Midwives have the lead professional role and are present at over 75% of the births in the UK. They have an important role in making decisions about appropriate care in pregnancy, labour and after the birth and so are in a very privileged position. They make a positive contribution to the health and well being of the mother and the unborn child and is therefore a very highly skilled profession.
Unlike other healthcare professions, midwives are responsible for a client-group, who are on the whole healthy and free from disease or injury. A further difference is the fact that midwives deliver continuous care over several months and are therefore able to develop more effective relationships with their client-group.
Midwives are caring and understanding individuals, who need to have a sensitive nature and are willing to look after women from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds.
But is this true in reality?
My story
I was about seven months pregnant and one day I was in so much pain I thought I was going into labour so my husband called for an ambulance straight away. He looked so worried he panicked and he started gathering all my stuff to put into a bag. When the ambulance arrived they took me into the ambulance straight away. When I arrived at the hospital I was put in a room in the maternity unit.
I waited for a while and eventually a midwife came in to examine me. She then started asking me questions about me and the baby, which I thought was OK. She then asked me if it was my first baby and I said, "No, it’s my second baby".
She looked straight at me so I knew it was going to get a bit personal before she said that I looked very young and so she then asked me my age. I told her I was 18. She then turned, looked at my husband and me and said that she "doesn’t want to see me here for another five years after this baby".
I was very shocked and angry by what she had said. I was in so much pain and she didn’t care about how I was feeling, so I told her that it was none of her business to tell me what to do.
My husband got really angry and started shouting at her. He was really offended by what she had said that he went to the main desk and told them what had happened and demanded another midwife to come and examine me, which they did.
About this article
This article was written by Alechha Begum, from Headliners' Project Subway group at Coram Parents Centre.
