Had a lovely delivery today : )

[reikizen]

Just wanted to share with you all that childbirth can be wonderful! I looked after an 18 year old with her mum and dad providing brilliant support and she coped with it all fantastically even though it was bloody painful and bloody hard work! A real joy to behold and made me remember why I want to be a midwife after all!

• sounds like a nice day at the office

ty for sharing. i knew it couldnt all be bad

Oh, that's lovely! Soooo much better than my day at work.

oh, how lovely....

As an ex midwife I can understand this lovely feeling - remember it well. Childbirth can indeed be utterly wonderful - hard work but wonderful. I remember looking after an 18 year old who was very scared. I had arrived on the labour ward for an early shift to hear disparaging comments from some of the more experienced nastier midwives that she had "gone through 4 bottles of gas and air" (all said with laughter .
They allocated her to me and a lovely Irish midwife (who I am now a HV with). We went in to see this girl - got her off the big high and narrow delivery bed she was on and made her a nest on the floor with pillows and mats. This Mum then coped brilliantly because she had SUPPORT from us and her partner as opposed to the bugger all support she'd had from the night shift. Later on that day she delivered a mahoosive 9+ lb boy - no stitches either. I just could not wipe the grin off my face.

Oh and the more entrenched midwives? Their comments were "oh my God - there's some woman delivering on the floor"!!

Thats really lovely to hear - My baby is due any day now (well she was due monday) & i really hope I get some lovely midwives to support me when I go into labour

Thats really lovely to hear - My baby is due any day now (well she was due monday) & i really hope I get some lovely midwives to support me when I go into labour

Jolypirate, I'm sad to say I recognise that kind of a scenario and it's shocking that such an importnant event in a woman's life should rest on the lottery of who looks after her in labour. But...I am studying with some wonderful, strong, intelligent, supportive student midwives who will hopefully advocate for the women we look after just as you did.
KT1983, keep off that bed! I'm serious, it can lead to all sorts of awful things! Good luck, and if you get chance to have a student look after you in labour, grab it. We are up to date with evidence based care (which we may even get the chance to use!)and you get two carers for the price of one!

bit of a hijack here ,but a dr where i work said that midwives can estimate a womens blood loss to the ml ,is there any truth in that ? He also said its all witchcraft midwifery ,but in a nice way

It sounds lovely and you sound lovely. I fonly all midwives were like you and genuinely 'with woman'

I think midwifery being 'witchcraft' is brilliant! It's a lot to do with intuition, and feelings and 'just knowing'. It can feel a bit strange when you 'just know' at what stage a woman is at in her labour, or what she needs to keep her on track at any particular time, especially when you have never met her before! Sometimes the hard bit is desperately trying to find an acceptably 'medical' justification for your course of action but there is increasing research out there backing up the notion of one to one and midwifery led care.

Jollypirate - why do you think women like that become midwives? it seems a strange career choice.