"Amazing experience in Bracken Birth Centre in..."

This is my second child - with both occasions I chose to use Bracken Birth Centre. Sadly my 1st pregnancy didn't go to plan & I ended up on labour ward & willow ward where I had a very different experience however 3 years later was much different.

At 10.50pm I went into Fern ward as I had been in labour for 30 odd hours at home and contractions were getting closer together. I was warmly greeted & despite the ward being busy with a couple of emergencies I had observations taken myself & husband were even given a cup of tea whilst we waited for the duty midwife to see us (less than a 30 min wait!)!

On examination I was 6cm dilated so was walked over to Bracken Birth Centre.

At Bracken, midwife met me & instantly made me feel at ease & discussed birth choices whilst settling us into our home for the next few hours!

I felt they gave me outstanding care listening to my wishes & reassuring me at all stages as to what was happening & what choices I had. They kept checking on me but also gave me enough privacy & space so that I felt very cared for but not smothered by her attention! I chose to get into the pool & not long after entering things were progressing quickly. They assured me to trust in myself & let my body do what it needed to do. I quickly gave birth to my daughter & brought her up to myself in the water. Whilst I sat cuddling her in the pool I was allowed to wait until the cord stopped pulsing before my husband cut the cord.

This whole birth experience was absolutely amazing & one that I will never forget, I couldn't have asked for a better experience from start to finish as I felt empowered & was given the confidence to do everything myself & even caught my daughter & brought her to the waters surface. I felt it was the closest possible thing to a home birth but with the reassurance that if there was any problem the medical teams were only a corridor only away!!!

Thank you so much to all the staff and especially midwife for making my birth experience as close to my "perfect" birth as possible and one that I will never ever forget!!