By Liz Crudgington
Today marks the 10th birthday of the midwife-led unit at the QEQM Hospital in Margate and the first baby born there has just celebrated her double-digit birthday.
Mum Amy Sayer was greeted by a team of midwives when she arrived in the unit in 2012 and was able to make full use of the home-from-home facilities, with daughter Molly delivered in the birthing pool.
Amy said: “It was such a memorable experience. Molly was our first baby and I’d always wanted to have her at QEQM as that’s where I was born.
“But it was just luck that it worked out that way, as we live in Whitfield near Dover. At the time, Buckland Hospital had a maternity department so we thought we would end up going there.
“But it was due to close at midnight the day I went into labour, so they told me to head to QEQM. When I arrived, I found out the midwife-led unit was about to open so I asked if I could go there and I couldn’t fault them.
“The midwives were waiting for us and were so excited that we were the first family they looked after.”
Molly was born at lunchtime and the family, including dad Adam, stayed overnight before going home the following day to start life as a family of three.
Four years later, Amy returned to the unit to have her son Ben.
She said: “We had the same midwife for both births which was fantastic, and we even ended up in the same room.
“Everyone was so kind and it was a fantastic experience both times.
“I still remember the midwives who looked after us and it was a real honour to be the first family to use the unit.”
