"Antenatal care, labour and delivery"

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all staff in maternity services. I recently gave birth to my daughter in Altnagelvin and the treatment and care we received from every single member of staff from Drs, midwives, maternity care assistants and support staff while an inpatient was top class! The midwives support in fetal assessment, antenatal, labour ward and postnatal was unbelievable.

During my pregnancy I attended the GDM clinic and the care I received from the team was amazing! Cathy was always a friendly face and she was so reassuring whenever I had any questions or issues, building a rapport with the same midwife made attending these appointments seemless and meant I felt that she was familiar with with situation and I was confident in discussing sensitive topics with her and ensured a contiunity in my care, and reduced the need for me to reiterate my situation at every appointment. Annemaire and the dieticians were so approachable and having access to this team virtually was excellent. They always replied promptly! It really is a seemless service.

When it was time to have the baby I met midwives Leesha and Nikki in fetal assessment who were so calming and reassuring during the early stages of labour, with Jenni and Michelle continuing the calm tone throughout my stay on antenatal ward, going above and beyond for myself and my husband.

When I was transferred to Labour ward I met a lovely group of midwives, Natasha, Aíne, Lauryn and student midwife Laura (who was on her last student shift!) Their humour, support and encouragement during labour was exactly what I needed and even when things were beginning to become more complicated their reassurance kept me calm and in control.

Sophie, Judith and Shauna took over at shift change and were with me right until the birth of my baby girl. Their skill, professionalism, and empathy is amazing and when labour became complicated and I needed to have a cesarian section they advocated for me and used personal experience to reassure me that everything would turn out OK. I will never be able to thank them enough!

In postnatal I met Teresa, who dedicated so much time to helping me establish breastfeeding. Without this I feel I would have struggled to maintain breastfeeding when home, I'm now 8 weeks post-partum and still exclusively breastfeeding and I attribute that to her early intervention and encouragement! She gave me the confidence to continue even when it was tough!

The care I received from the community midwife team in Shantallow health centre during my pregnancy and post-partum was excellent with a special thanks to Jacinta and Judith who encouraged me to continue breast feeding and sign posted me to extra support when I needed it.

A special mention to Sumatra who brought me my meals when I was an inpatient and had a lovely conversation every morning! She's an absolute ray of sunshine!

All the midwives I met are a credit to the profession and we are so lucky to have such an attentive, professional and skilled team working to deliver and care for our babies in Altnagelvin. 

Thank you to all the staff in maternity services for providing a top class service while under extreme pressure and doing it all with smiles, empathy and compassion, I am eternally grateful.