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Community Services - County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust 2016-10-05 Person 5 5 0

We really appreciated the opportunity to have a home birth and the support of many of the community midwives throughout the pregnancy who were encouraging of the option to give birth at home. We saw many midwives at the antenatal appointments and every single one was supportive of our decision to birth at home, which was surprising given that we know it's not common in the area. For the actual labour and birth, we couldn't have asked for a smoother process. We appreciated that the midwives came quickly and were able to stand back and allow us to go through the process with minimal intervention. Between checks I was able to labour in whatever position I wanted and the midwives were encouraging without being distracting. We felt safe and comfortable. After the birth, the midwives were able to help me quickly and I was able to get comfortable in my bed without too much delay. We appreciated that the midwives had a confident attitude and didn't themselves sound worried despite the fast pace of labour--our experience is that we are able to stay calm if everyone around us is calm, and the midwives we had were able to maintain a good appearance of calm the whole time. The care from midwives after the birth in the days that followed was very supportive and helpful. We had a very smooth and positive experience with home birth and would recommend it without any reservations.