Women’s and Newborn Unit

Please see detailed information on some of the services you may access during your pregnancy.

Contact us

home.birth@nhs.net

01274 365716

We have a dedicated homebirth team in Bradford who provide continuity of care during pregnancy, birth and after your baby is born.

During labour and birth, care will be provided by two attending midwives who will have the equipment necessary to care for mother and baby.

Some women choose to birth in water at home and can easily purchase or hire a pool in preparation. Other options at home are to use the bath in early labour, stay active during your labour, and use massage and relaxation techniques. Entonox (‘gas and air’) is also available. Being in your own surroundings with the things that help you feel comfortable can really help your labour progress and we love to see labour unfold in this way.

You don’t need to prepare very much when planning your homebirth, but some things you may want to consider include:

• Favourite play lists
• Extra towels
• Drinks and snacks
• Hot water bottle/heat pack
• Massage oil
• Birth ball
• Comfy clothes/dressing gown
• Clothes, nappy and hat for baby

We welcome enquiries regarding homebirth or alternatively you can discuss it with your named midwife during pregnancy.

Useful links

Bradford Antenatal, Birth and Beyond

Birthplace study

Tommy’s information on homebirth

Testimonials

‘Overall, we are really happy with our experience and would like to thank the homebirth team for being so kind.’

‘They were approachable and I felt listened to.’

‘Honestly, an amazing, empowering experience and everything I wanted. My husband and midwives were amazing.’

The Bradford Birth Centre is a co-located unit that aims to offer women and their partners who have had an uncomplicated pregnancy a warm, relaxed, calm and safe environment to birth their babies.

Our rooms are decorated in muted calm colours with subdued lighting and aromas to help facilitate the optimal birthing experience. We actively support individualised birth choices and support alternative birthing options which include the use of birthing pools, balls, stools and mats to aid a preferred birthing position.

In addition to the more natural forms of coping strategies we can also offer the use of oral medication (paracetamol and codeine), Entonox  inhalation (gas and air) and intramuscular Pethidine (injection). These pharmaceutical  therapies can be offered in isolation or as a combination in order to achieve the desired pain management.

Our experienced staff will be here to help and assist our birthing women and their partners achieve a birth experience tailored to their individual needs and actively encourage full participation and involvement throughout. We aim to offer low-risk labour care and immediate postnatal care within the Birth Centre facilitating an early discharge if desired and appropriate.

We serve a vibrant and diverse population in Bradford, and strive to deliver the highest standard midwifery and obstetric care to women and their families.

The Labour Ward is predominately for women who may require more specialist care during their labour, birth and immediate postnatal period. Women who have been classed to have a higher obstetric or fetal risk will receive care on the ward from our midwifery and obstetric teams during their labour and birth.  We work with all women to support their birth choices and facilitate them.

Midwives on the Labour Ward are passionate about promoting normality while factoring in the complexities of higher-risk pregnancies. Several options are available on the ward to help women through labour.

• Midwives can discuss adopting different positions to aid labour and delivery
• Birthing balls can be provided
• Cordless monitoring is available for a more active labour
• A pool is available should women wish to use it for labour and/or birth. The cordless monitor can be used in the water should you require monitoring
• Analgesia includes Entonox, Pethidine or an epidural. Midwives work with women to ensure that the requests of their birth plan can be met at this time

Bradford has a very high vaginal birth rate and we are very proud of the caesarean section rate, which is consistently below the national average of 25 per cent. The Labour Ward features 13 labour/birth rooms and:

• One pool room
• Two obstetric theatres
• A two-bed recovery bay

There is Obstetric consultant cover for 98 hours a week (24 hours on call).   Two Senior Midwives are present on each shift and they are supported by a team of midwives who are skilful in providing care to women who are higher risk and require closer monitoring.  There is 24 hour Anaesthetic cover for women who require the use of Obstetric theatre or require an Epidural. The team also compromises of maternity assistants, student midwives and domestics.

We are very excited to announce that we are about to commence the building of a two new theatres. These will provide the gold standard of obstetric theatres.

Please see detailed information on our postnatal services here.

Our parent education modules are designed to give you information about labour, birth and parenthood.

You can book virtual classes and access the training material on the parent education page.

• Information about reduced fetal movements
• Information about vaginal birth after having a caesarean section
• Caesarian Section
• Choosing to Have a Caesarian Section (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists)
• Coil Insertion at the Time of Caesarian Section
• What you should know when your waters break and labour has not yet started
• Wound hygiene
• Group B streptococcus in pregnancy
• Information for women following a third or fourth-degree tear
• Venous thromboembolism: reducing the risk in pregnancy and after birth
• Glucose Tolerance Test in Pregnancy
• Postnatal Care and Support
• Postnatal Glucose Tolerance Test
• Diabetes Antenatal Clinic
• Care of a third – or fourth – degree tear that occurred during childbirth
• BCG Vaccine
• Being Overweight During Pregnancy & After Birth
• Breech Baby

• My Pregnancy Journey (West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership)
• The latent phase of labour – a short film produced by Bradford’s Women’s and Newborn Unit
• A British Sign Language (BSL) version of My Maternity Journey is available here
• Screening tests for you and your baby: easy guides
• Screening tests for hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis: an easy guide to screening tests when you are pregnant
• Screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia: an easy guide to screening tests when you are pregnant
• Screening for Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome, and Patau’s syndrome: an easy guide to screening tests when you are pregnant
• Screening for problems with the baby’s body: an easy guide to screening tests when you are pregnant
• Screening for eye problems for pregnant women with diabetes: an easy guide to screening tests when you are pregnant
• Looking at your baby’s heart, eyes, hips and balls (testicles): an easy guide to screening tests for your new baby
• Looking at your baby’s hearing: an easy guide to screening tests for your new baby
• Blood spot tests: an easy guide to screening tests for your new baby
• NHS antenatal and newborn screening timeline
• Personalised Care and Support Planning in Maternity Services

The Birth Matters Service is overseen and facilitated by Specialist Midwife Jo Stubbs. Jo is a clinically experienced midwife who also works in the Maternity Risk and Governance Team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

What is the Birth Matters Service for?

The Birth Matters Service is for exploring options, care planning and/or discussing previous experiences.

The service can help if you have specific concerns, needs or wishes that you feel would benefit from further discussion.  You may have had a previous traumatic experience or be anxious about something in particular.  The service helps to explore the options for your birth, the choices available to you and help to provide an individualised care plan.

Pregnancy, birth and postnatal experiences can sometimes result in unexpected events that you may not have been prepared for or experiences that you may be struggling to understand or resolve.  Whatever your experience is, it is not uncommon to be unable to recall the details of the events, particularly if you experienced complications, an emergency or anything else you felt unprepared for or had a negative experience.  Birth Matters provides a listening service and an opportunity to reflect on your experience, resolve unanswered questions and help to understand why events may have happened or why decisions were made.  Plans for a current or future pregnancy and birth can also be discussed.

The aim of the Birth Matters Service is to support choices and closure; offer shared understanding following difficult experiences and reduce anxiety moving forward.

Some women may experience symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is an anxiety disorder.  This may resolve for some individuals but other women would benefit from psychological therapy, such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).  These therapies are designed to help treat PTSD.  The Birth Matters Service does not provide these psychological therapies but you can be signposted to services or talk to your G.P. who can discuss your options.

How do I get referred to the Birth Matters Service?

You can be referred to Birth Matters by your midwife, obstetrician, health visitor or GP.

If you are overweight in pregnancy you may be asked if you would like to see our specialist pregnancy dietitian. Their aim is not to put you on a diet but to support healthy eating in pregnancy. If you would like to be seen by them, they will discuss how you can optimise your diet during pregnancy.

Useful links

• Have a healthy diet in pregnancy
• Start4Life Pregnancy
• Tommy’s: Having a healthy diet in pregnancy