There are more than 5,000 babies delivered at Northwick Park Hospital each year. ELAINE OKYERE spent a day at the maternity unit to find out what it is like to be a midwife.

The sound of a woman screaming echoes through the corridors of the Northwick Park Maternity Unit, in Watford Road, and for me it sounds like something out of a movie - and extremely painful. However for midwife Lydia Stratton-Fry the noise is a regular part of her daily routine.

She said: "It washes over you after a while. You don't know how a mum is going to react until the day they give birth, I didn't even know until I got there. But it can't be that bad, as people wouldn't go on to have more than one."

Lydia has been a midwife at the hospital for the past 23 years and has helped deliver more than 500 babies. As we walk around the centre it is obvious her warm nature makes her a natural at providing care to new mums.

As a band seven midwife, the 47-year-old's role involves supporting other staff and teaching junior midwives, as well as delivering babies.

Lydia works in the high dependency unit, which takes care of women who are at risk of complications during birth. On average 15 babies are born in the unit a day.

She said: "Every day is different. You never know what you are doing from one day to the next."

The unit underwent a £19million refurbishment in 2005 and recently, following the closure of the Brent Birth Centre at Central Middlesex Hospital, a new birthing centre has opened at Northwick Park.

The centre is run by midwives who can offer aromatherapy sessions, use of birthing balls and birthing pools, all to make the labour process a little bit smoother. Since the centre opened in July there have been 53 births.

The midwife said: "The important thing is giving women who give birth a choice. We are supporting those women and how they want to give birth.

"It's such an important role. You're there at a life-changing moment. My mum even still remembers the midwife that helped her. I've had three children and I had all of them in Northwick Park.

"I remember saying 'I am so sorry' to my colleagues and them telling me to stop apologising."

Her own labour experience is as memorable as any of the births of the children she has helped deliver.

She said: "I remember a couple that had triplets. I wasn't there for the actual birth, but I was with them beforehand. I will always remember them.

"A Polish couple also named their child after me. Apparently it's a really popular name out there."

After 18 months of training to be a nurse, which included a stint in a maternity ward, Lydia knew what she wanted to do with her life. A typical day starts at 8am, with a handover from the night shift staff to fill her in on the previous night's births and allocate her a patient. She checks all the equipment in the treatment room and turns her attention to the mother-to-be who has been put in her charge.

She said: "My job is to promote normality and have a fit and healthy mum. We are trying to build confidence and involve the mum and dad.

"It's supporting women and families through a life-changing event."

The maternity unit has been criticised in the past for the 10 deaths of mothers between 2002-2005, but following a Healthcare Commission investigation, changes were made.

She said: "I would say this is a really safe unit to have a baby in. But things happen, and the unit has learned from what happened and made changes and made things better. We are constantly developing and changing and I feel very safe working here."

With 5,300 deliveries a year, the only downside to working in the maternity ward is trying to fit everyone in.

Lydia explained: "It's rare but sometimes you have days when you feel that you have more people than you can deal with, but it doesn't happen all the time."

Apart from this, the mother-of-three has little criticism about her occupation.

She said: "How many people can go home from work and say 'I had a real-ly good day?' Most days I am really happy and I come away thinking I have made a difference, and that makes you feel really good."