Lisa's
birth story
To
make things more of a challenge, we decided to move from a small
flat in Soho to Maidstone when we were expecting our first baby
…. the only problem was we didn't have anywhere to live,
and didn't know when we could move. The last thing I wanted to
do was to start my ante natal care in London, but deliver the
baby in a strange hospital in Kent, so we were looking for some
continuity of care as well as help through a slightly scary time.
The easiest way of doing this is to have the same midwife throughout
the pregnancy, birth and afterwards - but there is only one way
to achieve this: by employing your own midwife. It's a much cheaper
option than having your baby privately, and (in our view!) much
better value because of the incredible level of support you get
during pregnancy, birth and beyond.
We
found Kay Hardie by contacting the Independent Midwives Association,
who gave us contact details of independent midwives in our area
- I looked at the various websites and I liked Kay's website and
photo, so we met.
Kay
covers all aspects of ante natal care you would expect - all my
ante natal appointments were with her, in our own home ….
so no traipsing to a doctor's and waiting to see a harassed midwife.
We had time to talk about any issue that I wanted over numerous
cups of tea, and Kay would happily talk things through on the
spot, or go away and do some research (on some of my more obscure
questions, like raspberry leaf tea) and she would reappear the
next time armed with articles and books for me to read. We were
able to obtain as much information as we wanted (my husband would
probably say too much at times) and Kay did all the technical
stuff (blood pressure, urine tests, foetal heartbeat etc) on every
visit.
Kay
came with us to the hospital - but her real forte is home births.
Most of the couples she works with have their babies at home,
and Kay is a real advocate of home births (we were too cowardly
for this - although it almost happened by accident!) Kay is obviously
very experienced, and the fact that we had known her and discussed
the birth with her for months beforehand meant it was like having
a very experienced friend at the birth - not only reassuring,
but she was able to deal with all the practical side of things
(like telling the hospital we wanted to use the water pool).
Apart
from the luxury of having somebody experienced on hand to answer
questions in a relaxed environment during the pregnancy, Kay really
came into her own when it came to the decisions everybody faces
when having a baby. I had no idea how much choice parents actually
have when it comes to a whole range of things: continuous foetal
heartbeat monitoring, inductions and even caesareans (to name
just a few). We all want to do what's best for our babies, but
the hospital staff don't always have the time (or sometimes even
the inclination) to explain what the options are, and what the
pros and cons of those options are. Kay was able to explain whether
a particular procedure was necessary either for my safety or the
baby's safety, and we could then make an informed decision. That
may sound great in principle, but it actually worked in practice
as well - on the day, the third stage of labour was taking much
longer than the hospital were happy with, and they wanted to give
me a spinal injection and a minor operation to remove my placenta.
After having only had gas and air while giving birth, I wasn't
wild about this suggestion, but without Kay going through the
alternatives I probably would have panicked and followed their
suggestion. As it was, Kay's suggestion worked and we all went
home happy the next day.
Kay's
care didn't stop after our daughter arrived - she came round every
day for the next week to check on me and Yasmin, and as often
as we needed her for a further three or four weeks. She helped
with breastfeeding and all those basic questions new mums always
have (on our first night out of hospital we called her three times
during the night, and she never once told us to go away - even
though one of my calls was to tell her the baby was crying!)
All
of this doesn't come cheap - to be cared for throughout pregnancy,
labour and beyond costs around £2,000 but we felt it was
worth every penny as it helped us to have the birth we wanted
despite only having moved here a few weeks before Yasmin was born.
Kay can get involved at any stage in the pregnancy, but feels
that the parents get the most benefit if she is involved from
the outset. If you want to contact Kay, her website is www.kentmidwiferypractice.co.uk
and her phone number is 07710 724749 - or I am happy to answer
any questions (01622 609136).
