Thanks from local radio presenter following son's birth in Mary Rose

Paul Bunker, one half of Jules and Bunker's breakfast show on Heart FM, expressed his thanks to the midwives in our Mary Rose Maternity Centre after the birth of his son Jack on 5 May.

"For starters, I’d like to go on record and say the midwives at QA are absolutely brilliant. From the moment we walked in the ward until the moment we left, we were made to feel comfortable, confident and reassured.  On the birth of our first baby, our initial midwife kinda took it for granted that we knew what to expect (although most midwives have delivered thousands of babies, for most parents it’s a totally alien experience, we had no idea how it was going to pan out or what was coming next – all that ferociously mixed in with tiredness, pain and crazy emotions). Luckily for us, it was very different with baby number two.

Kirsty Ward was our midwife and, from the word go, explained exactly what was happening, what we needed to do and how events were unfolding. This gave my wife more confidence and, to use a sporting analogy, we sort of knew how far through the game we were and when the final whistle was likely to blow!  Kirsty has a great bed manner, combining humour with knowledge, which helped to diffuse difficult situations. Also, during the final stages of labour when events started to become a little heated, she kept a cool, calm head and talked us through the events.

With my newborn son in my arms, I think the tears in my eyes weren’t just for my wife and the baby, but also for the miraculous work Kirsty and the other midwives had just completed. Another day at work for a midwife, one of the greatest days of my life.

I am eternally grateful to Kirsty and the rest of the team. I think midwives brilliantly fulfil one of the most undervalued jobs in society – when I’m Prime Minister, you’ll all be driving Aston Martins…and rightly so."

26 May 2010