Thank you to Seventh Generation! Emma and Brescia were my midwives and they were fantastic! So knowledgeable, professional and supportive every step of my pregnancy care. Brescia delivered my baby, and another midwife Rocio was there too - both really great! I couldn't have asked for better. read more

Amazing! Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto helped birth my 2 children. We have to shout out to Brescia and Kate who were so helpful, skilled, and attentive, every step of the way. We came on the glowing recommendation of close friends who had care with this amazing team. Since then my sister in law has also had a baby at SGMT. Everyone we know has had such great things to say about their experiences with the midwives at SGMT. We are really grateful! read more

Ah, my experience has been quite different from the other reviewers. I'm sure this comes down to the midwives (that's why my midwives' names are included in this review) and factors specific to each pregnancy. Midwives aren't for everyone: you have to have a low-risk pregnancy to stay in their care. As soon as any small problem is detected they will tranfer you to a doctor. My pregnancy, aside from small fundal height, has gone relatively smoothly, so I rarely needed to contact them outside of our appointments (looking back, I think I've contacted them twice). This may be a key reason why my experience was quite different from the other posters. When I first met with Seventh Gen I wanted continuity of care that comes with a midwife, but I was worried they would be against many things, like pain killers, c-sections, vaccinations, induction, etc. In a nutshell, I was worried they would be overly into newage stuff. I was surprised to learn they are open to everything. They actually had to convince ME to keep myself open to options, like painkillers or induction, just in case it becomes a necessity. My midwives, Alana and Kim, are both lovely. They are calm and knowledgeable. I wasn't too excited about having a student midwife join us (I've had bad experiences with residents i.e. student doctors), but I understood that it was an option (i.e. I could request to no longer see her). Well, I lucked out; I love the student midwife Vanessa. She has such a warm bedside manner! I believe she's nearly finished her training and I think she'll make a great midwife. If I have a question they are easily accessible. The pager doesn't bother me; they offer birth centre births, home births, and hospital births, so this is a good way to stay in touch with them. When my cousin (a doctor) is on call, I believe he uses a pager as well, so I think it's farly common in the healthcare industry. I wouldn't want them answering their cell phone or office phone while they are with me, so I can't expect them to do that with other patients. Leaving a message with the reception desk is always an option, like any clinic. The receptionists are a little spacey. In my experience, if things get slightly disorganized it has to do with the front desk (e.g. booking the wrong time, booking too far down the line, forgetting to notify the midwife that the patient is in the waiting room). Although I was told to check the message on the pager before coming in, I have always been notified by phone on the rare occasion that clinic is rescheduled due to a birth. In terms of notifying current clients of clinic rescheduling, the front desk is running very well. I haven't had trouble reaching the front desk on the phone.. erm, excluding lunch hours, when they seem to sneak off :) This is a long review, I suppose because it's a more important decision to make compared with deciding where to eat :) The best thing you can do is follow your instinct. If a midwife sounds right, meet with them and see if you like them. If a doctor sounds better, do that. Maybe you're unlike me and like newage stuff. Maybe doulas offer that. Everyone and every pregnancy is different. :) I haven't given birth yet. I'm due in May, so I'll do my best to provide a follow-up review then. read more

I had a great experience with the midwifes at this clinic. I recently gave birth to my first child with the care and support of two midwives from Seventh Generation and would recommend it in a heartbeat. I found the midwives to be extremely knowledgeable, supportive, and compassionate. They are all about information. They will provide you with everything you need to know so that you can make your own informed decisions about yours and your baby's care. I can't imagine 9 months without the care and support the midwives provide (...from what I've heard the OB journey is nothing like this). My husband also joined me at most of my appointments as he was generally interested to learn and keen to be involved every step of the way. They welcomed and encouraged this. Definitely recommend. read more

This place is incredibly unprofessional and inexperienced. The midwife I began/canceled care with was Brescia - her line of questioning for the most part was inappropriate. I checked in with a few professionals about it and it wasn't just my pregnancy sensitivities. It felt like she was more curious to delve into certain areas of my history for her own personal reasons. It was very strange. I had never experienced anything like it. I was also set up with an appointment with a specialist at Sunnybrook who left me a message telling me that this potential diagnoses I may have was already looked into by another specialist and was confused as to why my midwife was requesting this appointment. I felt very confused and that this docs time was wasted. I then received a message from Brescia asking why I didn't meet with the specialist as stated on her opinion on possible potential issues with my health etc causing me anxiety and more confusion. Brescia is not a doctor or a specialist - she has been a midwife since 2016. Let's keep things into perspective here. When I voiced my concerns with another midwife, and the secretary about my concerns regarding lack of experience, the secretary (older lady) was dismissive & defensive. I also did not hear back from the other midwife. I was really looking forward to a more natural birthing experience and am left with such a horrible experience overall. My final email was to address the issues I had (of course there's nowhere to leave an email online so I had to email through the intake form). Instead of this clinic addressing the issues with tact, care and grace and perhaps another option of a midwife with more experience - I received a message from "Susan" saying I had an appointment at Sunnybrook on this date - with absolutely no info with respect to what it was about. When I called, I found out it was the "women and babies clinic" so I suppose 7th generations way of dealing with anyone that has a voice or concern is to shut it down and be casted off to another clinic. The unprofessionalism here blew my mind and thank god I didn't continue to have this service in my home for 6 weeks after birth. Yikes. read more

I made a follow up call regarding an email request for a midwife since no one got back to me. The receptionist was very condescending offered no helpful information, deliberately answered all my questions ambiguously. Told me I may or may not hear back from anyone. You'd think an organization designed to help expecting mothers be kind and supportive especially knowing we're all scared. The woman on the phone was the absolute worst. read more

I'm looking forward to care with Seventh Generation Midwives. I only just had a consult and tour of the Birthing Centre. Everything is sound. read more

Applied not thinking I would get a spot as I am not specifically their target demographic. Wasn't happy with my OB early pregnancy & the alternative options of midwifery and SGM's values in general aligned with the kind of birth I wanted. I'm a first time Mom and didn't know what to expect. The staff are amazing and you are encouraged & empowered to have the birth you want while honouring your beliefs whatever they may be.The staff are beyond amazing and the downtown location is really convenient. If I was planning on having a second I would no doubt go back! read more

Like the last poster, I felt that the clinic is spread too thin. Communication is a real challenge. I had to change to an OB (very difficult) at 5 months because I just could not get through, get results, fax machine broken, still use pagers...etc. I am usually a very laid back person, but the culture there made me uneasy. I was excited to have a midwife, but was left feeling that midwives are not professional, which I am sure is not the case, just my experience. read more

This place was and is amazing. The fact that this is an option for women in Ontario is truly a gift. First of all my midwives went above and beyond my wildest expectations for the kind of support I would receive during my pregnancy. I switched into their care at 26 weeks and looked forward to my 30 to 45 minute check ins with my midwives (Kimberly Orton and Claire Dion Fletcher) as they came. They were both professional, knowledgable, calm when I needed their support and clear with their directions. With their help I was able to embrace my pregnancy fully and journey towards understanding and coping with the big changes my body was going through during my pregnancy and labour. I felt supported with every decision I made and with my midwives help I was truly able to believe in my body. Every midwife I saw here made me feel confident and cared for. Post birth care was fantastic. Breastfeeding questions were answered and really helped me form a healthy breastfeeding relationship with my infant daughter. Front desk staff were friendly and warm. Not at all like my standard doctors office. I really can't say enough great things about this practice and I hope to return to them with any future babies! read more

Don't bother calling - they rarely pick up the phone at this office. Try to get a simple answer out of your midwife and boy will they make you feel like you are wasting their precious time. My midwife actually told me 'we are stretched very thin here' before I decided to make a last minute switch to somewhere else. Yikes! read more

After a nightmare delivery with an OB at Michael Garron Hospital (aka TEGH) with my first son in 2009. I decided to try having my second child with the Seventh Generation Midwives at Sunnybrook in 2012. The experience was simply fantastic! They truly cared about our family's well-being and went above and beyond every step of the way to listen to our concerns, needs and wants. They took the time to explain everything and provide information on things I never even thought to ask about. I highly recommend their services. The only challenge is they get booked fast so its hard to get in. read more

I don't have a lot of time to write a long review now, but I am hoping to come back when I have more time and write the details of my experience here. Or maybe I'll just move on with my life, thankful that my baby is healthy and I am recovering. For those who think the midwifery model of care is a warm, calm and non-judgmental one, be prepared for disappointment. You're not going to walk in and find Ina May in pigtails telling you your body and your baby are perfect forms of nature. This is true for any midwife clinic that I know of, not just this one. The first thing they will talk to you about is birth defects and death and the fear mongering - er, sorry; "informed choices" - continue from there. All of my friends had amazing experiences with midwives (NOT at this clinic), so I was looking forward to the same, but quite frankly, SGMT doesn't have their stuff together. Several appointments of mine were booked incorrectly or simply not booked at all, so after jumping major hurdles to get out of work on time to make the appointments, I'd arrive to someone at the front desk eating a sandwich, telling me to sit down and wait, then 15 or 20 minutes later telling me I didn't have an appointment booked at all, or it was booked on the wrong day! This happened twice before I insisted on getting print outs of appointment times to make sure it was in the computer, not hand written on a little card. Ah, there is so much to write, but so little time, so here are some bullet points: - Unprofessional front desk staff. One actually said once "I have no idea what you are talking about" when trying to leave a message for my midwife about a very standard test. - I had to chase down test and ultrasound results constantly, including faxes from my family doctor to the clinic that they lost or "never received" and did not follow up about. - The back up midwife had no idea what my birth plan was, even though I had met with her many times and the plan was literally in her hands in front of her while she asked me the same questions over and over again and would talk about "routine hospital procedures" even though I had told her (and again, it was in writing right in front of her) that we were not planning a hospital birth. - During the birth itself (I could write a book on just this alone) the midwives were CONSTANTLY on their cell phones, including one of them making plans for the weekend, and laughing overtop of my moaning during a contraction. This same midwife was just plain mean and only looked me in the eye once during the whole procedure. I won't elaborate on her unprofessionalism here; that letter will be saved for the Ombudsman and the Health Ministry. - Post partum visits were riddled with guilt tripping and more unprofessionalism. Look elsewhere for your care. Your child will only be born once; s/he and YOU deserve better. read more