Working alongside the regular midwifery team, there are three specialist midwives at Ipswich Hospital.

They are:

• Perinatal mental health midwife Linda Savage (below left), who supports women with mental health issues
• Bereavement midwife Ali Brett (centre), who supports parents whose babies have died
• Consultant midwife Helen Smith (right), who supports other midwives and runs birth choices clinics

Appointed a year ago, the midwifery trio are responsible for meeting the often complex needs of new mothers.

Image source, Ipswich Hospital

Breakfast is about to be served to the temporary residents of Brook ward.

It's a job Debbie Packard has had the pleasure of doing for the past 10 years, in which time she's tried to provide a bit of comfort to the women who may be feeling a bit jaded.

"I'm serving cornflakes, rice crispies, bran flakes - and they do their own tea and toast," she said.

"They're often a bit shellshocked but I try to take the edge off it."

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

The sun has now risen over Ipswich Hospital’s landmark 10-floor maternity unit. Inside, the building has just started to come alive, with the smell of toast being made and the sounds of women being up and about after a well-earned rest.

Throughout the day we'll be referring to several different types of delivery - here's a guide to what they are:

Spontaneous

• When the mother has her baby without the use of drugs or techniques to induce labour, and delivers her baby without forceps, vacuum extraction or a Caesarean.

Elected C-section

• A Caesarean section, or C-section, is when the baby is delivered by making a cut in to the abdomen and womb. It may be recommended as a planned (elective) procedure for medical reasons, for example, the baby is in the breech position, or the mother has pregnancy-related high blood pressure or certain infections.
• They are usually performed after the 38th week of pregnancy.
• There are three planned C-sections at Ipswich Hospital today

Emergency C-section

• A Caesarean may be done in an emergency if it is thought a normal birth is too risky. This may be if the baby is not getting enough oxygen and nutrients, or the labour is not progressing or there is excessive bleeding.

Instrumental

• An instrumental, or assisted birth, is when forceps or a ventouse suction cup are used to help deliver the baby. An assisted delivery happens in about one in eight births, and can be because there are concerns about the baby's heart rate, the baby is in an awkward position or the mother is too exhausted.

One of the things we're looking at today is Caesarean section births, as figures show the numbers of both elected and emergency C-section deliveries have gone up in the country, despite a fall in the overall number of births.

Rising obesity and older mothers are behind thousands of extra Caesarean births, experts have said.

But what are C-sections? They're when a baby is delivered by making a surgical cut in to the abdomen and womb.

There are two types of Caesarean section. The first is called an elective or planned C-section - these are planned in advance, usually for medical reasons.

The second is an emergency Caesarean, which are carried out at very short notice usually during labour.

Akos Sey is a student midwife who has delivered 39 babies to date.

She needs 40 deliveries under her belt in order to qualify as a midwife.

"I have five months of my three-year course to go," said Ms Sey. "I don’t think I will get the 40th this morning, but I might this evening."

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

There were nine births at Ipswich Hospital yesterday, of which three were by Caesarean.

As for today, well we have already had one birth, a second labour is under way and we have three Caesarean births booked in for the afternoon.

Staff here say they expect between eight and 11 births by day’s end.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

September is the busiest month of the year for maternity wards, says Ipswich Hospital's consultant midwife Helen Smith.

And of all the days in September, the busiest - according to the Office for National Statistics - is 26 September. So, yesterday.

On average it’s the busiest few weeks of the year for births in England and Wales.

Image source, ONS

We asked our England data guru Daniel Wainwright to explain why some months are busier than others.

He told us: "It’s much quieter over Christmas because of all the bank holidays.

"Now, admittedly, no-one chooses when to be born but hospitals will generally only have natural births and emergency C-sections over the Christmas period. Induced births and elective Caesareans will be scheduled on alternative dates.

"1 April is pretty low too, which the ONS speculates could be down to people not electing to have a C-section or induction on that day if they can avoid it.

"As for why September is so busy, well it falls nine months after Christmas.

"So don’t blame it on the sunshine, don’t blame it on the moonlight, but do blame it on the good times and almost certainly blame it on the boogie."

Er, yes, thanks Daniel...BTW, Helen largely agrees with your reasoning.

The only baby to be born at Ipswich Hospital so far today has been given the name Tayla.

According to figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this was the 1,241st most popular name for girls in England and Wales in 2016.

The most popular name for girls was Olivia, while Oliver topped the list for boys.

ONS said 5,017 newborn girls were named Olivia in 2016, replacing Amelia which previously held the top spot.

The East of England followed the national picture.

Here are the top five baby girls' names for the East:

• Olivia
• Amelia
• Emily
• Isla
• Ava

And the top five baby boys' names for the East:

• Oliver
• George
• Harry
• Jack
• Oscar

We are just back from the third floor, which is Orwell ward, where most of the mothers and babies are sound asleep, but the staff are wide awake.

Orwell ward offers post and antenatal care, which at night includes rounds of observations and breastfeeding support.

The ward currently has 13 postnatal mothers, four antenatal mothers and 11 babies.

You might be sensibly wondering why more mothers than babies? The reason is that some of the babies are in the neonatal unit, which is primarily a unit just for babies.

It will come as no surprise that with newborn babies maternity wards are kept really warm.

How warm?

Well, we have taken out a thermometer from a birthing pool and can reveal the ambient temperature here is 24C (75F).

That’s the same temperature as the weather forecasters are expecting in Cyprus at 09:00.

At 00:14 this morning, Sophie and Nathan got to say hello to their daughter, Tayla.

Sophie was due to give birth on 8 October, but came to the hospital yesterday morning and was induced at about 21:00.

"It all happened so quickly," Sophie told us. "We'd been through a lot with the pregnancy but it's all worth it now."

Tayla weighed 6lb 15oz and is Nathan's first child.

"It was better than I thought it was going to be," he said of the experience. "It's overwhelming."

In Deben ward there's a second mention of the night, while I'm in earshot at least, of there being a ban on 'the q word'.

The ward is surprisingly quiet, though, in terms of actual noise - with little footfall in the corridors and just a faint sound of a baby crying coming from one of the closed off rooms.

The baby pictured below, Rory, was born yesterday and has come for a cuddle with midwife Kelly Sagnella.

It gives Rory's mother a few minutes' rest, and provides Kelly with what she says is one of the perks of the jobs - getting to know the newborns.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

We have just joined midwife Clair Barker and maternity care assistant Jenna Buckley as they carried out the checks on the resuscitation equipment.

These checks on the ‘resuscitars’ are carried out daily and involve checking the pressure and air flow.

These devices also have a switch to gently warm the mattress upon which a baby might be placed.

The first baby of the day has been born at Ipswich Hospital. We’ve just been told a girl was delivered at 00:14... and we might get to meet her shortly.

Richard Haugh
BBC News

As mentioned earlier, the maternity wards are housed in a concrete tower block that dominates the local skyline - in the east of Ipswich.

We're currently based on the second floor, in a temporary office in the day room of Brook Ward. This, the ward not the day room, is where mothers who are expecting what could be termed as a spontaneous/straight-foward/uncomplicated delivery would come.

One floor up is Orwell, an antenatal and postnatal consultant-led ward, and on level four is Deben - a consultant-led delivery suite.

We're yet to go there tonight, but on the eighth floor are the Blyth theatres - where the planned Caesarean section births will resume later this morning.

The regular use of Caesarean sections is having an impact on human evolution, say scientists.

More mothers now need surgery to deliver a baby due to their narrow pelvis size, according to researchers in Austria.

Their study suggests the genes for narrow pelvises are passed on to future generations, leading to further Caesarean deliveries.

They estimate cases where the baby cannot fit down the birth canal have increased from 30 in 1,000 in the 1960s to 36 in 1,000 births today.

Image source, Getty Images

But there are many other factors involved in whether or not a woman will have a C-section.

A planned Caesarean might be necessary if...

• you are expecting twins
• your baby is in the breech (bottom-down) position
• your baby is premature
• you have a low-lying placenta
• you have HIV, hepatitis or herpes

And sometimes an unplanned Caesarean delivery might be required when...

• there is concern about your health or your baby's health
• your labour is not progressing
• you have vaginal bleeding during pregnancy or labour
• you go into labour before the date of your planned Caesarean section

Richard Haugh
BBC News

I've just had a quick tour of the maternity wards, which are spread over three floors of the hospital tower block - a local landmark in Ipswich.

The wards take their name from local rivers - Deben, Brook, and Orwell - and are currently home to 28 women who are either due to give birth, or recently have done.

The midwives I spoke to are reluctant to use 'the q word', as they fear this could prompt a sudden influx of patients.. but it's fair to say they've been busier.

Join our reporters as they spend 24 hours inside Ipswich Hospital #BBCmaternity24.

Mark Bulstrode
BBC News

We're here at Ipswich Hospital for two main reasons.

First, Ipswich is a fairly typical English hospital in terms both of its physical size, capacity and catchment area.

Second, they invited us in after we broadcast a similar 24-hour live page from here focusing on its emergency department.

Image source, Ipswich Hospital

• 385,000 people live in the hospital's catchment area
• 45-acre site on the eastern side of Ipswich
• 3,000 people are looked after each day by the hospital
• 4,075 employees
• £230m annual budget

So, you have the numbers. But what do they mean in real life for the staff, visitors and patients at Ipswich? That's exactly what we hope to find out.