"Birth of my first child"

I attended Peterhead Maternity Unit (PMU)  to give birth to my first child. I had been contracting at home for 24 hours and once my waters broke I went to Peterhead. From the moment I arrived in Peterhead I felt calm and safe because all the midwives and staff were so caring and I felt like I was their sole priority. The maternity unit was calm and quiet and my husband and I were warmly welcomed and shown to an assessment room straight away where they found I was 7cm dilated and ready to carry on with labour. I was able to use the birthing pool and had the wonderful student midwife Denise by my side encouraging me and supporting me. A more experienced midwife, Heather was also an amazing support to me and my husband throughout.

Unfortunately, I didn’t deliver in the pool at Peterhead as I was just too exhausted by that point and so was transferred to Aberdeen Labour Ward by ambulance. What might sound like a very frightening thing was managed so well by my midwives. They explained to me that I would have to go to Aberdeen as they are not able to use intervention to assist baby to come out. I understood this and trusted their decisions. They reassured me that baby was fine and everyone was going to take care of me. Heather and Denise came with me in the ambulance and didn’t leave until I had been handed over to a midwife in Aberdeen, another amazingly supportive midwife called Jordan.

Within 30 mins of arriving and with some ventouse help my baby was born. From start to finish I felt safe, cared for, listened to and supported by these very special staff members. I’m now going into my second pregnancy and have no fears about the care that I will receive from the midwives I’ll meet along the way.