Totally exhausted and yet already completely in love.
This is a photograph of my daughter Matilda and I, taken only a few short hours after she arrived. My labour, like a lot of first time mums, was long... very long! I certainly have a new appreciation for women enduring the latent phase.
After 20+ baths and endless walks around the Royal United Hospitals maternity car park, Matilda arrived in the pool, just as I had planned; a tiny 5lb 10oz, my little bundle of perfection.
19 months later this picture takes me right back to that postnatal hospital bed, the feeling of that empty wobbly tummy, her AMAZING new born smell and super soft skin, but most of all that enormous sense of pride, that I was finally her mummy.
I have been working with women and their families for the last decade; welcoming and witnessing new life enter the world. As a midwife, it is a huge privilege to care for women and their families during the most special and life changing event of their lives. But without doubt, the most influential birth experience that really changed my understanding of birth, was my own.
Being on the other side of the system really puts into perspective what is really important for women experiencing birth. A friendly reassuring professional face, a birth partner you can completely rely on, little comforts that remind you of home and that all important listening ear and emotional support.
These are things that got me through my labour and will be practices I take forward through my career as a midwife, in my new venture as an independent birth educator and as an advocate for mothers.
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