'Every baby is a little miracle.'
More than 5,000 babies are born at Northwick Park every year but senior midwife Gina Acquah still remembers her first.
The then healthcare assistant was working at a remote nunnery in Ghana when a woman in labour staggered in.
“There was no-one around so I took a deep breath and rolled my sleeves up” said the mother of two who also contended with an umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck.
“Baby didn’t want to hang around and joined us after 15 minutes. It was a wonderful feeling although the nun was a bit surprised when she came back.”
Midwifery isn’t for the faint hearted.
The hours are long, the work demanding and the pace relentless with north-west London home to one of the largest volumes of non-English speaking patients in the UK.
A 24/7 translation hotline is available to midwives and mothers with more than 140 languages spoken in Brent alone.
Gina added: “It throws up its challenges but we’ve got an incredibly hardworking team which delivers day in, day out.”
Her first child was born at Northwick Park giving her a unique view of the service from a patient perspective.
“I think that personal experience makes you just that bit more aware of what a mum-to-be is going through.
“It’s not just about assisting in deliveries but reassuring mothers, making them comfortable and supporting their decisions.I’ve been a midwife for 18 years and still love it. Every birth is a little miracle. You never grow tired of it.”