"Birth of our son"

My wife gave birth to our son on the birth suite at Bolton hospital only a few days ago now, and I felt compelled to write somewhere about our experience. From the very first time we walked through the doors we felt welcome and the birth suite really does live up to its home away from home ideal. We were greeted by the midwife who would be with us for the rest of the evening and the student who she was working with.

They were both very polite, friendly and respectful. Nothing felt like it was too much for them. They both chatted to us and held conversation really well, even though they were there to do their job they also made sure that they established a relationship and a connection with us which definitely settled us.

The room was very clean and spacious. The bed was comfortable for my wife and they had kneeling pads for myself and my mother in law and they had cushions and bean bags to help my wife with positions. There was a bath in the room as well.

Unfortunately the whole birth experience wasn't without it's complications but the midwife stayed calm and professional and even though the student had told us earlier on that she was a first year and had only ever seen one baby be born she was very calm too. My wife, my mother in law and I were all very impressed with how quickly doctors etc responded when they needed to. The midwife explained to us that even though they are based downstairs they get up to the birth suite really quickly - it was within about thirty seconds give or take - and I was so impressed with this. Everyone was still very calm and professional whilst they sorted out my son and my wife.

Luckily everything was fine. The birth was very fast so my son was surprised when he was born. The midwives stayed with us for the rest of that night, brought us toast and drinks and again made us feel like nothing was too much. Even if it was just a chat.

I would definitely recommend the birth suite to anyone. These two midwives were amazing and did an excellent job of taking care of us. We were home just a few hours later and the birth suite itself is not like your typical hospital room, which is really nice. Even though the doctors are all based downstairs they got to us really quickly and our midwife told us afterwards that this was always the case.

So a big thank you to this amazing midwife who was so calm and reassuring, and also thank you to her lovely student and best wishes with the rest of your training. My wife and I would recommend the birth suite and the midwives to other parents to be.