"The homebirth I’d hoped for"

In January the midwives from The Cherry Team help facilitate the homebirth I had hoped for. This was my first pregnancy and due to a variety of factors, including previous negative experiences with the level of care provided to family members while in hospital, I was keen to pursue a homebirth. 

My decision was supported from the start, with my midwife Jacqueline overseeing my journey as the pregnancy progressed. She provided knowledgeable support, listened to my concerns, was highly respectful, and made me feel heard. I was exceptionally lucky that she was one of the midwives on call for my home birth on the day I went into labour, along with Annie from the Stirling team. 

Between Jacqueline and Annie I had a team who had great personal and professional experience of homebirths. They shared a calm, knowledgeable and professional manner, taking all my wishes into consideration and respecting my birth plan. I felt calm and in control throughout the birth, thanks in a large part to my trust in them. They allowed myself and my partner space while the labour progressed and helped maintain the feeling of safety and control that giving birth at home brought. 

The postpartum care provided by them and the rest of the Cherry Team was very thorough and allowed us to feel well supported at home. I really can’t thank them enough, and the experience went some way to help heal and restore some faith in the NHS, where as a family we’d been previously let down. It was a really wonderful birth and I feel very lucky to have been able to experience it in the hands of such competent and compassionate professionals, they are a real credit to the service. 

Our only slight issue on the day was that during early/mid stages of labour, it took my partner well over an hour to get through to triage, first with the phone ringing out, then being immediately put on hold, when we were trying to request for the midwives to come out. 

Apart from that I would highly recommend a homebirth to anyone that feels like it is something they’d like to explore. We had a wonderful experience and have a very healthy and happy baby at the end of it thanks to the Cherry Team’s wonderful guidance.