"I felt so at ease in such a serious situation"

At half past 5 on a Friday morning two weeks before Christmas I thought I may be in labour, as it was my first baby I was unsure so phoned Ayrshire maternity unit, I spoke with one of the midwifes, after discussing how I was feeling and what was happening she asked me to come up to AMU.

Once there I discovered that I was in labour and that there's were signs of stage 3 Meconium this is the baby's first feces, or poop, which is sticky, thick, and dark green and is typically passed in the womb, the baby can do this because they are distressed. The inhaled meconium can partially or completely block the baby's airways so it can be very dangerous. At the time I didn't know this and was never made aware of how serious it was. My midwife Joyce did though but never at any moment did she distress me with the information.

Joyce was amazing she kept me so calm and reassured me throughout the whole delivery, my other midfewife Francis was amazing also.

Joyce was with me the whole way through my labour from 8am till my baby was born, she took a quick 15 minute break and was right back beside me. My daughter was born with the cord around her neck and a Knot in it. Something Joyce has only seen 3 times in her 20+ years, when she told me my baby was meant to be here was when I realised just how serious the situation was.

During my whole labour Joyce kept me calm and comfortable and thanks to her I would relive that day over and over again.

Thank you Joyce and all the staff at AMU especially the anesthetist and Steven.