"Positive home birth"

We gave birth at home on the 12th of November. I had anxiety about the birth nearer the end of pregnancy due to a bad experience with an anaesthetist. I was never an at risk during pregnancy, yet he made me feel as if my choices about my body were wrong. The phonecall I recieved from the anaethsetist was after the consultant agreed to support me and my decision.

I was 35 weeks pregnant by this point and did not need the stress. The support I received from the community midwives was outstanding though. They were supportive and helped ease my anxiety. The majority of my appointments were with one midwife and the continuity helped me so much. They listened to me and helped me to have confidence in myself and that it is ok to trust my own body. They had agreed to be on call for me for my planned home birth. One  could not attend in the end but her boss came instead.

It meant everything that in every step of the way they trusted me to be in tune with my body, and in turn this helped me have the phsiological birth I dreamed of having at home with no interventions. We feel very grateful to have had the midwives we had at our home, and it made our experience so positive in the end. I dread to think how badly I would have been feeling right now had I listened to other people, rather than trusting my own body to do what it was made to do.

Thank you so much to the Hawick community midwives. They are heroes to us.