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You choose your midwife, someone who you will come to know and trust. Research shows continuity of care can: Reduce:
Increase:
You are supported in your choices of where and how you birth your baby, such as, homebirth, waterbirth and vaginal birth at home if you have had a previous caesarean birth. Testimonials: I could write a book about how fantastic Michelle is but I don’t think Zak my 10 week old son would spare me the time. From the beginning of my pregnancy until Zak was 6 Weeks old Michelle was warm caring and supportive. Zak had an abnormality detected at a routine 16 week scan which meant lots of trips back and forth to Oxford for regular scans. Michelle came along to nearly every appointment to give us support and ask questions which we sometimes didn’t think to ask. She also attended our Hypnobirthing sessions to brush up on her technique should I need her support during labour. |
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My two other children really warmed to Michelle. She came round one day with her box of paints and they drew a picture of Santa’s face on my bump! They had great fun doing this and it was a lovely thing to do as it really got them involved in my pregnancy. |
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She also came up with the idea of doing a belly cast which is a wonderful keepsake of how big my bump actually was. My husband Adam thoroughly enjoyed covering me in plaster! Doctors had advised me against a homebirth due to Zak’s abnormality but Michelle gave me the confidence to trust my instincts and do what felt right for me and my baby. I trusted Michelle 100% and stuck by my decision. I’m so glad I did because I had an amazing home water birth surrounded by Adam and the children. Zak had a few more apparent abnormalities when he was born so we took him to the hospital to be checked over. After being transferred 3 times to different hospitals, Zak finally had surgery at Oxford when he was ten days old. This was a difficult time for all of us but Michelle was there with constant care and support. She travelled up to Leicester and Oxford hospitals to support me with breastfeeding too and she was always on the end of the phone 24 hours a day. You may think that hiring an independent midwife is expensive, but believe me hiring Michelle was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. You can’t put a price on such personal dedicated care. By the end of your pregnancy you will come to realise that it was a very small price to pay for such an amazing experience. Michelle may no longer be my midwife but she is now a very dear friend. Nikki It takes a very special person to take someone’s greatest fear and turn it into the most beautiful experience of their life… you made sure I was fully informed, made me consider all aspects of my pregnancy, birth and life with our new baby. A.N. |
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Home birth is amazing if you have the right people to help you and reassure you that everything is ok. I was having doubts when I went into labour with my second baby, I met Michelle who made me feel instantly at ease. I can't remember the last time a single person made me feel so assured and confident that I could give birth at home. As my labour progressed, Michelle suggested that I might want to give birth in my bath as it was a deep Victorian roll top one! This initially wasn’t something I’d even considered… and just a few hours later, in a peaceful calm environment I gave birth to my son, in my bath, in the water WOW! Not only did I have him at home, but in a beautiful environment in one of my favourite places in the world… thanks to you Michelle. Lily |
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Michelle made the birth of our beautiful daughter a truly wonderful experience. You were amazing, thank you. E.J. |
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James's thoughts on IM care: When Lorraine suggested the idea of having an independent midwife, it was something that I had not though of before. "That’s what we have the National Health for" I said, why should we pay for something that is already available and free! After discussions with Michelle and Tess it became clear that that Lorraine would feel more confident and relaxed and it would allow us to have more choices and say in the type of birth that we would hopefully prefer rather than just being told that we are high risk and pushed towards a c-section by the NHS. Michelle was calm, supportive and listened to what we had to say and gave us confidence to pursue the birth we wanted to try, a home birth. She gave us the time I needed to be with Lorraine for the hypnobirthing, and when the time arose to go to the hospital she again sorted everything out, which felt calm and organized. At the hospital this allowed me to concentrate on Lorraine while she dealt with the medical staff, whilst providing information and choices all the way through the labour. She even fetched some toast for me so that I didn’t have to leave Lorraine. |
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I think that it is very important to be able to trust your midwife, and fortunately for us Michelle gave us that confidence and knowledge to make informed choices. It was money well spent, and could not of asked for a better person to be with us at the birth of our son. James |
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