On the 21st November 2014 I gave birth to my beautiful little girl in the comfort of my own home and in the birth pool – exactly as I had wished.
I started out with NHS care but heard about independent midwifery and Virginia when I was around 23 weeks pregnant, following my 20 week scan in which I was told that everything was completely normal but that it would be likely that I would be sent for multiple growth scans just because my bump was very small. That didn’t make sense to me as everything ‘within’ the scan was spot on.
I learnt more about Virginia and her style of care, watched all of the videos and documentaries on YouTube, as well as coming across the Kent Midwifery Practice website and reading lots of the birth stories. From this point I knew that this was the route I wanted to take, so sent Virginia an email and a couple of days later she came out for my first appointment!
For the remainder of my pregnancy I received the most amazing one-on-one care, where I was reassured throughout even though I was measuring small, the baby was healthy. Virginia gave me the information I needed to feel safe and told me what to look for, such as lots of movement. I knew that if I had gone down the NHS route I would have faced intervention and unnecessary advice.
Having Virginia there to explain and go through everything really helped to reassure my partner too, who had been sceptical about home birth before.
During my labour and birth I was given exactly what I had wanted, a calm and relaxing atmosphere where I could hop in and out of the pool as I pleased. There were no unnecessary intrusive examinations and I went on to have a very easy and quick labour and birth. Virginia was both very relaxed and gently encouraging the whole time, and I couldn’t have wished for a better experience. I am a natural worrier and usually panic about everything, so was very surprised at how calm it was! I am so pleased that I was able to have somebody so knowledgable and experienced with home births to be there.
The visits with Virginia after giving birth were also really reassuring and informative, and me and my partner have missed her since we were discharged!
The whole experience was worth every penny that was paid, and I would completely recommend it to anybody. I really hope that Virginia can be there when/if I have anymore babies!
