"Maternity at Medway Maritime Hospital"

I had already been impressed with my Maternity care provided by my Midwife, so much so that I agreed to have a student in training follow my pregnancy and that I would be a 'case load' to form the final part of the student's training. The midwife was almost at the end of their 3 year training and I always felt 100% confident in their ability which was always double checked by a qualified Midwife also. We had hoped to have a home birth for our baby and my husband and I were pleasantly surprised with how well this was received by the midwifery team. When we reached 39 weeks of my pregnancy we found that baby had moved transverse (sideways) and therefore would have to be delivered by cesarean section in theatre and that this would need to be done as soon as possible. We were disappointed that we would not be able to have our home water birth but as delivering our baby safely was obviously our main priority, we set off to Medway Hospital to have my pre- operation checks done and to visit the ward that I would be staying on. Within minutes of meeting the Cesarean Midwife and some of the team on Kent Ward, I was put at ease with friendly people who answered all my questions and carefully explained each step of what would happen the following day. I was shown around and introduced to everyone - this made a huge difference to me and I felt much more relaxed about the last minute change of plan to have a cesarean delivery. We arrived at 7am the next day to Kent Ward and were introduced to the Surgeon and anaesthetist - again calm friendly people who took time to answer my questions, check my health history and explain what would happen in the theatre. We had been practising hypnobirthing breathing techniques throughout my pregnancy and the surgeon and team were extremely accommodating in respecting my wishes for a calm birth environment. They allowed me to take my own music to be played in theatre and listened to my wishes about baby being placed immediately on my skin for breast feeding and how we preferred the cord to be cut. Calm smiling faces put me at ease in theatre and within minutes I could hear my baby cry. The midwife kept me updated telling me we are just cleaning baby and checking her, then she was placed on my chest as I requested after my husband had cut the umbilical cord. The surgeon did an outstanding job - I have a perfect small scar that I still can't I have a perfect small scar that I still can't believe my baby came from! .The ward and rooms were all clean and spotless, food was good and I was brought water and tea constantly! If we pressed the "attention" buzzer someone was at my bedside in under a minute each time. I was really impressed with the checks for my baby in the first 24 hours - a hearing specialist and doctor who checked her throughly. I can't thank everyone at Medway Maritime and the Maternity team enough for their expert care and attention, we were 100% satisfied.