THE first baby ever born at East Surrey Hospital returned this week to help officially launch its new £400,000 birthing unit.
Recruitment consultant Katy Rainford, 21, was back at the hospital with mum Jill to see the "hotel-like" facilities now available for women in the midwife-led facility.
It features four ensuite rooms with birthing pools, including one for higher risk mums-to-be, complete with low lighting and calming floral scenes on the walls.
During the official opening, mum of four Mrs Rainford, 58, recalled being the first to give birth at the hospital's maternity unit, just hours after it opened in September 1991.
And as she toured the hospital's latest suites, she told the Advertiser: "It looks really good. Before it was just 'come in, get your bed, have your baby', but now it looks more like a hotel."
Since the first baby was delivered in the new facilities in May, the proportion of women having a water birth has jumped from 4 per cent to 11 per cent, and the hospital says it is now meeting demand from mums.
Guidelines dictate maternity units should have one pool for every 1,000 births per year, and 4,500 bundles of joy enter the world at the Earlswood complex every 12 months.
"We are really proud of what we have achieved here," said maternity chief nurse Michelle Cudjoe.
"Prior to the work we only had one pool, which led to some dissatisfaction; we now have four pools.
"We have also seen 25 per cent of all women using these facilities which means numerous women are being cared for by midwives. From a professional perspective, midwives are really leading from the front."
Chief executive Michael Wilson praised his staff's "near superhuman" efforts to design the unit and spend the Government's £400,000 grant in just seven weeks.
"They managed this in a way I have never seen done before," he said. "It was phenomenal they did it in that time frame."
