Vicki says about her birth with Holly:
The extensive post natal support from Rene was wonderful and I will her terribly after the 6 weeks is up. I felt immediately at ease with Rene, she wholeheartedly supported my approach to childbirth and offered fantastic advice. I believe that I would have been quite anxious during labour had I been relying on the NHS midwives being available and wondering if I’d even met the community midwife working that day before inviting her into my home to share one of the most precious and personal moments of my life.
We don’t plan to have a 3rd child but if we did then I would not hesitate to engage her services. I highly recommend this route to all expectant parents to enhance your birth experience.
Vicki
The story
Our first child Howard was born in the delivery suite of the local hospital and wasn’t tricky, it wasn’t a traumatic experience but it was far from the birth I desired. So when my husband suggested a private midwife for our second childbirth I was in immediate agreement, and when we met Rene I knew that she was my best chance of achieving my desired birth.
As a population we have been trained to fear childbirth and to consider it a medical procedure rather than the natural event it really is. For our first labour I wanted a natural birth but Gary wanted the safety net of the hospital location just in case so we settled for a midwife led unit at the hospital, sadly this wasn’t available on the day and we ended up labouring alone in triage waiting area, an overflow area and then when I said I was ready to push the midwife finally appeared and directed me unnecessarily onto my back on a bed! My husband recently summed it up well, he said the labour was progressing really nicely at home and went off course as we drove to the hospital. So he agreed with my home birth preference and suggested a private midwife to give us the best chance of avoiding intervention.
Birth
Holly’s entrance to our world was perfect. My labour began at 2am 4 days after my due date, coincidentally at exactly the same as my first labour! The contractions were half hourly and whilst strong enough to wake me did not require pain relief so I slept in between. At 6am they ramped up so I woke Gary to set up the pool and I contacted Rene to put her on standby. The contractions came every 6 minutes for 2 hours then every 3 minutes and much more intensely so I asked Rene to come. At this point the pace of labour progression surprised me and I wanted to get in the pool but knew it best to wait so I slowed things down as Rene had described, still with no pain relief as I trust my body to use the hormones appropriately. Once Rene arrived she checked my vitals and I entered the pool, it was such a relief on my lower back and I soon adapted. Gary and I worked brilliantly as a team, reading each other and responding, Rene observed and reassured when prompted, encouraging me to go with my body, never once directing or instructing me but always listening watching and ready to act.
Our second midwife arrived in plenty of time for the birth. An hour after entering the pool our baby was born and we scooped up our beautiful baby from the water. We were lost in the beauty of the event for a while before discovering the gender. We enjoyed skin to skin time whilst waiting for the cord to stop pulsating and Holly had a beautiful pink glow to her skin. The third stage was straight forward and no stitching required. Holly was calm and took to breastfeeding immediately. We all enjoyed bacon sandwiches and bubbles to celebrate Holly’s safe arrival.
Howard met his “wiggley woo” at home once we had tidied up, he is a wonderful big brother and dotes on his baby sister Holly, I look forward to many years watching them blossom.