NEWS RELEASE
7 January 2011
First baby born at Rossendale Birth Centre
A BACUP mum has become the first to have her baby at the new Rossendale Birth Centre.
Esther Mills, 23, said the intimate, home-like setting had helped make the birth of Isaac a “beautiful experience”.
Isaac, who weighed in at 9lb exactly, came into the world at 12.47am on 4 January at the newly-opened centre, which is part of the Rossendale Primary Healthcare Centre in Rawtenstall.
Esther said: “It was really beautiful – I was delighted with the whole experience, and Isaac is a really lovely baby.
“I chose the midwife-led birth centre so that I could have as natural a birth as possible, and I was able to have a normal birth with just some gas and air for the pain.
“I had my son Elijah nearly three years ago in hospital – I had an epidural for that birth and it just wasn’t at all the way I had pictured having my baby. I didn’t enjoy the experience. When I became pregnant with Isaac, I knew I didn’t want to go down that road again.
“It was totally different at the birth centre. My midwife helped me through, I used the birth pool, and I felt really at home in the cosy, intimate birth room.
Esther was able to go home with Isaac and her partner Abraham Shimmin within a few hours of birth, and midwives visited her at home to carry out post-natal checks.
Melanie Robinson, Actinginterim Head of Midwifery at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The Rossendale Birth Centre offers a real community service for healthy women. There are just two birth rooms, and mothers telephone the midwifery team when they feel they are in the beginnings of labour, so that midwives can meet them at the centre.
“Lots of women in the Rossendale area already opt for home birth, and births at the new centre are co-ordinated in a very similar way, meaning women can choose to have a home birth experience, without disrupting their family homes.
“It is a lovely facility, and I hope many more women will choose to have their babies there.”
Rossendale Birth Centre opened on 6 December, marking the completion of a revolutionary change in East Lancashire’s maternity services. Blackburn Birth Centre, a larger unit off Park Lee Road in the town, opened in September 2010 and has already seen more than 2100 births.
The Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre, which opened at Burnley General Hospital in November, includes a third midwife-led birth centre, alongside a hi-tech consultant-led birth suite specialising in higher-risk births, a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit, and an integrated gynaecology centre.
MEDIA RELEASE
8 September 2010
Top midwife and rival footballers back new maternity services
A TOP UK midwife heaped praise on new maternity facilities, while footballers put aside their differences to back the revamped services at the opening of East Lancashire’s first midwife-led birth centre.
Blackburn Birth Centre, Park Lee Road, was officially launched on Thursday by Professor Cathy Warwick CBE, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives.
Prof Warwick, an internationally-renowned childbirth expert who advises the government on maternity, addressed expectant mothers, midwives, maternity doctors and representatives of family services with her keynote speech at the event.
She said: “I am so impressed by this wonderful facility, and I would like to congratulate everyone involved in bringing the plan to fruition.
“The main thing I think you would feel if you were a pregnant woman walking through the front door of this facility is that the people working here care about me and respect me because they have taken real care about the environment and made it a welcoming and comfortable place to come to. I would immediately feel confidence and trust in those people.”
She was joined by David Dunn from Blackburn Rovers, as well as Graham Alexander from Burnley FC, who gave their backing to the new maternity model for East Lancashire.
Pregnant women throughout East Lancashire will be able to choose to have their baby at their local midwife-led birth centre, at home, or in the consultant-led maternity unit within the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre, which will open in November, in the grounds of BurnleyGeneralHospital.
Burnley’s birth centre will also be part of the £32 million Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre, while Rossendale’s will open in December within the Rossendale Primary Health Centre, Bacup Road, Rawtenstall. Women whose medical histories suggest their birth is likely to be complex will be advised to have their children at the consultant-led unit.
The Burnley FC captain said: “No matter what your football allegiance, or the rivalry between the two teams, what is right for both sets of fans is that mum and baby get the best treatment. Hopefully people will take that on board.”
And Blackburn Rovers star David Dunn added: “The Blackburn birth centre is a brilliant place, and I’m sure many generations will be born here, but those who need to go to the hospital unit in Burnley will also get a brilliant service, wherever they have come from.”
All the new services have been designed in partnership with East Lancashire families, to make them as safe, comfortable and convenient as possible. More than 200 women have already booked to have their babies at Blackburn Birth Centre.
Simon Hill, Associate Medical Director for the Family Care Division, said: “The maternity services we provide are for the whole family: mothers, babies and fathers. Families throughout East Lancashire have helped us shape our new services to meet their needs and expectations, and we are confident they will be real assets for everyone to be very proud of, no matter what their sporting allegiances."
PRESS RELEASE
7 September 2010
Joy as little Eve becomes Blackburn Birth Centre’s first baby
ACCRINGTON mum Samantha Squire has become the first to have a baby at the brand-new Blackburn Birth Centre.
Little Eve came into the world at 12.30am on Tuesday 7 September, weighing in at 7lb 8oz. Her birth represents a milestone for maternity services in East Lancashire, which are undergoing huge changes to bring more choice and comfort to families across the area.
Samantha, 38, an accountant, said she would recommend the new facility to other pregnant women, and praised midwives for their “fantastic” support.
She said: “I had talked to my midwives about the new birth centres, but I was due to have Eve on Sunday 5 September, the day before the new unit opened to women, so I wasn’t able to book to give birth there.
“When I still hadn’t had my baby on Monday morning, I talked to my midwives again and made a last-minute booking at the birth centre. By 8.30 that night I was in labour and arriving to give birth!
“I was already about 6cms dilated when I got there and the pains were getting quite bad, so I got straight in my room’s birth pool and didn’t get out till Eve had been born.
“I think the birth centre is a fantastic facility – you couldn’t ask for anywhere better to have your baby. I would definitely recommend it because it’s such a lovely environment.”
Samantha was able to stay in her room with Eve until she felt ready to return home to Winterley Drive, Accrington, at lunchtime, with husband Duncan and son Charlie, nine.
Sheena Byrom recently stepped down as Head of Midwifery to co-ordinate information for families about the new services. She will retire from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust at the end of the year, after spearheading the introduction of midwife-led birth centres.
She said: “We have been preparing for this moment for more than four years and it has been really wonderful to see the first birth at a midwife-led centre in East Lancashire.
“The birth centre is not a hospital - it is a place for babies to be born. That in itself helps women relax and be psychologically prepared for birth. All births are special but Eve’s arrival is particularly significant. We have all been quite emotional this morning!”
Blackburn Birth Centre, Park Lee Road, was launched on Thursday with the support of Professor Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, as well as footballers David Dunn and Graham Alexander, from Blackburn Rovers and Burnley FC.
The centre is led by midwives, and women have their babies in spacious en-suite rooms, complete with birth pools, aids such as specialist mats and birthing balls, and access to a garden area. Its relaxed atmosphere encourages natural birth, with all the comforts of home.
Another birth centre will open as part of the £32 million Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre in the grounds of BurnleyGeneralHospital in November, while a third will open in December in the new Rossendale Primary Care Centre, Bacup Road, Rawtenstall.
Women who are expected to have more complex births will be cared for at the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre’s state-of-the-art consultant-led maternity unit, which will be supported by the highest possible level of neo-natal intensive care.
