"The positive birth of my daughter"

I gave birth to my daughter in the consultant led unit at the Vic in February at 5.03am.

My son was born in the same unit in 2019, after a 33 hour labour. Because of this, I was anxious about the birth of my daughter as I didn't feel that having my son was a particularly good experience - I remember being in a lot of pain for a very long time, exhausted and generally found the whole thing very stressful.

I initially started getting contractions with my daughter early morning the day before, I called the unit and spoke to a midwife called Ashley. She assured me that everything sounded well and advised me to stay at home till it was time to come in. She made me feel confident in myself and I did manage to stay at home until the early hours of the following day. When I felt it was time to come into hospital, I called the unit and they advised I make my way along. I arrived at the unit for 3am. I met my midwife Rebecca, who showed my partner and I to our room and immediately made my reel at ease. She was very welcoming and friendly, which I found reassuring and made me feel more relaxed.

Things progressed quite quickly and Rebecca made every effort to make me comfortable. She spoke through all my different pain relief options and kept chatting to me to help distract from the pains. At 4am my waters broke and she stayed with me until my daughter was delivered shortly after 5am.

I found her whole attitude and way of which she dealt with me made such a huge difference to me. My whole experience has been so positive thanks to her. I cannot thank Rebecca enough for helping bring my daughter into this world. She was completely professional, whilst being incredibly caring and friendly towards me.