Busy busy Tuesdays...

What a long day!

Today started early with a discharge appointment for a family who’d gone through some tragic circumstances in their birth, but seemed to be starting to heal. Discharge appointments are mostly for the midwives I think and like a debrief of the whole pregnancy journey. The midwives go over antenatal appointments, the birth and postnatal appointments and talk about any issues that may have arisen and if the care was how the family expected it to be. I think this appointment in particular is good for the midwives as they ask for feedback on their services and if any improvements can be made for the future. This is a really important part, and a nice way to end the care, as independent midwifery at its core is a service often with a pay cut and for the passionate! When that is the heart of the work you do, its crucial to reflect and check in that actually, the people you serve think you’re doing a good job too!

After this it was the weekly meeting and I finally got to meet the 4th midwife who finishes the collective, Sharyn. Sharyn is currently working a month on and month off, with April being her month off hence me not yet meeting her. The meeting (as always) was around the lunchtime meal and todays was the nicest butternut squash and spinach soup made courtesy of Chris, no recipe unfortunately! Served with bread Sharyn brought, a lovely cheese selection and (homemade?) beetroot from Claire and from me was the supermarkets finest fruit! This is where the midwives catch up about how people are doing, and check everyone has a next appointment arranged and have a general chit chat about the week gone, and the week ahead.

After was a lovely postnatal appointment with a woman who had invited me to her birth, but it all happened so quick I wasn’t there! It was so lovely to see her and hear how ecstatic she was from the birth, and that her concerns over things she had no control over, were all ok. I’m hoping i’ll see her again for her other appointments this week, and I can already see how rewarding case loading without appointment constraints can be from just this small bit of continuity with this family.


After this was a longggg drive back up to Scotland, University are having a international day of the midwife celebration tomorrow and i’m offering tinsel hair! Then a long drive back to Newcastle tomorrow 💤💤

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