I’m a highly experienced private obstetrician with a solo practice. I have been delivering babies since 2012, providing attentive, thorough and personalised care for mothers-to-be.
My practice is structured so that, as often as possible, I can be available for you when continuity of care matters most: at the birth of your baby or in an emergency. You can be confident in the knowledge that I will be the one looking after you every step of the way.
You will need a referral from your GP. You can book your appointment before getting the referral – just make sure you bring it along on the day.
Antenatal visits occur at my main consulting suites at Epworth Freemasons in East Melbourne. In some cases, you can see me at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg.
Book an appointment here.
We’ll schedule this for around 8 weeks after the first day of your last period. I’ll take a thorough history, perform a general medical examination and do an ultrasound, so you’ll get to see your baby on screen for the first time!
The frequency of your visits will be based on your personal circumstances. I schedule more frequent appointments for pregnancies considered high risk. Most of my patients have frequent ultrasound surveillance in the first trimester.
For a low-risk pregnancy, we’ll schedule visits for weeks 13, 18 and 23, with others if required. I’ll perform an ultrasound at every visit to closely monitor fetal growth. I’ll also email you a video of your baby after every visit, and share photos directly to your phone.
We’ll see you at weeks 28, 31, 34, then weekly from 36 onwards, with extra visits as needed. I’ll continue to perform a growth ultrasound or fetal wellbeing scan at each visit to assess the growth and health of your baby.
Congratulations on your pregnancy! Now for the next big question – when is the baby due?
Pregnancy is measured from the first day of your last menstrual period and lasts anywhere from 38 to 42 weeks (approximately 9 months). Use this calendar to get an estimate of your due date.
These are the questions we get asked the most by expectant women and couples.
Chris completed his obstetric training at the Mercy Hospital for Women in 2012. Chris has been in private practice ever since, delivering 5–20 babies per month (depending on the season!).
As an accomplished proceduralist and surgeon, Chris is well able to manage deliveries that require a little extra help to aid the safety of you and your baby, such as forceps, vacuum and caesarean.
Because of the careful assessments he makes when planning for and attending to his patients during labour and delivery, his rates of failed induced labour and emergency caesarean are both low.
Chris is also a skilled sonographer and loves getting the perfect ultrasound photo of your growing baby at each antenatal appointment (he always makes sure to email you a copy, so you have a keepsake and a great photo to share on Insta!).
Chris has a highly personable bedside manner. He prides himself on being open, friendly and approachable with all his patients.
He expects and wants you to ask lots of questions, so that you can have the utmost confidence in his care and feel at ease throughout your pregnancy, even if some issues do arise.
He loves taking the time to see you at antenatal visits and using these visits as an opportunity to develop a good sense of what matters to you, both as an individual and as the other half of a couple.
Chris aims to keep you as comfortable as possible throughout your pregnancy, so he will fastidiously manage any nausea and musculoskeletal discomfort you experience, while encouraging your overall fitness and well-being through diet, exercise and sleep.
When it comes to the birth of your baby, Chris doesn’t believe in telling his patients what to do. Ever. Chris will discuss every aspect of your pregnancy with you and your partner, so that you feel well-informed and well-armed to make decisions together throughout your pregnancy with confidence.
Chris runs his antenatal clinic from his main consulting suites at Epworth Freemasons in East Melbourne.
Epworth Freemasons is on the fringe of the CBD, so it is easy to access by car or public transport from either the city or suburbs via the eastern (M3). It has plenty of parking on-site or in the surrounding streets.
In some cases, Chris may also be able to see you at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg.
Unlike many obstetricians, Chris does not defer care to a midwife. Chris will see you at every antenatal visit and manage all aspects of your pregnancy – from the little stuff, like checking your blood pressure, weight and pee at each visit, all the way through to comprehensive fetal assessments and tummy scans (in-between your formal scans).
You can be sure that you will get to know each other very well before the birth of your baby. This means that by the time of your birth, Chris will have an excellent understanding of your medical and birthing history, as well as any personal preferences or particular concerns you have.
Chris primarily delivers babies at Epworth Freemasons in East Melbourne, which has a reputation for being the premier birthing suite in Victoria.
If required, Chris can also deliver your baby at St Vincent’s Private in Fitzroy or The Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg.
The benefit of Chris’ association with The Mercy is that you can remain under his care should you have to be transferred to a tertiary centre (e.g. due to an unplanned premature delivery).
This means Chris’ patients get the best of both worlds – the hospital with the best reputation for term deliveries (Freemasons) and the hospital with the best reputation for premature deliveries (The Mercy), all with Chris by your side.
Chris’s on-call cover compares very favourably to other obstetricians. He is formally on-call one in every four weekends. However, because Chris caps the number of his obstetric patients and lives close to the hospital, he is also frequently available to come in on his “off” weekends as well.
He is always up-front with patients about any planned leave and will make sure you are aware of any leave plans he has from the very beginning of your pregnancy, as well as which of his colleague/s will provide cover while he is away.
Chris can look after most types of pregnancies, including high-risk pregnancies and multiple births.
Because Chris is also a fertility specialist, he has a particular interest in IVF pregnancies. This provides Chris’ fertility patients with excellent continuity of care; following fertility treatment, Chris does not have to refer you to another specialist for antenatal and obstetric care. You can remain under his care for the duration of your pregnancy, which is particularly reassuring for patients who may have travelled a long road to fall pregnant.
Yes, Chris believes you should have choice over your delivery plan and has no problem with performing an elective caesarean if this is your preference or if, in his clinical judgement, he believes it represents the safest option for you and your baby.
As Chris doesn’t defer antenatal care to midwives and sees you at every antenatal visit, there is also plenty of opportunity for you to discuss your preferences with him prior to your time together in the birth suite.
Chris charges a first appointment fee of $249.75 (including consultation and an ultrasound). The total rebate for this visit is around $100, so your out-of-pocket fee is ~$150. Subsequently, all antenatal visits are bulk-billed.
Chris will also bill your health fund directly for your delivery. If you have private health cover, the total approximate out-of-pocket fee for antenatal care and delivery with Chris is around $5000.
As a practising obstetrician, fertility specialist and gynaecologist, Chris can care for you at every life stage. For example, you may initially see him in your younger years for a gynaecological problem, e.g. PCOS or endometriosis.
When you are ready to start a family, Chris can also help you with any fertility issues that may arise due to these conditions, e.g. provide specialist fertility treatment (such as ovulation induction or IVF). He can then go on to provide antenatal and obstetric care when you do conceive.
Post-birth, he can continue to provide expert gynaecological care and later on, provide assistance with helping you fall pregnant and deliver babies Number 2 (and 3 and 4…).
Chris has an amazing front desk. Patients always comment on how friendly, informative and organised his team is, and how well-cared for they feel both during and in-between visits.
By opting for private maternity care, you can choose which doctor will care for you and provide medical support throughout your pregnancy and birth, as well as the postnatal period. This allows you to research and choose an obstetrician that you feel is the right fit for you and your partner.
Other benefits of private maternity care include:
The location of the doctor’s consulting rooms and the private hospitals/birth suites with which they are associated may be more convenient for you than public antenatal clinics and birth suites.
Appointment dates/times are generally more flexible and wait-times on the day of your appointment are usually shorter than in public clinics.
Public hospitals are designed to provide best care to thousands of women per year. Decisions on resource allocation are made with this in mind, e.g. you may be allocated, rather than able to choose, an elective caesarean date; as an in-patient, your care will be triaged alongside every other public patient in birth suite/theatre; public patients are attended to by the ‘doctor of the day’, rather than their doctor of choice.
In contrast, private hospitals cater to fewer patients and are well-resourced, so interventions (if required) can be done in a timely fashion. This allows me to focus entirely on the health and wellbeing of my individual mothers and babies when planning care, without worrying about hospital resourcing, e.g. availability of theatre space.
In a private hospital, you are less likely to see inexperienced trainees and midwives. Private hospitals also have lower rates of fetal death in utero (FDIU), third- and fourth-degree perineal tears, and post-partum haemorrhage compared to public hospitals, presumably due to the oversight of experienced obstetricians.
As an in-patient in a private hospital, you will be assigned your own room. At Epworth Freemasons, this includes a double bed, so that your partner can stay overnight and the option of finishing your hospital stay in a hotel if baby’s arrival was uncomplicated.
Leave your details here and Chris’s friendly practice manager will call or email you on the next business day to answer your questions and/or arrange an appointment. Alternatively, call (03) 9418 8299 during business hours Mon–Fri.