"Birth of our first child"

My wife and I recently welcomed the arrival of our son at Inverurie Maternity Unit. We arrived in the morning for a check-up (by Heather) following my wife's waters breaking and received attentive and quick care on arrival to do examinations and provide advice. There was a student named Melissa who was also contributing to examinations and she was fantastic at putting us at ease and making sure my wife was comfortable. 

We were offered to go home to allow labour to progress and returned a couple of hours later where the birthing room and birthing pool were prepared for us. The midwives helping us were brilliant at making sure we knew what was happening in the room and were incredibly supportive to us both, both in terms of explaining what was happening and in providing things to help labour along (ice packs, an exercise ball, a fan); the examinations that were carried out throughout labour were all done carefully and with my wife's comfort in mind. 

Our labour moved very quickly and we welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world, my wife required stitches following which were carried out by Sophie (who took over from Heather at shift change) and Sophie was incredibly attentive as well. The wider team on shift were incredibly complimentary and supportive of us following the birth of our boy and we were able to follow our birth plan to a T, including allowing for a golden hour with minimal midwife or intervention at all.

The birthing room and facilities were fantastic as was the individual recovery room where I was allowed to stay with my wife overnight and support here and baby through the first night. The next day we were allowed to stay for a bit longer in the morning to get some food and tea before leaving. We have been looking back at our birth experience and are just so unbelievably happy with how things went and the support we received. It is such a fantastic team at Inverurie and we couldn't have wished for a better birthing experience, thank you so much!