Midwifery Care
Throughout Europe women having babies have always used midwives. The word “mit wif” is Anglo Saxon and means 'with woman' It is the name for the woman who accompanies another woman on her journey through the long hours of labour and birth. The midwife is someone who respects the ability of women to give birth under their own steam; the midwife only intervenes when absolutely necessary and refers to a doctor if the need arises.

In other countries, such as Holland where the maternity statistics are some of the best in the world, 33% of women have their babies at home with a midwife as their only care-giver. Other women in Holland choose hospital births with care from just a midwife. Women who are at high risk have care from both a midwife and an obstetrician. In the UK most women have a great deal of their care from midwives as well as some care from doctors, either GPs or obstetricians.

Unfortunately, as the system works at the moment, many women see a great number of different midwives and doctors throughout their pregnancy, labour and birth and then afterwards whilst the baby is new.

UK midwives have the most thorough training in the world, they also have the best system of practice scrutiny in the world. Every area has a Supervisor of midwives to ensure the safety of the women in the care of the midwife - she scrutinizes the midwife's professional practice and she knows about every midwife practicing in her area.

You have the reassurance when using a UK midwife that her equipment has been vetted by the Supervisor of midwives, that she has been to the requisite number of updating study days, that annually the Supervisor checks her bags, equipment, premises and records to ensure that they are of the required high standard.

All midwives are subject to this scrutiny which, (although we find it irksome at times) does ensure that women in the UK receive a very high standard of midwifery care.

Equally, if you choose to have your baby in our Birth Centre, this is classified as a maternity home and is registered by Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority and checked twice yearly by the Nursing Homes Inspector who ensures that rigorous health and safety checks are carried out. We have regular checks for high quality cleanliness in our Birth Centre, for adequate fire safety, for adequate access to medical facilities and for food safety.

Privacy in birth
Women are mammals and like all other mammals in labour, you may find that you gain great comfort from being very private whilst in labour; not overlooked, not interrupted, not disturbed, not having strangers around you. We ensure that you are kept private whilst in labour. This is easy in our Birth Centre and when you are at home, but it takes extra vigilance from us when we are in hospital with you where privacy is not always high on the agenda. In any situation, your need for privacy is, for us, second only to your and your baby's safety.

Darkness is another aspect of privacy: you may find harsh lights too bright in labour and you may prefer very dim lighting or even none at all - we are able to work happily with these constraints, because we are so used to them. Another aspect of labour is the discomfort: you may find that you are extremely restless, moving about to get into the most comfortable position and to enable you to do that easily we provide you with comfortable chairs and sofas in our Birth Centre. At home you will have your usual comfortable chairs and settees, in hospital we usually take with us soft mats and bean bags to ensure that you can get into a comfortable position.

Sometimes we take waterpools in as well. These can also be used at home, and in our Birth Centre they are available in every room - lovely deep warm pools especially designed for the woman in labour.

The healing process
You may be thinking of coming to us for a second baby because your first birth was an ordeal. Much of our work is centered on healing the sad experience of a first birth when women have felt pushed around and out of control of the situation. We are very skilled in caring for you if you are seeking midwives who will LISTEN to you, who will respect your needs and who will treat you as an individual.

Our aim is that you have the most exciting and pleasant experience possible when you have your baby, but there can be disappointments. If you have a miscarriage after you have booked with us, we are there for you, to help you through a sad time, to give you practical support and are available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Births usually go well when your midwife respects and supports the process that your body is going through, but not all outcomes are good, babies can die or be born handicapped and if tragedy happens we can help and support you and your family through this sad time.

If your labour is a disappointment, more painful than you had hoped, or you needed a caesarean that you hadn't wanted, we are there for you, able to discuss and go through the circumstances, able to go through your notes and explain and re-live the decisions taken minute by minute during your labour. Not all labours can be perfect, but it can help enormously to have someone who knows you and was there to talk it through with.

You're worth it
The birth of your first child is one of life's peak experiences. It is never forgotten and can have an effect on the mother, on her self confidence, on her relationship with that child, for the rest of her life. How it takes place is really important, the quality of the birth can affect the child for life. A child delivered with respect and love has a gentle start in life. Consider what care like this is worth.

A woman can be reluctant to spend money on what she sees as 'for herself'. If by spending money on the birth you start off your life as a mother with greater confidence and comfort and a greater feeling of well-being, the outlay is more than justified for the whole family.

Just to compare some prices: the average cost of a wedding in 1997 was £12,500 (Source - Brides and Setting up Home), an average mortgage repayment for a London couple in 1998 was £13,200 a year.

The cost of a holiday - a fourteen day holiday for two in Barbados cost £3,200 in 1996 (Thomas Cook).

• School fees: Bryanston fees £12,600 per year
• Dulwich College Preparatory School fees for an 8 year old £6,500 a year
• Epsom College day pupils fees £8,286
• St. Paul's Girls School fees (11 year old) £6990 per year
• Westminster School fees (13 year old) £9930 per year
• The Birth Centre New Family Package £4925.00
• Heals sofa: £5500.

Quality & Complaints
In order to ensure that the care we give to you is of the highest quality we have put in place several checks. Firstly we have a system of client feedback: if you come with us you will receive a questionnaire after your care has finished for you to evaluate your care - we read every one and change our care accordingly. Annually we have an in-house inspection by the Supervisors of Midwives from every Health Authority in which we work (36 Health Authorities in 1997), the Supervisors check through our equipment, our registers, our records, our drugs, our documentation, our ongoing education, our premises and our practice statistics. Every year we receive a letter commending our practice from a Supervisor of Midwives in the north of London and another from a Supervisor of Midwives in the south of London. Supervisors of Midwives also do spot checks on all midwives' practice on a regular basis. This is why British midwifery has always been so safe and so highly regarded.

If you are the fourth person in 12 years of our hundreds of clients who has a complaint. We have a complaints policy - we ask you to put any complaint in writing with your suggestion of how you would like us to deal with it and Caroline Flint will personally investigate the complaint and will attempt to find redress for you.

Ecological Concerns
On our logo you will have noticed our little green leaf; this is to signify that we are ecologically sensitive. We believe that your body is a brilliant and very sensitively balanced organism which can give birth in the way that humans have been doing for millions of years. We don't interfere unnecessarily, and we use up as few of the world's resources as possible when looking after you. After a birth the amount of paper that we need to dispose of can be contained in one dustbin liner bag. When you have a home birth we protect your furnishings, our pride is that your baby is the only evidence that a birth has taken place.

Choice
Knowing how important it is for you to have full control over how much you pay for your maternity care you can put together your own package ranging from £3725 -£4925.