Ashe was my community midwife at Knebworth. This was my first baby. I already suffer from severe anxiety and PTSD, and do not do well with strangers. Ashe took her time with me, constantly checking I was okay and that I understood everything that was going to happen. Without Ashe’s constant reassurance, I’m 100% sure I’d have been a total mess for the whole 9 months.

I was due to have a C-section on a Friday, but he decided to come the night before. Ashe got to me as soon as she could be there. And to see her face once I was in recovery was the biggest relief ever. So many faces I didn’t know, so many staff members asking me questions, although all lovely people, I had never met them, and didn’t feel comfortable amongst them. I was then taken up to the maternity ward, where I stayed for three nights, and Ashe continued to show up on her shifts to keep an eye on me and reassure me that I was okay! I got to go home.

I was home one hour before my baby started having what they thought was epileptic seizures, back to hospital I went. We were in for weeks on Bluebell Ward whilst they tried to figure out what was wrong with my baby. Ashe again was there as much as she could be. Checking on me, checking on my baby, and being the absolute rock that I needed. So if there is anyone who is an absolute credit to our NHS and who goes beyond her duty, it’s Ashe.

She has had that much of an impact on me that I am now changing my career to try to study midwifery. Because if I can make a change to just one person as she did for me, then I have succeeded in life.

Ashe made my pregnancy, birth, after birth, and continued care a safe space, and I cannot thank her enough.