"I can’t fault anything at all this time round"

I had my first baby back in 2020 so in the height of covid which as you can imagine was quite a time to be having a baby. On top of that I had a very traumatic birth and a horrible experience in The Ulster Hospital. I swore I would never go back there.

Fast forward to October 2024 when I had my second little boy and I hear of the Conitinuity of Midwifery care which I was eligible for as it fell within my postcode I had the wonderful Nadine as my midwife and she was an absolute star from start to finish! She put my mind at ease about my previous experience explained why things had happened to me which were never explained before and also arranged for me to have a visit back to the hospital before I gave birth so I could overcome any fears I had from my previous experience.

All of my care was in downpatrick until unfortunately I developed gestational diabetes so my care had to fall under the Ulster. Even though my appointments weren’t in Downpatrick I still had full contact with Nadine I was able to contact her at any time with any type of question, Nadine was a very big part of my pregnancy journey as she made my past fears so much easier to face.

I met up with Katherine in the Ulster who gave me a tour I was able to go back to see the rooms that haunted me before and this definitely helped prepare me for giving birth everything was explained in detail even down to equipment used in the rooms so I definitely felt more at ease leaving in the run up to giving birth. Because of my previous traumatic experience having an emg c section I did not want to have a c section again I was determined but unfortunately my baby was breech I tried an ECV and everything else at home and he wouldn’t turn so elective c section was my only option, I was terrified at this stage because of my previous experience.

I went in on the morning of my c section an absolute bag of nerves and my anatheasist called Andrew came around he was amazing such a lovely guy who talked me through everything and just made me feel so much more comfortable, my surgeon also ended up being the same guy who done my ECV the amazing Kevin who thanks to him and the wonderful team delivered my baby safe and healthy Kevin was amazing throughout the surgery as he talked me through what was going the whole time.

My whole experience the second time round was completely different so much so that I would do it again in a heartbeat it was the most amazing experience of my life and if you had of asked me back in 2020 when I had my first little boy if I would’ve ever thought I could’ve had this positive experience I would’ve said no way, not a chance but even when I had my baby in October the staff on the maternity ward were fantastic - especially Maria she is a credit to the maternity team and made my experience on the maternity ward so much better.

I can’t fault anything at all this time round it was just amazing