Monique Stevens

On Tuesday October 7th 2013 at 41w5d I headed to be induced at north shore hospital, where my midwife Michelle planned to join us once I was in more established labour. However, after a terrifying ordeal, my son was transferred to NICU intensive care in Auckland and I was transferred not long after to be with him. Despite being discharged to hospital care, Michelle came to visit every few days to check on me and see how our son Leo was doing. We were discharged by day 12 and Michelle had arranged for us to be transferred to the birth unit so that we could establish breastfeeding, something that I wasn’t receiving much support on from the hospital. Our first night there was a long one, the midwife on duty at the time spent two hours with us to observe him feed and then provide some options to help him get a proper latch and off the nipple shield. We had her complete attention and her passion and dedication to help our wee boy was evident in the care she took with us! After that they simply provided support at each feed and within 48hrs of being there we had a happy and satisfied boy with a great latch, something we had struggled to get whilst in hospital care. My husband and I are forever grateful for our two days at the birthing unit post NICU, and even after we left the support kept coming. These ladies are above and beyond and the passion for their work shows on every friendly face there! We look forward to taking our next bub there in few short weeks to experience it all again. We can never thank you enough for giving our little family the best start after a horrific ordeal we suffered!