"Giving birth to our first child."

Going into pregnancy I was understandably nervous. Early on, I was diagnosed with pre-enclampsia, at every stage, the midwives and consultants were amazing. Joanne and her colleagues in the assessment unit were outstanding at easing my mind whenever anything was wrong. 

Dr. Sharma and his colleague Dr. ‘Tassis’ were also wonderful at listening to me and explaining to me how my baby was progressing and the different, possible eventualities when it came to giving birth. After my waters broke, the assessment unit were calm and assessed me well. They admitted me due to a couple of issues and Cora in the maternity unit was so accommodating, offering advice and comfort in our first evening in Daisy Hill. 

Over the next 24 hours we’re we nurtured by staff members through contractions and decisions about induction. 

Midwife Clare supported us through the more difficult contractions and without hesitation, transferred us downstairs when our son’s heartbeat appeared weaker. This needs commending, the quick actions really put our mind at ease. The sister in the labour unit ‘Elaine’ and her colleagues Helena and Catherine were excellent at comforting both myself and my husband every step of the way as things were progressing as expected. They were just unbelievably supportive and had all the time in the world for us. It was emotional when they ended their shift but we felt a lot of confidence into the next step. 

When midwife Natalie came on with her colleague Hannah (a student nurse) we had the process explained to us, I was very tired still and was actively encouraged to take rest. When it came to the actual giving birth, they were both calm, decisive and took all the right steps and action to ensure our little boy arrived safely. Natalie was very concise but calm throughout, putting our mind at ease and building that trust. We both have so much respect for midwives and they need rewarding in DHH for their outstanding service. The after care so far has also been brilliant, from a young midwife up on the ward showing us how to bath our son and answering questions through to our home visits, we cannot fault the service enough. Please do pass on our story to those in DHH maternity, labour and assessment unit as they are absolutely OUTSTANDING.