"The midwives all looked after us so brilliantly"

At 10 days overdue with my first baby mid May 24, I went to be induced at Ninewells in Dundee. Callie and Lauren were the first midwives who broke my waters and started the drip. I was really nervous going in and they were so lovely and helpful and made me feel at ease. When the shift changed over, I then had Jo and Anna. My contractions didn't start until late that night so it was a very long day for everyone but every single midwife who was with me that day was absolutely amazing. It was the hottest weekend of the year so far and also ended up being the night of the northern lights, which sadly I was not allowed to go out and see.

My baby daughter was eventually born via emergency C Section at the very early morning hours next day as my labour wasn't progressing and my baby's heart rate began dropping. The whole entire process was stress free, despite the situation, thanks to the ladies looking after me. They were so so good at their jobs, they were very calm, chatty and funny and couldnt have helped any more if they tried. They all deserve a medal.

When my contractions finally began, they were thick and fast with no rest between, so I asked for an epidural. The ward was unusually quiet, with only me and one other person in labour, but Euan the anaesthetist was straight round to administer the epidural. He was also there for my C Section and was great at keeping me speaking and alert and also put my mind at rest as I was very nervous to get an epidural. 

I was also lucky enough to have a student midwife Gemma with me throughout my pregnancy and they phoned Gemma when I was induced and she came to Ninewells to be with me throughout the process. Given the chance, Gemma would have stayed until my baby was born, but she had been there from about 2pm until about 11.30 pm so they were insistent she went home to sleep. Gemma came back the following day when my daughter was born, to meet her and to do my checks. I always think about Gemma and how she is doing now. She was so lovely and brilliant and always did her absolute best to help me. It also put me at ease having somebody I already knew at my induction. 

The staff in the theatre were all amazing. We were given the heads up before being wheeled round to theatre, that there would be lots of people in the room who all had a different job to do. The person who stood out the most was a lady who let us choose what music we wanted and then once my baby was born, she took my partners phone and took around 150 photos of us and my baby. I am so unbelievably grateful for her because if it was left to my partner, he probably would have taken 2 photos. So we're so lucky we've got so many photos of by baby to look back on and they are precious. 

After my c section, we were in recovery for a while and then Callie and Lauren were back on shift again. Lauren helped me to the shower. Callie then wheeled us upstairs to the maternity ward and we had to stay in over night. Again the wards were so quiet, we had a whole ward to ourselves which I know was unusual, but it was amazing, as I really didn't want to stay in hospital. My partner was allowed to stay with me and he had a chair which turned into a bed.

The midwives all looked after us so brilliantly. I hadn't slept in over 36 hours but my baby kept choking on her mucus when she was laying on her back so I was too scared to leave her in her cot and sleep so I was just staying awake with my baby on my chest. One of the midwives came over and suggested I try co-sleeping with my baby. It wasn't something I had researched and I just thought it was unsafe, but she said that it can be safe and she'd show me how to do it safely. I can't remember her name, but that midwife changed my life, as when I got home I did lots of research on safe co-sleeping and it has been how we have slept with our baby ever since and I count myself lucky that I have never been sleep deprived because of this. If it wasn't for that midwife, my sleep situation would be a lot different so I am very happy that she made the suggestion. 

We left the hospital on the 12th May and although I'd originally planned a calm natural home birth at Arbroath Maternity Unit and never thought I'd end up with an emergency C-section, I cannot fault my experience at all. Ultimately, my daughter arrived safely and calmly into this world and the staff at Ninewells went above and beyond to make sure our experience was absolutely perfect. We have always been sure to tell everybody how amazing our experience was.

Thank you all so much, we are so grateful. And also sorry its taken a year to write this.