New-baby flowers to Mater Mothers' Hospital, Brisbane

Mater Mothers' Hospital on Raymond Terrace, South Brisbane QLD 4101, is the heart of Australia's largest maternity service. It is run by Mater, the not-for-profit group founded by the Sisters of Mercy, opened in 1960 with room for 140 mothers and moved into its current building on the South Brisbane campus in 2008. Alongside the birth suites and postnatal wards it has Queensland's first purpose-built 24-hour pregnancy assessment centre, a maternal fetal medicine service and a neonatal critical care unit for the smallest and sickest babies. Public and private maternity patients are cared for on the same campus. A Brisbane florist makes the bouquet and delivers it for us.

Flowers for a new baby at Mater Mothers'

A bouquet for a new mum is the classic order here, and the rooms are set up for a mother, a baby and a support person, not for a large vase. Choose a boxed posy, a jar arrangement or a petite hand-tied bunch in soft pink, blue, white or lemon, or something brighter with gerberas if that is more her style. Low scent matters around a newborn, so leave out hyacinths and oriental lilies, and ask for pollen-free stems. Mater does not publish a flower rule, so the ward decides; a quick call to the hospital, asking for the postnatal ward, confirms it.

Visiting hours and the afternoon rest

Mater Mothers' asks visitors to come between 10am and 1pm and 3pm and 8pm, seven days a week, with a rest period from 1pm to 3pm so mothers and babies can sleep. The support person can be there outside those hours. Our florists deliver during the working day and hand the bouquet to the ward or to reception, so a morning order usually reaches the room before the rest period. Same day is never promised for a hospital.

Neonatal Critical Care: send to the home instead

If the baby is in the neonatal critical care unit, flowers cannot go to the cot and the mother is often spending her days beside it. Send to the family home, or wait and send a welcome-home bouquet when baby is discharged; that is the one that gets photographed. The same applies to any mother in a high-dependency room, where the general rules of Australian hospitals keep flowers out.

Writing the order

The campus on Vulture Street and Raymond Terrace also holds Mater Hospital Brisbane, Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and the Queensland Children's Hospital, so write Mater Mothers' Hospital in full, the mother's full name as admitted, the ward and room, and a mobile number for the support person. Postnatal stays are short, often one to three nights, so if the family is heading home to West End, Annerley or further out within a day, deliver there instead. Name the baby on the card if you know it.

Cost and timing in Brisbane

Bouquets start at about AUD 75, with the delivery fee shown at checkout. Same-day delivery runs Monday to Saturday for orders placed before 2pm on a weekday or 10am on a Saturday, Queensland time, which from October to April is an hour behind Sydney and Melbourne.

Did you know? Mater Mothers' Hospital opened in 1960 with room for 140 mothers and moved into its current South Brisbane building in 2008; it is part of Australia's largest maternity service.