"Birth Centre - highly recommended"

I gave birth to my daughter in the birth centre in 2017 and I can't sing the praises of the midwives who dealt with me on arrival enough.Unfortunately I arrived at the same time as prospective mothers were having their tour of the ward and being on the verge of labour and not wanting to be seen in distress, I did wait in the toilets before going through.

My only, and it is only a slight annoyance, is that when I rang the hospital during the day, confident that I was about to give birth two weeks early, I was advised that it was just my body getting ready. I had explained that I hadn't been able to sit down for quite some time but was told I'd feel like this on and off for a while.

I was already 9cm dilated when arriving at the hospital so was admitted to a room straight away and gave birth in two hours. The midwives were amazed that I'd stayed at home for so long but this was on the advice of a member of their team. To be fair though, I'm happy that I was in the comfort of my home during those early stages and not pacing around in a strange hospital room. The pressure was on my husband to get to the hospital in time.

The midwives during the delivery were great - got me in the pool straight away, put me at ease, kept me distracted and also were great with my husband too even though it was late at night. The following morning the midwife came in to give her thanks to me for being a great patient and for being so calm which was greatly appreciated.

I did feel slightly left alone the next morning, trying to breastfeed a new baby and not knowing if it was OK, and had to wait around for a long time for the nurse to give the hearing tests to my daughter. The first time she arrived the ear inserts were too big to be of use, then when the smaller inserts were put on, my baby was feeding so she was classed as not having passed. I then had to wait for three hours for her to visit again to attempt the test and again my daughter was feeding. Ultimately she was classed as failed and we had to return two weeks later for a test.

Overall my experience of the birth centre was fantastic. Water birth is a must and eases the pain; a bed big enough for both mum and dad to lie down with baby afterwards, a sofa for my husband to stay on overnight and an ensuite bathroom.