"Positive birth story, with a couple of bumps"

I had the most incredible, positive birth experience at Raigmore. I was nervous about birthing there & had eventually landed on choosing Elgin MLU, however baby girl did not want to stick to time schedules. (Notable here, my dating scan was a bit ridiculous, sonographer couldn’t get consistent date so remarked - the next one we will go with, I only have a 4% chance of being right so it doesn’t really matter. It actually did matter, I ultimately was induced due to being considered high risk after 42wks & told birth pool would be of the table which lead to me to weigh up induction vs water birth. It did matter.

So at 1hr off 42wks I was induced. The team were fantastic!

My midwife, Katie - who was with me from getting into birth pool to delivering our baby - was so nice. She respected our wishes & just knew exactly what we wanted. I didn’t even have to get my birth preferences out of the bag. I had told her we had done hypnobirthing in pregnancy & she just knew how I wanted to labour. We shared highs together & adapted through the curveballs of birth together! She was perfect & what an asset to NHS Highland. I will never be able to thank her for being with me at that very special time!

The birth pool room is perfect. Raigmore should have more of these. With only one it makes me nervous to birth again in case it isn’t available, I hope this is in new maternity plans! Labouring in water brings such relief & peace many more women would benefit from use of water in labour.

The whole delivering process of my baby was perfect. I was treated with respect & kindness.

Our first night, I had been very open that my intention was to breastfeed. This was my first baby & had absolutely no clue what I was doing. The first nurse was so nice, so helpful & made me smile & relax when I couldn’t do it. However, when the shift changed another midwife was looking after our ward & made several rude comments.

I was told by this midwife - we are short staffed & I have three new mothers who all intend to breastfeed. Don’t expect much from me tonight.

The midwife also commented  - What is wrong with formula feeding babies nowadays?

I did buzz for someone to help me as I could get baby to latch on. The midwife came & took my breast & pushed into baby's mouth. No one has ever done this to me before, it was uncomfortable & with no explanation. I didn’t realise how weird this was until every nurse/midwife after this asked me I minded.

After this I asked them to bring me some colostrum syringes & I would feed my baby this way by expressing.

My baby had to go away to be given antibiotics at 4am. When she was brought back, the midwife came in flapping at me saying - your baby is starving. We need to feed her. Just give her formula. She is sick & needs fed! I knew this wasn’t true as she’d been taking syringes of expressed colostrum no problem. I just agreed as I felt pressured.

When the midwife returned so fed my baby from a small cup, it could only have been 5-10ml not very much anyway. In a non compassionate, abrupt manner.

Luckily for us all, this midwife's shift swapped over & Kelly came to check on us. She asked how our night had gone & I told her. To which she replied - Me, you & Penelope are gonna crack this together. Every time you need help buzz, if she comes off & you can’t get her back on buzz!

So I did. All day. Then by 4pm that day we were off & never again did I have to ask for help feeding my baby! Kelly was an absolute hero! She knew how much I wanted to breastfeed & helped us so much that day! We are nearly 4 months in & still going. I could not have done this without her. She was amazing & such a huge part of our story! We stayed in hospital for 4 nights & she continued to care for us both, such a lovely women & fantastic caregiver!

Over the time I spend in Raigmore maternity care we were well looked after. The perfect bubble for me & my baby to bond. Katie & Kelly are two people I will forever be grateful for, both amazing.