have been a bit of a scary time, hope all is ok now. I will definitely investigate the parenting course also 🙂 thank you

@Natasha thanks for the OB recommendation wasn’t sure where to start with that either! Was she there throughout your labour or do they tend to come in when it’s delivery time? And were all your appointments with her in the lead up? May be a silly question but want to make sure my head is around it all haha

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. So reassuring to hear everyone’s personal stories and recommendations - especially with all my excited/nervous energy! X

@Emilie all good now and thriving thankfully - just a scary, unexpected start! MGP is midwife group practice, and not with GP, but you need the gp to send a referral to RPA to get you on the list for MGP. Methods of care are listed on RPAs website with the link for GPs to fill in for model of care. Message if you want any further advice :) MGP midwife's also have continuity of care, so they will visit you at your home post birth for checkups and appointments for around 4 weeks - it makes everything much easier to manage x

@Emilie Sorry Emilie, just saw this! Thanks Sarah for clearing that up 🥰