The home from home birth centre is a 9 room unit for women with low risk pregnancies who are in labour. It is midwifery-led and has a birth rate of around 1,200 babies per year.
Women who need extra support during labour will be cared for in our obstetric-led hospital birth centre, which is next to the home from home birth centre.
What you can expect when you come to the centre
Please contact your midwife or call the maternity services helpline when you are in labour for advice on when to come into hospital. Please call before you come to hospital.
When you arrive you will be allocated a midwife to look after you.
Your room
You will be given a room to use in labour. Each room has:
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en suite bath/shower facilities
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a bed-settee/foldaway bed for partners to stay overnight
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a birth ball, birth mat and birth ropes
Birthing stools are available on request.
Other facilities 
There is a 'garden room' for women and their partners to use in early established labour, providing a calm environment in which to relax and walk around.
There are 2 separate pool rooms for water births.
Your pain relief options
We encourage you to move around and use breathing techniques to help with relaxation in labour. Other pain relief options include:
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aromatherapy and massage to reduce your anxiety and stress in labour. This is offered providing we have enough staff
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entonox (gas and air) in all rooms
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the pool rooms - water is used as a form of pain relief in established labour.
Am I allowed visitors?
We allow 2 named visitors into the birth room to support you in labour and after the birth. To reduce the risk of infections, we do not allow children under the age of 16 in the centre unless they are your own children and usually only after you have given birth. For more information, see our visiting hours page.
How long will I stay in the centre?
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If you give birth during the day, we encourage you to go home after 6 hours, to the care of a community midwife.
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If you give birth overnight, we encourage you to go home the following day.
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If you need to stay over 24 hours we will transfer you to the postnatal ward.
Newborn physical examination and hearing screening
We offer every baby a full physical examination by an appropriately trained midwife or neonatal doctor before you go home.
We also offer hearing screening, subject to availability. If there are no hearing screeners available on the day, we will offer you an outpatient appointment.
The home from home team
The team is led by consultant midwife, Belinda Ackerman.
A team of 4 midwives are available on each shift, supported by maternity support workers and healthcare assistants. See our maternity staff page for information about the staff in maternity services.