"The Fairy Godmother of Midwives" - Home Birth in Rugby, England

As soon as I was pregnant, for the second time. I knew I didn’t want to have ‘normal’ nhs pregnancy care and labour. For many reasons, including the lack of continuity of my care the first time round , the infection I had that was missed and of course this time , covid in hospitals was a big factor. I had decided that private care was the way forward, but living where we do, the London private maternity hospitals we’re not an option and also i quite fancied the idea of a homebirth. Id discovered private midwives not long after I’d had my first child and knew I’d like to use this company in the future. So once I found out I was pregnant, I got in touch. The team are so wonderful whenever you call or email they will do whatever you need. It’s brilliant. They soon partnered me up with ‘the fairy godmother of all midwives’, Jean. She is truly wonderful and exactly the type of person I needed ! It was so hard that as it was covid I never saw her face or got to share tea and biscuits with her ! But right from the beginning she listened to everything about my previous pregnancy and birth, knew what I wanted and I wanted to achieve it this time. Amazing. I have a son who was 2-3 whilst I was pregnant and Jean always took time to talk with him and play whatever crazy game he wanted to play with her. He even used to take all my vitals and listen to the baby with Jean, it was actually beautiful and I believe a huge factor as to why my son never ever had any negative feelings or actions towards the new baby. He felt the baby was his too and belonged. Lovely ! When the big day came , I’d been having some period pains since 7am. And then in the afternoon it ramped up a little and by 7pm my husband was jumping around ‘I’m calling Jean. I’m calling Jean!’

I was too relaxed about the whole thing ! He explained how things were going to her, and she was on her way , like a superhero ! When she arrived we filled the pool, I was happy on the ball for a while. Things progressed and she was brilliant. When things slowed down later she suggested getting out the pool, which was brilliant. Things soon got moving and as the baby was just not quite coming out , she altered my positions and he was here before I knew it. She really is the best. I delivered a 98 percentile sized baby(with a huge head!) Weighing in At 11lb2oz, without pain relief, without so much as a stitch all with the support and guidance of this brilliant human being. We all looked at each other in shock when he was weighed. We obviously knew he was going to be a bigger baby. But not quite 11.2!!

My home birth is one of the best memories of my life, I’ve never felt so happy and relaxed which is crazy as I was in labour. I would recommend this to anybody. Honestly the best thing I’ve ever done. And I still miss my visits with Jean now! Thank you private midwives !!!