When baby Agnes Marie Donnan was delivered at Cabrini Malvern around Easter, she joined a lineage of Cabrini babies that began with her grandfather almost 60 years earlier.

Agnes’s grandfather, Alex Commins, was born at Cabrini, and her mum, Isabella Commins, was also born in the hospital.

When Isabella and her husband Matt were choosing where to have their first child, Cabrini was both a natural and an informed choice for the local couple.

“I have a long history of connection with the hospital,” Isabella said “I was born there, and so was Dad. But both family and friends who’ve had their babies at Cabrini, they all said they’d had amazing experiences there and really raved about it.

“So, I knew I wanted to have private obstetric care, I live within walking distance of Cabrini, and the fact that everyone I spoke to about their experience said it was great, all those things combined to help us make the decision to choose Cabrini for our first baby.

“And having three generations of Commins born there, that makes it even more special.”

Isabella’s grandparents were migrants to Australia, and in 1966, her Mauritian grandfather Walter and Austrian-born grandmother Christl had Alex at Cabrini, becoming the first of the three generations of Commins babies to be born at the hospital. Alex and his wife Nicola later chose Cabrini to have Isabella in 1993.

“Convenience and being part of the Catholic community were the reasons my parents chose Cabrini, for sure. Then we chose Cabrini because I was born there and we felt at home in the care of the Catholic community,” Alex said. “Our experience at Cabrini with the arrival of Isabella was superb, as it was with all of her younger siblings that would follow.

“Many of the nurses who were present at the arrival of Isabella were still there in the maternity ward when Raphael our youngest arrived some 12 years after Isabella. And midwife Liz Noonan, who helped to care for Louis born in 2000 at Cabrini, was helping to care for Agnes recently!”

Baby Agnes was born on 16 April 2025 under the care of obstetrician Jessica Klein.

For Isabella and Matt, who are both doctors, not even their medical training could have prepared them for the joys and the twists and turns of the birthing suite.

“We’ve both had a bit of experience with birth and labour throughout our training,” Isabella said. “And we did a lot of research and reading up so that we could be armed with as much knowledge as we could going in there.

“But, as a first-time mum, you never really know how things are going to pan out and we went in there deciding we’d just go with the flow and listen to what everyone in there tells us is the best thing to do. And that’s what we did.

“It was a very intense day, but the midwives who were looking after us, and Jess our obstetrician, they were incredible. I felt so safe and supported.

“It’s such an emotional experience and getting to help deliver Agnes and tell the whole room that she was a girl, that was so special. I’ve witnessed firsthand the kind of emotion that other parents go through when they have their first baby. And I remember as a junior medical student, I would always shed a tear with the families at the time of birth, but nothing prepared me for what meeting Agnes would be like. It was the most incredible day of my life.”

Congratulations to Isabella and Matt, Alex and Nicola, and Christl for the safe arrival of your beautiful little girl. And welcome to the Cabrini family, Agnes.

Read about Cabrini’s maternity services