What does the role mean to the people who do it?
We asked midwives to give their personal perspective on what the role means to them.
I get great satisfaction from being able to care for women and their families within the community and in their own homes. I really love homebirths so this is the perfect role for me. Being able to offer continuity of care while pregnant and then seeing mum and baby at home is very rewarding.
Working 9-5 some days means that I can juggle being a midwife and my family.
I think that being a midwife means that I can make a big difference to women and their families, whether that is helping them to quit smoking, find financial support and adjusting to being a parent. No two days are the same and this is why I love being a midwife.
I always knew that I wanted to work with women that live in deprived areas, I wanted to be able to immerse myself in different cultures and be accepted within the community. It has been a very challenging role as many appointments rely on a translator which can sometime be difficult to find. Being a midwife to me means being an advocate for women, particularly those that are vulnerable due to language, domestic issues or addiction.
I used to be a nurse for many years, but always wanted to be a midwife. Once my family grew up I knew I wanted to finally chase the dream. I decided to work on labour ward as I knew that my nursing background in Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) gave me great skills to look after women who were in high dependency with various different conditions. I enjoy working as part of a medical team.
Being a midwife for me, is making women’s experience as nice as possible even when things may not have gone to plan due to medical or obstetric issues.
I absolutely love being a midwife in a birth centre. Being able to work in a calm and relaxing environment, assisting with many pool births and being able to give the time to new mothers to help with breastfeeding is everything I could have wanted from being a midwife. I realise that labour is not only physical but being able to use holistic and alternative therapies is also very beneficial. To me, it is making birth a special, memorable and pampering experience and no other job can be as special as being a midwife.
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