"Labour"

I recently gave birth to my second son at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary after my arranged homebirth didn’t go ahead as planned due to baby being overdue and requiring induction. 

My first birth at the GRI was difficult and not the best experience due to uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances which ultimately caused there to be some apprehension around my second birth. 

I attended maternity assessment on an Easter bank holiday Monday for post dates monitoring as I had declined induction at this point in the hopes of being able to have my homebirth as planned. I have to commend all staff I encountered from midwives to medical staff and sonographers for an extremely positive experience in particularly consultant Dr Duncan. I can honestly say that within 5 minutes of meeting Dr Duncan my outlook on having my baby at hospital and fears regarding the process were instantly relieved and disappeared. I felt truly listened to, valued and heard which words can’t explain how important that can be.

We made a plan to be induced the following day at the GRI and my requests of a water birth and monitoring outside of the usual practice were agreed to despite having induction of an overdue baby after discussion on risks.

The following day I arrived to ward 72 where I was met by a lovely midwife who’s name I unfortunately can’t remember and visited by Dr Duncan who again reiterated the plan from the day before. Within an hour I was met by Mechele my labour midwife and taken to a labour room with a pool. 

It is no exaggeration that Mechele was an absolutely incredible midwife that can only be described as a hero and a complete credit to the NHS. She championed me from start to finish, oozed positivity and ultimately provided my husband and I the birth experience I could only have ever dreamed of and it was magical. Our son was born into the world into the water in the most calming and amazing way possible. From beginning to end Michele was herself amazing and for that I can’t thank her enough!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Duncan again who came to visit and congratulate us after our baby son was born. What will be very little to her in the way of what she did through conversations and visits were massive to us in making the full experience absolutely incredible and again Dr Duncan deserves credit for providing and allowing us the opportunity we had to have an amazing birth that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

I feel writing this letter of thanks a very small token of gratitude in the way of repaying everyone but I hope this letter finds all the staff especially Mechele, her colleagues from labour ward and Dr Duncan and I hope that despite the horrendously challenging year they have had to face they can take pride in knowing in my eyes they truly are heroes.

A million thank yous,