The Cygnet Homebirth Team

The Cygnet Homebirth Team Providing all aspects of homebirth care in your home, for Dorset County Hospital catchment area Our team transfer statistic is 18% for 2022.

We are The Cygnet Homebirth Team; eight experienced midwives from Dorset County Hospital who are passionate about women’s choices and supporting them to give birth in their own environment. The team was launched in June 2015 to provide a dedicated homebirth service which has proved so popular, that we now have one of the highest homebirth rates in the country. We provide complete maternity care within your home, so this includes your antenatal appointments and postnatal visits too. As you near your due date we have a dedicated risk discussion appointment with every individual family, about planning their birth. We carry all the equipment in our cars and have it readily available when we come to attend a birth. Relaxation, massage, hypnobirthing, aromatherapy, mobilising, water and breathing techniques are all helpful during labour. TENS machines can be used and entonox (gas and air) is provided should you wish to use it. We can provide information about hiring a birth pool from our team, too. A midwife from the Cygnet Team stays with you throughout labour with a second midwife also attending for the birth of your baby. The midwife monitors the wellbeing of you and your baby at home in exactly the same way as she would in a hospital. Be reassured that if any concerns arose then a transfer into hospital would be advised, and your midwife will travel in with you. The team also hold 4 extra training sessions per year for all its members to remain highly skilled and competent to manage labour and birth care in the home, as well as also being required to hold Newborn Advanced Life Support (NALS) certification, in order to further ensure competent and safe care in the home for parents and newborns. Homebirth is a realistic option that is not only safe but promotes normal birth and reduces interventions. The Birthplace in England Study (2011) found that 88% of women who planned a homebirth had an intervention free normal birth, compared to 58% of women who planned birth in hospital. If you have any questions regarding homebirth, a midwife from the Cygnet Team will be happy to visit and talk these through with you before you reach a decision on where you would like to have your baby. You can self refer to us at the start of your pregnancy via maternity matters and ticking the option for 'interested in homebirth', or transfer to our care at any point. You can also attend any of our drop in sessions and gain some more insight and meet other parents planning a homebirth. please see our pinned post for the latest details of these sessions. Please call us on 01305 253169 and leave us a message, or email homebirth@dchft.nhs.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!

Here is the Echo article, celebrating our Sarah's lovely grand daughter being born on New Year's day 🥰Delight after babi...
07/01/2026

Here is the Echo article, celebrating our Sarah's lovely grand daughter being born on New Year's day 🥰

Delight after babies born on New Year's Day in Dorchester | Dorset Echo

Marnie June Symes was born on Portland at 2.13am on New Year's Day weighing 6lbs 4oz - the first of 2026 to be born under the care of Dorset County…

A very happy new year to all of our followers 🎉. We hope you had a fabulous time with your families. I am pleased to ...
06/01/2026

A very happy new year to all of our followers 🎉. We hope you had a fabulous time with your families. I am pleased to share our dates for our ‘nesting’ sessions for 2026. We look forward to seeing you there 💜

Please join us in wishing our Karen a very Happy Birthday! We hope you’ve had a wonderful day x
05/01/2026

Please join us in wishing our Karen a very Happy Birthday! We hope you’ve had a wonderful day x

The Cygnet Team are so very proud to share, with consent, that they welcomed a very special Cygnet to the world on New Y...
02/01/2026

The Cygnet Team are so very proud to share, with consent, that they welcomed a very special Cygnet to the world on New Years Day 🎊

Cared for in pregnancy by Gemma, and attended by her during labour and birth (along with our newest team member Amity), the Cygnets welcomed our midwife Sarah's first grandchild, born at home as planned, in the birth pool

Not only is this a wonderful addition to our beloved cygnet family, and already very special, but this baby was also the very first baby born this year! 🎆 For not only the Cygnet Homebirth Team, but for Dorchester Maternity too!

Congratulations to the Newest Mummy and Daddy, and to Nanny Sarah, from everyone in the team and from Dorchester Maternity too 💜

Look out for the exciting news being shared in the Dorset Echo very soon!

🩶Photos shared with Consent from Mummy and Daddy

The Cygnet Team are very thankful for Ali and Julie (both previous cygnet team members!), who stepped into our shoes las...
06/12/2025

The Cygnet Team are very thankful for Ali and Julie (both previous cygnet team members!), who stepped into our shoes last night to ensure that the service continued to be 24/7 whilst the team had a very precious and valuable night off together - something that was only possible thanks to these two, and that is very rare to achieve, due to the unique way in which our team works and the 24/7, 365 service we provide 💞💖
Thanks to them, the service remained intact and someone had their planned Homebirth overnight!
These two couldn't have been more delighted (look at those joyful faces!) to slip on their cygnet caps and head out during a horribly stormy night, to create a calm and steady environment as the newest Cygnet member arrived into the world, beside the Christmas tree, no less! 🎄🎁

Let's all tell them how thankful we are and send our congratulations to the newest family 💜

30/11/2025

Come and join us for a festive ‘nesting’ session tomorrow evening. 6-8pm, The Quiet space 🏡🎄🎅🏻

Please join us to give our newest team member, a thoroughly warm welcome! Introducing Amity, who joins us this week 💓 Am...
18/11/2025

Please join us to give our newest team member, a thoroughly warm welcome!
Introducing Amity, who joins us this week 💓
Amity will be based around the Bridport and surrounding areas for her community patch and being joining us for on calls across our whole catchment, to support you with your planned Homebirth, alongside the rest of the team.
Welcome Amity, from the whole Cygnet team! 🎉🦢💕

Wishing our cygnet midwife Lauren a very happy birthday…….such a hero being at work catching babies on her own birthday!...
04/11/2025

Wishing our cygnet midwife Lauren a very happy birthday…….such a hero being at work catching babies on her own birthday! She even made a delicious cake for us all! We hope you have had a great day 🎂

We’d like to wish our wonderful Lauren a very Happy Birthday! 🥳 😘
04/11/2025

We’d like to wish our wonderful Lauren a very Happy Birthday! 🥳 😘

Please join us in wishing our beautiful Cygnet Midwife Lyndsey (Pidge), a very Happy Birthday. We hope you’ve had a fabu...
23/10/2025

Please join us in wishing our beautiful Cygnet Midwife Lyndsey (Pidge), a very Happy Birthday. We hope you’ve had a fabulous day x x x

05/10/2025

Tomorrow is nesting night! Come and join us to chat all things homebirth! Meet some of the team and have a cuppa with us. ❤️🏡

23/08/2025

We work with health professionals across the country to help us spread the message of baby safety far and wide 💫

We’ve got the research-backed baby safety guidance, we just need your help to make sure it gets to the people who need it.

Thank you to Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust who are displaying our safer sleep and infection prevention advice on their digital screens.

If you work in a hospital and have digital screens, reach out to us for expert baby safety slides. Either send us a DM, or email communications@lullabytrust.org.uk

Together, we will keep babies safe.

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Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dorchester
DT12JY

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We are The Cygnet Homebirth Team, seven experienced midwives from Dorset County Hospital who are passionate about women’s choices and supporting them to give birth naturally in their own environment. The team was launched in June 2015 to provide a dedicated homebirth service, this has proved so popular that we now have one of the highest homebirth rates in the country and in March 2019 we proudly received The Royal College of Midwives Team of the Year Award for our work.

We provide complete maternity care within your home, so this includes your antenatal appointments and postnatal visits too. As you near your due date we leave a box of equipment at your home ready for when we attend you in labour.

Relaxation, massage, hypnobirthing, aromatherapy and breathing techniques are all helpful during labour. TENS machines can be used and entonox (gas and air) is provided should you wish to use it. We even have a birth pool hire service.

A midwife from the Cygnet Team stays with you throughout labour with a second midwife also attending for the birth of your baby. The midwife monitors the well being of you and your baby at home in exactly the same way as she would in a hospital. Be reassured that if any concerns arose then a transfer into hospital would be advised and your midwife would travel in with you.