"Went above and beyond to look after me and my baby"

I recently went into labour with my third child . After having a previous emergency c section and a forced delivery I was classed as a high risk labour.

As soon as I got into the maternity triage department I was seen and assessed really quickly, after a few hours of being monitored I was transferred to the Labour ward . Gillian from maternity triage did a hand over to Nicola, who would be the midwife guiding me through most of my Labour.

Instantly we felt at ease with Nicola - she was informative , calm and chatty. Nicola helped me to choose how I would like for the labour to go, she played some music in the Labour room and  ran a relaxing bath to help try ease the pain and she also guided my husband with how could help me through labour.

Nicola was great with making me feel so at ease, I felt like I was really in control of most of labour process because of Nicola. I can’t thank her enough for how she advised and guided me through the labour and my contractions .

Following a staff shift handover Nicola finished her shift and handed over to Karen, who was so calm, friendly and gentle . A salt of the earth person is how I’d describe Karen. At this point in Labour I was tired and in quite a lot of pain due to my baby being back to back . Karen really got straight on with helping change positions and trying to keep me as calm as possible .

All through my labour I felt so safe in Nicola’s and Karen’s care . I really don’t feel like the midwives get enough recognition, and from the moment Karen walked into the room she was just amazing to me, even when I was in so much pain I couldn’t even talk or open my eyes. Karen was so understanding and you could feel that she genuinely was over the moon when my baby was delivered safely.

Due to my previous c section I had some serious post delivery bleeding due to a bit of the placenta not coming away from the womb as it should . Karen was on the ball with pressing the emergency buzzer to get a team in to help and she passed on everything so well to everyone, she really held the situation well and kept her cool when the room was a bit chaotic.

Once the decision was made that I needed surgery, Karen held my hand all the way down to theatre and whilst I had surgery I can’t thank her enough for this. I was scared for myself and worried for my husband and newborn baby . After survey, Karen was by my safe whilst I came back around and she was on hand through the night making sure myself and my daughter were well cared for.

If I needed anything Karen was on hand to help as I couldn’t move much after surgery , Karen was so easy to chat to as well and explained everything that had happened on my surgery so well. I really feel that Karen went above and beyond to look after me and my baby, the care she gave to us was outstanding, and I’ll never be able to thank her enough. I was so surprised when she told me she had only been doing midwifery for a few years, as I felt that she had a wealth of experience and as if she’d been doing the job for many years.

Karen has really inspired me to try and be a midwife myself so that I can give other women the standard of care that I received off her .