"It's not just the making of babies, but the making of mothers that midwives see as the miracle of birth." - Barbara Katz Rothman 

This quote perfectly captures what drew me to midwifery. The transition to motherhood is often tough, both physically and mentally, with every pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience different. I wanted to provide support to women and their families when they are at their most vulnerable, and need more than anything, to trust and have confidence in the person providing care for them.   

Midwifery is an incredible profession, watching two people enter as a couple and leave as a family is truly magical. The look couples share as they see their baby for the first time still gets me 15 years later!  

Although not everyone leaves hospital with a healthy baby, or has a happy experience, being able to be there, listen, care and advocate for these families hopefully makes a difference, at a time when they need help the most.  

My career has taken a number of different paths over the nearly 15 years I have been working as a midwife within the NHS. I chose to leave my full-time role as lead midwife for high-risk care at a central North London hospital to work as an Implementation Manager at UCLPartners. I currently balance my time between three days within the patient safety team and one long clinical shift.   

My work at UCLPartners focuses on maternity and neonatal initiatives where I lead the National Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (MatNeoSIP) work which aims to reduce unwarranted variation in high quality care, reduce the rates of maternal and neonatal deaths, and reduce the national rate of preterm births from 8%-6%. I have been part of many milestones in my time at UCLPartners, including supporting  units within our region to adopt the PReCePT programme which resulted in an estimated 48 cases of cerebral palsy being avoided nationally as well as saving around £38.4 million in lifetime health and social care costs. I also provide quality improvement support to the National Child Mortality Database. 

Some of the challenges within midwifery are well documented in the press, with midwife shortages putting intense pressure on the service. However, there isn’t a midwife who I work with, who doesn’t give 110% to ensure those within their care are safe and supported, despite missed lunch breaks and frequent delays in leaving work on time. I truly enjoy being a midwife, never knowing what the shift may bring, as well as the teamwork, comradery and the families that I meet each shift. 

Happy International Day of the Midwife to all the fantastic midwives out there (and those who work tirelessly to support us to do our job) you all do a great job and deserve to be celebrated!