"It was a magical experience"

After planning for a home birth, my placenta was too low for a vaginal birth. I was offered and encouraged to have more scans up until the date of my planned section to check it hadn't moved - it had not so we planned for surgery.

A midwife, a nurse and the anaesthetist all helped us with our birth plan and reassured us our needs could be met. We felt like celebrities, any nerves we had were alleviated, the staff took beautiful photos of us throughout, they allowed us to choose our own music and included my partner beautifully - he trimmed the cord and passed our baby to me for skin to skin.  I was able to establish breastfeeding in theatre and hold my baby skin to skin whilst being transferred to recovery.

I felt listened to and respected throughout, it was a magical experience.