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Beth, Craig and Baby Grace

Beth's mum wanted her to have an independent midwife and felt so passionately about this that she decided to gift our care to her daughter. After having a traumatic delivery with her first child, provided by the NHS, and a beautiful birth with her second, cared for by an independent midwife, Beth's mum has vowed that all of her grandchildren will be born with an independent midwife in attendance.

 

Beth and Craig, feeling very grateful for her mum's help and support were very open and relaxed about all of their birth options. Initially, they felt that they would prefer a hospital birth as, like many people, they perceived this to be the safest place for them, especially as they were having their 1st baby. Their lead midwife was Jenny and she simply asked them to keep an open mind.

As the pregnancy progressed and Beth and Craig got to know Jenny better, they started to consider a homebirth as a possibility. By 31 weeks of pregnancy (before Jenny had even discussed the pros and cons of homebirth) they had decided to opt for a homebirth, now feeling safer in the care of Jenny than anywhere else.

 independent midwife in Liverpool and Manchester

 Beth and Craig really enjoyed all of the hypnobirthing and antenatal preparation with Jenny leading up to the birth. They were also keen to make some new ‘parent friends' so they also attended the local NCT class. This gave them a window into the care that a lot of their new friends had received. Craig observed an overall feeling of them being worried or frightened and feeling unprepared for the birth. Beth and Craig were so happy that they did not feel like this

independent midwife in Liverpool and Manchester

 

Beth requested a membrane sweep when she was 1 week overdue. The next morning at 3am Beth was woken by some surges; they quickly became regular and Beth and Craig asked Jenny to join them at around 6am. When Jenny arrived, Beth was calm and coping beautifully, Jenny felt that Beth was probably still in early labour and keen to avoid any unnecessary vaginal examinations opted to just wait and see how things went. By mid-day everything had settled down again and Beth felt ready to watch a film in bed and get some much-needed sleep. Beth was able to text Jenny whenever she felt unsure or worried, helping her to stay relaxed and calm.

Everything was quiet for the rest of that day and night and the next day as well. However, on the second night Beth felt the surges getting much more intense. Beth's surges really became more intense around 3am, but they were still 6-7 minutes apart. By 4:45am the surges were every 5 minutes and Beth and Craig asked Jenny to join them. Suddenly, safe in the knowledge that Jenny was on her way, the surges intensified and became much more frequent, Beth even started to feel some urges to push.

 

When Jenny arrived, Beth was clearly in established labour. Jenny provided Beth with the Entonox, which Beth felt helping her a lot and Sarah was called to come and join them also. Beth got into the pool and had urges to push straight away. Jenny used the aromatherapy oils to help create a calm environment, with the lights turned low and a quiet background (as per Beth's preferences). Craig and Beth felt supported and calm and instinctively knew everything was going perfectly to plan.

Everything progressed beautifully and 20 minutes after Sarah arrived baby Grace was born in the water. Craig and Beth brought her to the surface and she gave a little cry straight away. Beth made herself comfortable in the pool with baby Grace in skin-to-skin contact whilst we waited for the placenta to deliver naturally. Amazingly this only took 15 minutes and Beth had very little discomfort whilst she waited. 

 

independent midwife in Liverpool and Manchester

Craig cut the cord and then had his first cuddle with his daughter whilst Beth got out of the pool. Once Beth was comfortable on the couch, Jenny helped her latch Grace onto the breast for her very first feed. Grace was very content to feed. Once the feed was completed and everything had been tidied away, Jenny and Sarah left the very proud and delighted new parents to bond with their baby.

A message from Beth ....... 

 

 

Jenny was amazing throughout our pregnancy journey, she has so much knowledge and answered all our questions making us both feel very at ease. We cannot thank Jenny and Sarah enough for being there for us, from every midwife visit being as long as we needed, to being on the phone at 3am with advice.

Thank you for bringing our beautiful baby girl Grace into the world. We will be forever grateful for all that they did for us and could not recommend them more highly.