It’s almost a year since I left work to start full-time study as a PhD student. So ended ten years of part-time and casual work as a midwife in a major metropolitan maternity teaching hospital.

I hosted an afternoon tea in the postnatal ward – and I made a little speech, because I grew up in a family where making a speech was a way of marking an occasion… and because it all felt like a big thing to be doing.

This month I have started doing a few shifts back there … just to remind myself of the realities of clinical work and to catch up with friends and colleagues. It feels ok.

Jen’s end of work speech. 2/1/2014  

I have loved working here – although some days are better than others! I have great colleagues who care about the women they provide care for. I have met so many inspiring, interesting women and families and had the privilege of sharing what is a life-changing event with them. They personify what I think this place is all about – the highs and lows of human existence. And they let us experience this with them!
Our work as midwives is so important.

Didn’t catch that? I’ll say it again – our work is so important.
From the booking visit in clinic to the last home visit …. Sure we have expertise: we know plenty of stuff about normal pregnancy and birth. But we’re more than that – we’re another woman, we like having a chat, we care about the whole woman and we meet women where they are.
So then we write the dicky little sentences in the antenatal record about holidays planned, sickness in the family, concerns about another child, how last time’s experience is effecting this pregnancy…
And sometimes we are one of the very few people who have taken the time to listen, to care about what’s happening to this woman in her life. We may well be the only positive educational experience she has had. We can be part of a life-changing time for her – diet, exercise, relationships, doing something amazing for herself and her family by bringing a baby into the world.
So I’m leaving being a midwife because I love being a midwife so much! And people have asked me: “why are you leaving and doing this?”
The project I will do about Lactation Consultants is a means of learning how to do research. The masters sparked it for me – I realised there was so much research out there that can help our clinical practice, answer our questions, help us ask more and help us to live with the doubt.
Anyway, so that’s what I’m going to do. And maybe I’ll come back to help you guys do some research too.
Just one thing to finish with … I don’t think we’re very good at letting each other know how fabulous we are. Do me a favour – tell your colleagues – don’t just thank them for their help, but tell them how you admire their practice, their attitude to women, their commitment to caring, their ability to help a woman birth her baby.

And enjoy your work. Thanks