Midwifery as a Calling
It’s been over 7 years since I graduated as a midwife and 11 years since I first took the plunge into midwifery work and started my degree. I was privileged to work in the birth world long before that and journey alongside some of the most incredible women and families during the birth continuum.
The real calling into midwifery came when I was a young girl, and I attended my mother’s home birth with my sister. I was six years old and my mother’s midwife treated me as her apprentice for the day. I have a memory of staring at the placenta as it sat in our big salad bowl. I loved telling future dinner guests all about it. I made future career plans with my best friend as a teenager. I was going to study to be a midwife and she wanted to study to be a NICU nurse. I wanted to see well babies and walk alongside families. She wanted to nurse sick babies back to health. It was a regular topic of conversation between us. Midwifery has always been there for me.
Journeying with women into motherhood has been an immense privilege. I can not even put into words the incredible moments I have witnessed. It has been a true honor to be present for these miracles. First time mother’s starting their birthing journey strong and riding the high of those birth endorphins. Watching them bond from a quiet corner of the room. Just them with their baby and partner in uninterrupted moments that I’ve tucked away to remember forever. Vaginal birth after cesarean section and the look of victory on a mother’s face. In my career I have also been privileged to be invited to share grief and sadness. Accepting the honor of being the only person other than family to witness a beautiful life that couldn’t stay. I’m lost for words to even describe the beauty of these moments and the way I have cherished them whilst also feeling devastated for the family’s loss.
Being a midwife is an absolute honor. It’s a calling that I felt pull on my heart from such a young age. I couldn’t have ignored it if I tried. At times when midwifery has been hard and I’ve considered walking away, there has always been a feeling of unrest deep within me, and a pull to come back. Midwifery is a calling, and it’s an immeasurable honor to be entrusted with it.