MIDLAND MIDWIVES BY
THE BAY

The Midland Midwives By The Bay established in 2018 with the vision and goal to provide midwifery care that is responsive to community needs and within the community we serve, either at home or at Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH). Our core service area includes Midland, Beausoleil First Nation, Penetanguishene, Tiny, Tay, parts of Severn Township, and neighbouring towns (our official catchment area can be found here).  

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Over the last few years, access to maternity support has expanded at GBGH, which has a dedicated locked birthing unit, private triage, labour and postpartum rooms. The maternity unit is staffed with OB nurses, respiratory therapists, doctors and anesthesia for epidurals and cesarean births. Despite these amazing changes, rural hospitals like ours experience increased human resources challenges and occasionally close or redirect clients to other hospitals. Home birth would still be available during GBGH closures, and if needed, we would transfer care to a neighbouring hospital for birth. Midwives want to work to their full scope of practice and are advocating to expand our scope within GBGH as defined by the College of Midwives in Ontario. In turn, this will enhance the continuity of care we provide our clients locally at GBGH.  

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If your pregnancy becomes high risk while in Midwifery care, you do not lose your midwives - rather, you gain a doctor!  This sometimes means you deliver at a hospital that we do not have privileges at, which can be disappointing. However, it means you still get the tailored, personalized care that Midwifery offers, while getting the higher level of care you require. Once you are no longer considered high risk, your care is transferred back to your midwifery team.  

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Midwives are trained to be experts in normal physiologic birth and are the only providers specialized in home birth. Given the consistent doubling of our client caseload on an annual basis, it makes sense for us to concentrate our services locally, specifically supporting home births and clients that choose GBGH. We are so thankful to have been a part of the rebuilding of GBGH’s maternity unit and look forward to continuing the advancement of maternity care in our community. 

 

We are excited to also provide expanded midwifery services which include a breastfeeding and newborn clinic, early pregnancy assessment clinic, and a sexual health clinic. We have a trained lactation consultant on staff. You do not need to be a midwifery client to have access to midwives for support with breastfeeding and newborn care, early pregnancy assessment, and sexual health needs.

 

All of our services are provided at no cost, regardless if you have an Ontario health card.