"Lovely place, only wish I'd had a water birth!"

Thankfully and firstly, I was fortunate in giving birth fairly straightforwardly to a beautiful healthy son. The rooms are lovely and were great for full paternal involvement from beginning to very end - it was very special for dad to have the option of staying with us overnight until leaving. The staff were all very kind, especially the ?healthcare assistant? who looked after us after giving birth very well indeed. Thank you. The only persona let down for me was that I didn't get to use the birth pool (despite it being in my birth plan and mentioning it on admission). It was one of our pro's leading us to choose to give birth at Cossham but I just don't know why we didn't get to use it (although I found it very helpful to hold onto during contractions and didn't let go of it). When it became clear to my partner that birth was getting near he did ask if I could get in, but we were advised it was too late at that point. Having not given birth in a pool before, I had no idea what the right time would be, and I guess I was too focused on contractions to be 'with it' (and I am not naturally persuasive/demanding anyhow). So I guess I would suggest to others to be more enquiring as to when you can get in it if you want to have a water birth. Or, perhaps ask the midwife if she could suggest at a suitable point that it be run for you? If I was giving birth again, I would enquire more about water births at the different centres, and perhaps try to be a tad more determined and less reliant on what I had written in my yellow book!