Royal baby: ‘Every baby is special’ – head of midwifery at Ipswich Hospital explains more about giving birth

Ipswich Hospital’s new head of midwifery said one of the wonderful parts of the job is being a part of families’ special moments.

Emma Hardwick, who joined the team four weeks ago, said being in the early stages of labour can mean a bit of a wait but stressed every birth will be different.

“How far along a woman is depends on whether she is in active labour and what we call latent labour,” she said.

“Active labour is when the cervix has started to open and the mother is experiencing regular contractions. “For women having their first baby, often we find labour can take a day or so to really get things going – it really depends on the position of the baby.”

She said the main concerns today for the Duchess’s medical team would have been monitoring the baby to ensure everything was within what is know as the “normal limits”.

“That is where we really work together as a team to make sure mother and baby are doing OK,” she added.

“If there are any, what we call deviations from the norm, we know what we have to do and we can intervene to ensure everything is OK. It is a fine line because we never want to intervene unless it is absolutely necessary.

She continued: “It really has been business as usual here today. For us every new arrival is special, being here at the start of life is really an amazing job.

“It is a momentous occasion, not just for the woman and her partner, but for the whole family and it is very special for us to play our parts.”