Hospital the sole option for Emma and Paul
PARENTS Paul and Emma Taylor did not really consider any option except hospital when they had all of their children.
Twins Abigail and Lucy, now 14 months old, were born at Heartlands Hospital and baby Isabelle, just three weeks old, was delivered at the Birth Suite at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
Paul, a physical education teacher, and Emma, who also taught PE until opting to be a stay-at-home mum, felt this was the right option for them.
“Because we had had the girls at hospital and everything had been fine we thought we would have Isabelle at hospital as well,” says Emma, aged 27.
“The first contact we had with the hospital was at the 20-week scan. We didn’t see round any of the facilities beforehand, maybe that was because we already had children.”
But the couple were not worried and when the time came for Isabelle to arrive they headed off to the hospital.
“Isabelle was actually ten days late,” says 27-year-old Emma. “So they booked me in and induced me. That was at 12pm and Isabelle was born at 6.20pm.”
At the hospital the couple, who live in Harborne, were offered the choice of the delivery suite or the birth centre - and opted for the latter.
“When Isabelle was born it was nearly the end of visiting so in a normal ward Paul would have been rushed out but there was no pressure on us there at all,” says Emma. “There was time for Paul to bond with Isabelle. They didn’t rush off straight away to weigh Isabelle, they let Paul hold him for a bit first so we had that time to bond.”
The couple were only able to use the birth centre because Emma’s pregnancy fitted a series of criteria. But, were they to have more children, they would prefer that option again. “The staff there were really nice and it just had a really nice atmosphere,” says Emma.
And 30-year-old Paul is convinced it was the ideal solution for them. “It had a really calm atmosphere. There was music there and there wasn’t any sense of you being rushed around.”
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