Birth Story by Anne-Marie Laing

We were expecting twins and therefore considered high risk by the hospital which meant we had been under doctor care throughout the pregnancy. This led to a lack of consistency of advice and a very medical and process driven approach and attitude to both the pregnancy and the birth.

From my first conversation with Nanette, I knew she would approach our birth differently from the doctors and also the other independent midwives. She actually listened to what we wanted, she did not enforce her views but she provided sound guidance.

She was supportive in our wishes and took time to understand why we wanted certain things and to get to know us. She was open minded and didn't insist on a home birth being the answer.

Nanette is pragmatic in her approach to child birth and also child care and has a very human touch about her.

During some very stressful and intense times, Nanette provided reassurance to both of us without being intrusive and all of her advice was practical and sensible.

Without Nanette our experience would have been incredibly different and probably quite damaging, however her clam, human and light manner resulted in an experience which was memorable and joyful.

Her approach is flexible and completely tailored to you. She ensures that she is accessible as necessary and never made me feel that any of my queries were irrelevant.

At a no point did she make Andy feel left out or excluded and ensured that his concerns where also considered. She very much cared for both of our needs and supported us equally.

Nanette is both professional and personable which meant that we were cared for both mentally and physically. Nanette always provided the facts for us to make informed decisions and never forced a choice or her view. This ensured that we felt in control at all times and provided comfort and reassurance during the uncertainty that is child birth. Nanette for us put care back into healthcare.

We now have two very happy, contented and healthy boys which is in no small part due to Nanette and her skills.

Thank you.

We would thoroughly recommend her to anyone who is considering using and independent midwife.
Anne-Marie Laing, Partner,

Birth Story by Suzanne

Larissa, Suzanne's Daughter.

When I found out I was pregnant, I found that I suddenly had to face the subject of giving birth, something that had always lurked somewhere in the back of my imagination but I'd so far managed to avoid thinking about!   My instincts told me that darkness and privacy were important for me for the birth and that I didn't want lots of medical intervention.  A friend had had a home birth recently and her positive experience prompted me to think that maybe a home birth was an option.  My family reacted with low-key horror to this idea, and I was told that you couldn't possibly have a birth outside a hospital!

My GP practice wasn't particularly helpful, just telling me to choose a hospital. When I went to my local hospital I found them polite and helpful - but impersonal.  I was told in no uncertain terms that they weren't offering home births due to staff shortages. 

I went home and started to do some research over the internet, it was then that I found out about independent midwives.  By choosing this option I could have a home birth or hospital birth - whatever I wished. I could have a birthing pool and I would get continuity of care that the NHS simply couldn't offer.  The idea that I could choose a midwife that I could get on with and get to know them a little before the birth really attracted me.  The thought of having strangers wandering in and out while I gave birth wasn't appealing.  Having an independent midwife also allowed me to choose somebody whose philosophy fit in with my own, so there wouldn't be any nasty surprises when the big day arrived. 

After doing some research I interviewed a few midwives and found Nanette.    Over the months leading up to the birth my appointments were held at home and the usual tests with blood pressure etc. were done.  Nanette gave me lots of reading and viewing material so when the time came I felt that my choice of home birth was right for me and I had enough knowledge about both home and hospital births to make me feel a little more confident about the whole thing!  Having my ante-natal appointments at home was great - I could do them in the evening after work and the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

About 8 days before the due date I had an appointment to get my eyebrows done and a pedicure in the West End.  I'd begun to notice some uncomfortable abdominal pain and could barely walk.  I had my eyebrows and pedicure done while in latent labour!  About a day after this real labour began - the early stages were spent walking around my living roome with a tens machine while my husband made a graph of my contractions.  At this stage we were keeping in touch with Nanette over the phone which made me feel a lot more confident that everything was as it should be.   As the contractions became more intense I retreated to my bathroom - my desire for privacy and a small space seemed to kick-in now!

When the contractions became noticeably stronger we called Nanette and she came around.  When pushing started I was able to move to the pool that had been set up in the soon-to-be-nursery.  The water was really soothing and the room was lit with candles to provide a relaxing environement for the baby to be born.  The water definitely helped with the pain at this stage. 

My daughter, Larissa, was born about an hour later in the water.  As sometimes happens, she was so chilled that she didn't see the need to breathe.  At this stage Nanette stepped in and gave her resuscitation breaths, while at the same time stopping myself and my husband from panicking.  A few moments later Larissa was breathing and blinking in confusion at the world.  

After Larissa was born both Nanette and the back-up midwife Anne leapt into action and did the necessary checks on the baby and myself and tidied up the flat while myself and my husband coo'ed over the new baby.  They ran a hot bath for me and helped to bring order back to the proceedings.

It took Larissa a couple of days to work up an appetite and start breast feeding.  Nanette visited frequently for a month after the birth.  Having this support really helped me to get breast feeding established and helped us to feel supported in those early days.  Having the person who delivered the baby provide post-natal care was a fantastic experience and was very different to the experience of people who gave birth in hospital.

 All in all, choosing an independent midwife was one of the best decisions I ever made and if I have another baby I'll be calling her in again!

Birth Story - baby Matilda VBAC.

Samantha and her baby Matilda VBAC birth

When I became pregnant with my second child, I knew that hiring an independent midwife was going to be the best option for me. After a very healthy pregnancy with my first daughter, labour was induced, I was strapped to a fetal heart monitor, given an epidural, which eventually ended in severe fetal distress and an emergency caesarean section. My daughter's distress was so severe that there was no time for a spinal block, she was born alone, with me under general anaesthetic, and her father not allowed in the theatre. Because we were both under the effects of the anesthetic, we were very drowsy for some time after the birth. She had no interest in feeding and after only a few days, with virtually no support from hospital staff, I gave up breastfeeding. After an extremely distressing birth and a humiliating attempt at breastfeeding, I felt a failure.

I wanted my next experience of childbirth to be different. So after much research and reading I settled on a homebirth, as I believed that was my best chance of having a natural birth this time round and not being subjected to unnecessary hospital interventions. However, I thought that the chances of the NHS "allowing" me to have a home VBAC were slim to none, so an independent midwife it was!

Nanette seemed very friendly, approachable and at ease with the idea of a home VBAC. Her whole ethos seemed to me to be that pregnancy and childbirth were completely natural states for the female body and that they should be left well alone unless intervention was necessary. That seemed to be just what I was looking for.
Although the standard tests were done, less emphasis was put on those, with more importance being attached to building a good relationship between Nanette and myself along with, how I felt about the labour and birth. I felt more like a person and less like a patient.

I went into labour at about 6:30am in June 2008. My partner went to take my elder daughter to a friend’s house while the birth pool was filling up. I remember being quite scared because the contractions came out of nowhere and were incredibly strong, but felt a little better when Nanette arrived. I was already in hard labour by the time she found me crouching on the bathroom floor and began rubbing my back. I was in agony by this point and Nanette said I was ready to get in the pool, so I climbed in gratefully.

Not long after, the second midwife Rene arrived. I had never met her before and so was a bit apprehensive about having her at my birth, but she was fantastic. Both she and Nanette really got me through transition when I felt I couldn't take the pain anymore and that I wanted to be taken to hospital for an epidural or a c-section. Anything to take the pain away. Of course, I didn't really want that and they knew it. Therefore, they just encouraged me by telling me what a fabulous job I was doing. My partner also found Nanette and Rene's support of me useful. He said he had felt useless in my last labour as he didn't know how to support me. However, this time round he was given various practical jobs to do while they saw to me and he felt much more useful and he knew I was safe with them. I also have to say that I was more than happy with their emotional support and didn't miss him not holding my hand. I had the midwives for that and I knew he was there in the background!

Finally, my baby was born at 11:05am and it was the most amazing feeling, being able to push her out into the world on my own. She was born at home, in water, with no pain relief and no tearing. I attribute not tearing to the fact that I was encouraged to do what my body told me to do and push when I felt the urge and for as long as I wanted. In this way, the head was eased out gently and gradually, allowing the perineum to stretch naturally.

After the birth, a lavender bath was run for me and toast made. As I was helped out the bath by Nanette and Rene, I got cramp in my calf and they knelt down on the floor and massaged it away for me.

I was then tucked into bed and Matilda was latched on for her fourth feed (she had fed several times while the placenta was being expelled). I got the support I needed to breastfeed her successfully, being able to call Nanette when I couldn't latch her on (again!) at 11pm! She would also call to see how the feeding was going, even once calling while she was cooking dinner for her own family!

When Nanette discharged me six weeks after the birth, both my partner and I were genuinely sad. We had gotten to know her well(and vice versa) over the past months. We are extremely grateful to her for making the birth of our daughter such a fantastic experience, and I now feel that I can lay the ghosts of my first daughter's birth to rest.

Matilda is now almost 7 months old, an extremely happy baby, and is still breastfeeding and I have no plan to stop for some time!

Birth Story - Leo

Baby Leo

Midwife Nanette was recommended to us and we really liked her the moment we met her. We found she listened to us and understood our hopes for the birth. We decided to have a home birth because we believed Nanette (and midwife Odette) would be able to fulfill all our high expectations. We had visited private and NHS hospitals and believed their rigid protocols would prevent us from having a ‘natural water birth’. We had a traumatic experience with the birth of our first child at an NHS hospital and believed that Nanette would allow us to have a birth experience that would give our newborn the best start in life and heal our awful memories of our first labour.

Nanette lived up to all our expectations. I woke up at 4am with contractions 3 minutes apart for 45 seconds each. By 04.15 I was on the Entonox and Chris was filling the birth pool. When I rang Nanette she was completely prepared and very calm. When she arrived she was so calm and softly spoken. She had taken on board all our wishes and allowed the birth to progress naturally. She trusted me in my belief that I knew what was going on. Nanette worked exceptionally well with Odette. She was calm, confident and reassuring throughout. Leo was born at 08.00 and weighed 11lb.
 Nanette was fantastic post labour. She was completely relaxed about me changing my birth plan and wanting the delivery of the placenta sped up. She took care of things I hadn’t thought of. She dressed Leo; she made my bed; she made tea; she tidied up and reassured me. She was great.

Chris and I had the birth we dreamed of – thank you Nanette.

Tom Price – A Dad’s Birth Story

On Saturday morning at 11.05, the rather long and slim, 56cm, 3.6kg (8lb), Annamaria Eleonora Kort Price arrived into this world.

Now for the extraordinary part.  Katharina claimed that she was "only" having Braxton Hicks contractions on Friday afternoon, but it became clear by about 11pm that these were not just a practice run.  By 7am, the contractions were about 5-8 minutes apart, so we rang our wonderful midwives.  At 7.30am, the contractions seemed to be entering the transitional phase (according to my "Information for Dad" cheat sheet), so I rang the midwives again.  This time, rather disconcertingly, they said, "If you see the head, call the ambulance".  Trust me, ladies, no guy wants to be told that (and no, I didn't tell Katharina that either - I just gulped and said, rather feebly "OK").

At about 10am, the midwives discovered, to their (and our) surprise that Katharina was fully dilated.  Katharina then subsequently told me that she wanted to go to hospital and have an epidural.  I was telling the midwives this and we were working out how to get there, when "I feel like pushing" was heard.

It was too late to go to hospital, and at 10.30 am, Katharina went into the birthing pool which Katharina’s brother and I had filled up - after I almost threw out of the same brother and his wife, (they understood afterwards).

35 minutes later, Nanette said, "Here comes your baby" and there she was floating to the surface while Nanette and I tried to fish her out.  A bit of juggling with Katharina's legs, cord and baby, and about a minute later she was in her mum's arms - all pink, breathing, with four limbs, two ears, a pair of rather squashed lips, a cute nose, ten long toes, eight long fingers and a couple of thumbs.

It all happened so fast, there was no epidural, no gas/air, no nothing.  I knew that Katharina was a tough cookie (I sometimes tell her that I have the scars to show that), but this?!?!?.  My admiration & love for her has increased further, (which I didn't imagine was possible).

Duckling (no name at that point) was given to me to look after for the third stage, and the most extraordinary thing was I immediately started planning her future life.  I think after thirty minutes, I had about three life plans and was writing in my head my speech at her wedding.  Bizarre but quite delightful at the same time.

Anne, the other midwife, rang up the local doctors for a "newborn baby check".  About 15 minutes later, I had a Dr Kennedy on the phone.  "You've asked for a newborn baby check".  "Yes please".  With rising levels of disbelief, an incredulous Dr Kennedy asked: "And where was the baby born?".  "Here, at home".   "But who delivered the baby?" 

Anyway, Katharina and Annamaria are both doing fine.  Our one project, which I think we'll fail at, is to avoid the deluge of bright pink clothing.

Thoroughly recommend the private midwives we used (Anne and Nanette); and our wonderful maternity nurse, Wilhelmina (a retired midwife), who is helping both of us get sleep and teaching us lots of tricks of the parenting trade.  She had her first bath last night, which she loved (I sadly missed it).

Tom Price 

Anne Stafford www.midiwife.me.uk

Birth story By Katherina Kort

Annamaria was born at 11.05 am on a Saturday at home, one day after the NHS due date. The birth was hard work, but, I had never imagined I would say that, easier than anticipated and a very rewarding experience. In my view a marathon is harder than birth, since there is no choice - one has to go through it. Whereas when running a marathon, each step, especially at the end is a CHOICE.

At home and rewarding, how could that happen?

In short, I had lots of help in preparing well for the event, tried to prepare my mind and body for the experience and stayed very open minded about where ultimately the birth journey would take us/ me.

In the run up to the birth, I saw Anne and Nanette on a regular basis. We chatted a lot about birth, labour and other things on my/ their minds. Their calmness and taking time to chat was a huge contrast to what I had experienced with the NHS midwifes. They made me aware each time; we saw each other, how important it is to slow down a bit for at least once in a while to consider the upcoming event.

So, how to describe the journey?

Coming back from work on Thursday night, I thought it might be a good weekend to have the baby, since my brother and wife were in town from the US and it would be lovely to have them there for such a bonding event. I had started to take Fridays off during the last three weeks before my due date which meant I had time to spend with my family. On Friday morning I had a “show” and thought, “Oh, it might happen this weekend, let’s wait and see.” and duly spent the day as planned walking around town. On Friday night, after a nice dinner, contractions started around 12.30am, about 3x an hour, very bearable. After I realised they were not latent, I texted Anne and she texted back saying she will be available in case they get more frequent.  Around 5.30 am contractions quickly intensified and I started to use my distraction thoughts, a fantastic ski tour/ run I did a few years a go. So each time a contraction started I thought about the blissful deep powder I managed to ski that day. As a pointer, distractions do work, as long as one has ability to concentrate. The brain cannot think two thoughts at the same time, so I tried to think skiing.

Once the contractions intensified at around 6am, Tom, my husband, put on the TENS machine. A very helpful device, at least for me, since it gives you the feeling, of a bit of control in this out of control experience.

Contractions really got going just before 7am and Tom called the midwifes. Both Nannette and Anne arrived between 8-9am. Anne and Nannette chatted to me or left me alone as I went through the harder part of the process of dilation. I mainly stood leaning against a chest of drawers wiggling my hips to manage labour. Increasingly I thought, this is actually quite hard work and the TENS machine stopped having an effect. I had imagined a two day labour and around 9.30am thought, I am not a martyr and need to go to hospital now earlier than planned, to have a epidural.

Then everything is a bit blurred in my memory. Luckily the midwives suggested checking how far dilated I was prior to making a decision to leave for hospital. To my astonishment, they said 10cms. That was just before 10am, I think. After a short discussion with Tom, I decided to transfer to hospital to deliver the baby there.

Anyway, it was not to be. As Tom delivered the message to the midwives that I want to go to hospital, I felt the urge to push. Too late to go to hospital and the midwives now really jumped into action.

Luckily Tom and my brother had filled the birthing pool. It had been set up with “relaxation during long labour” in mind. I went into the pool and it was very soothing to be on my knees and feeling a sensation of weightlessness.

Anne and Nannette were sitting around the pool, telling me what to expect during the next stage of labour. Anne was using hypno-birthing language and reminding me to breath properly, very helpful. They were checking regularly how far the baby had moved down and were using the heart rate monitor to ensure the baby was not getting stressed. Tom, who did brilliantly during the whole process, put a cold flannel on my lower back during each contraction and pressed down really hard, which was immensely helpful.

I again thought the pushing stage would take ages, but progress seemed very fast. Shortly before 11am I could feel the babies head in the birth canal and the midwives encouraged me through the most unglamorous bit of labour with breathing and explaining what I would feel at the next surge. However, that part did not last very long and Annamaria was born at 11.05am. She did not float to the surface, but had to be caught by Tom and Anne/ Nanette.

I had been very worried about tearing which actually was minimal. According to the midwifes and also how I feel about it, I had a short labour and quick birth. I had not planned to have her at home, but in the end it was right for me.

Once I had started working with Anne and Nanette, I was never worried about the birth. I just thought that these two women do know their job, had taken the time to get to know me/ my strength and weaknesses and would ensure the baby’s and my safety at all times. Handing over control to them and my body was maybe one of the reasons everything went so smoothly.

Katherina Kort

Anne Stafford
www.midwife.me.uk

Birth Story by Helen Popple

I chose to have an independant midwife as I wanted to know who would be there on the day of the birth, you don't know who you will get with the NHS and this made me nervous. Nanette put my mind at ease and was always on hand to offer any advise. As this was my first pregnancy I always had lots of qeustions and worries, Nanette always spent as much time with me as i needed at my appointments. When it came to the birth I felt calm and in control, I don't think I would have felt this way had I not had an independant midwife. I had brilliant after-care and was given lots of help and advise with my new baby. I am looking forward to Nanette being my midwife a second time round.

Helen Popple

Cordelia's Story

I was always more worried about the first few weeks at home with the baby than the birth itself, particularly after the midwife at my GP's surgery explained that my borough had a shortage of community midwives. So I decided to look for an independent midwife to help me through that period (I knew I wanted a hospital birth).

From our first meeting, a few weeks before Cordelia's birth, I was impressed by Nanette and Odette's calmly common sense approach, based on getting to know us and finding solutions that worked for us as a family.  After Cordelia was born, either Nanette or Odette visited every day for the first ten days, and then two to three times a week after that, as well as being always available on phone or email.  They coached me through the early days of breastfeeding, reassured me about Cordelia's sleeping, her spots and her tummy button, weighed and tested her, and lent me books and DVDs about birth and parenthood.

Fortunately, Cordelia has so far been a wonderfully healthy and happy baby, and I have really enjoyed my first few weeks of motherhood.  I am sure that much of this is thanks to the confidence that Nanette and Odette's post-natal care gave me.