Support throughout your pregnancy is essential; your partner, your friends and your family are all seen to be key support figures during this time. However, one of your most prominent support figures should be your midwife.
Admittedly I didn't have the best midwife experience during my first pregnancy or through the labour. However I didn't let this tarnish my views of midwives. During my second pregnancy my community midwife was amazing and very supportive of my decisions; she actively assisted in my quest to experience a home birth (despite this not happening), shared my excitement over my future surrogacy plans and even provided me with valuable tips when I mentioned that I was looking to apply to study midwifery.
When I went into labour with my youngest, I was so nervous of having a bad midwife experience again but I didn't need to worry; granted I was in the hospital for less than ten minutes before I gave birth! But in that short space of time I couldn't have asked for better midwives. When we first arrived at the assessment unit the midwife at the front desk took us through to one of the assessment rooms and ended up delivering Florrie - she refused to leave my side when it was discovered that Florrie was in distress and managed to keep me calm throughout. I genuinely believe that without her my labour could have ended a lot differently.
Now that I am on my third pregnancy, this time as a surrogate, I was nervous handing my booking in forms in, as I was unsure of the reaction I would be met with. The next day I had a phone call from the community midwife, the same one that I had throughout Florrie's pregnancy; she was ecstatic and counldn't stop congratulating us all. Considering that this is her first surrogacy journey too, I cannot fault the care we have received already. A few days after our booking in appointment she called to advise that she had already arranged a plan with the hospital to ensure that everyone was aware of the situation before we arrived and myself and my IPs would be as comfortable as possible.
Midwives are often overlooked as someone who is "just doing their job", but after speaking to so many midwives, this is so far from the truth. To most, this is more than just a job; for most it is a burning desire to be able to help women during one of the most precious journeys that they will ever embark on.
Not enough credit is given to midwives and I for one would like to thank each and every midwife that I have encountered along my three pregnancy journeys!
Smart Cells, a private cord blood collection and storage centre are running a campaign called #ThankYouMidwives which is to increase awareness of just how much midwives do for us pregnant women. The campaign is one that is very close to my heart and definitely needs to be checked out!
*This post contains collaborative information from Smart Cells press release*
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