Private midwife works her magic for Rowling

MILLIONAIRE author JK Rowling brought her trusted private midwife more than 400 miles to assist with the birth of her new baby girl.

The Harry Potter author got to know Deborah Purdue, one of the country’s leading independent midwives, when her son David was born.

So when Rowling was preparing to give birth to her third child she once again turned to the expert she knew best, despite the fact Ms Purdue had left Scotland and moved down south.

Ms Purdue was happy to make the journey from her home in Iwerne Minster, Dorset, to Edinburgh to help out the author again.

Rowling’s daughter was born late on Sunday evening at the maternity unit of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Both were said to be doing well and were believed to have returned to their Merchiston home yesterday.

Ms Rowling, 39, who married anaesthetist Dr Neil Murray on Boxing Day, 2001, already has a son, David, born in March 2003, and an 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, from her previous marriage to journalist Jorge Arantes.

Ms Purdue, who charges 2000 per birth, was believed to have admitted the author to the ERI just hours before she had the baby. She then attended to Ms Rowling in her private room at the Simpson Maternity Unit.

There are only three independent midwives in Scotland, although the service is said to be becoming increasingly popular throughout the UK, counting celebrities such as Davina McCall and Kate Winslet among its advocates.

Ms Purdue is not attached to any doctor’s surgery or hospital and can give expectant mums exclusive care both before and after the birth.

She has been monitoring Ms Rowling’s pregnancy and visiting her regularly at her home to carry out antenatal checks.

Ms Purdue is believed to be one of a few midwives to have a clinical negligence agreement with a hospital trust, which enables her to deliver babies at Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust facilities and not simply to observe.

A spokesman for NHS Lothian said some private midwives are registered to deliver babies in hospital, while others are not.

"It depends on the registration of the individual midwife," he said. The timing of the birth has taken Ms Rowling’s millions of fans by surprise after she made the announcement she was pregnant on her website in July. Many thought the baby was not due until March.

The penultimate book of the bestselling series, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, is due to be released in July this year.

The first flowers to arrive came from Bloomsbury, publishers of her five books.

The huge bouquet had a note attached which read: "Dear Jo and Neil, many congratulations on the wonderful news of your new arrival. From all at Bloomsbury".