"Kindness, respect and affection"

I’m not on Facebook and I rarely use Twitter, so I wanted to use the NHS Choices platform to publicly thank the NHS maternity staff at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust for their support with creating and safely delivering our first baby.

The journey that my wife and I have been on has taken the best part of 4 years. Along the way, we have encountered many twists and turns in the road that have truly challenged our resolve and solidified our determination to start a family.

We have been to 3 NHS hospitals, had 5 operations, 10 scans and more tests than I care to count. The low point was the advice and lack of care we received from Croydon University Hospital (formerly the Mayday) and it wasn’t until we were in the care of 3 outstanding doctors at Guy’s Hospital that things started to improve.

In early October we spent 5 days as guests at St Thomas’ and following a less than straight-forward birth, our baby girl was safely delivered. Each of the midwives were great in their own unique way. Two midwives were particularly excellent along with a couple of others whose names escape me.

I wasn’t sure how best to conclude my note of thanks until I heard someone on Desert Island Discs recently, who said that it was their role as a midwife, to treat all patients with kindness, respect and affection. For me, these words best encapsulate the treatment we received at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and I would not hesitate to recommend them to any parents facing challenges in starting a family.