"Maternity care, birth and aftercare."

I wanted to say a huge thank you (albeit 6months late...) to all the staff involved in my pre natal care, birth experience and after care throughout my pregnancy. Firstly my community midwife Elaine McLean. She was the loveliest lady and made me feel at ease despite some major pre-natal anxiety and some difficult personal times during my pregnancy. To all of the maternity ward midwifes from Irene,   who delivered my beautiful baby and kept me calm and my baby safe,   to the lovely night-shift midwife (sadly I was so exhausted I can't remember her name! ) who helped us establish breastfeeding. Lisa from the fantastic breastfeeding support - who helped me to see that there were other ways of doing things with my baby and encouraged me to follow my own instincts with feeding on demand and sleeping - without whom I would have given up on breastfeeding very early on. Finally my health visitor Erika who is supportive and approachable and who has made me feel reassured that my little one is thriving! I am so incredibly grateful that we have an NHS and couldn't imagine coping without the network of support offered. My only criticism would me to provide a more realistic breastfeeding class at the antenatal clinic as although this was a lovely experience at the time it in NO WAY prepared me for the sometimes harsh realities of breastfeeding.