Yesterday (Sunday 20 June) marked the tenth anniversary of the first baby being born at the Newcastle Birthing Centre.
Since that day over 13,000 babies have been born at the centre in the Royal Victoria Infirmary, with over 3,600 water births.
Finley Cater was the first baby to be born at the unit ten years ago and his mum Vicki said at the time: “The centre is fantastic and doesn’t really feel like a hospital.
“I had a water birth and I was in one of the birthing pool rooms which was lovely.”
Looking back Vicki still remembers the midwives who cared for her and the extra attention surrounding Finley’s birth “I’ll always remember the special care we had. We weren’t expecting that Finley would be the first baby born at the centre but it was such an amazing experience – although a little strange seeing our pictures in the paper. The midwives were all brilliant and took such good care of us all.
“I still find it exciting that Finley was the first baby born there, we have the DVD of the TV coverage at the time and all the press cuttings are in his memory box. He thinks it’s great that he was the first baby born – he feels a little bit famous!”
One of Vicki’s midwives that day was Jacqueline Bessford, who still works at the birthing centre today.
“The opening of the birthing centre was a very exciting time for us all – from deciding what we needed in each room to embracing our philosophy of midwifery-led care, supporting women and their families and celebrating their intrapartum achievements,” she said.
“I still love that philosophy and over the years have been in awe of the strength and courage of labouring women.”
Looking back over ten years at Newcastle Birthing Centre Jacqueline added: “The birthing centre is an amazing, encouraging environment. Our successes are many and I feel immensely privileged to have supported women and families during this time and have shared many precious moments.”
The midwifery led birthing centre is one of the largest in the region, offering mums-to-be a wider choice of surroundings in which they’d like to give birth. It is close to the hospital’s consultant led maternity unit so if any complications arise during labour then a specialist will be on hand to help within minutes.
The Newcastle Hospitals maternity teams help to welcome over 6,000 babies into the world each year making it one of the UK’s largest maternity units.
Jane Anderson, Associate Director of Midwifery at Newcastle Hospitals “It is a privilege to lead our teams, supporting our staff in the delivery of high quality care in all areas within the Maternity Service.
“The Newcastle Birthing Centre provides a wonderful birthing environment for women and their families to enjoy and the feedback we receive from our families who have been cared for in the birthing centre is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire maternity team over the past ten years.”
