Back To Work

Well, its official. I have returned to work. Casual shifts at present, I am getting used to working again. Ive booked my baby into child care, which starts when my husband also returns to work. She is managing with mummy being absent for much of the day when I work. Currently I have been picking up shifts on a  pre & post natal ward, working with mums to be and new mums and new bubs, dealing with sleep deprivation, sore boobs, babies that wont attach, or sleep, teaching how to bathe them, reassuring self doubting mums they are doing great as they battle the huge surge  of breastfeeding hormons and  the drop off pregnancy hormones. Its  usually hormonal city!  Tears are commonplace, exhaustion is certain, crankiness is common, family feuds are familiar, pain is almost always garanteed, and so is joyfulness, in huge volumes. Postnatal days are such a funny mix!

The amazing moments of sheer joy that these new parents have, gazing at the beautiful creature that is their baby, their offspring, their creation,  are mixed with so much discomfort, so much testing, so much need of them, yet every parent rises to the occasion. Its a challenge to go through it yourself and its a wonderful challenge to help people go through it too. I love it. Every parent brings to the mix their own experiences, understandings and perspective, their own temperments, and the relationship  dynamics they have with their partners or without (for those going it alone). Midwives function in a supportive and teaching role, working with the woman, and family to help them bond and care for their infant; and building on what they already know and understand as new parents.

I guess I like postnatal because of the teaching aspect, and because often there isnt a single right answer - there are a range of rights and possibilities and its your job to help the woman and her partner to choose the most appropriate options for their situation. Like us, no two babies are the same, no two women are the same, no two pregnancies or births are the same. No two choices are the same either. The choices parents make in the early days about how they will care for their child will often affect their experiences, feelings and choices long term as parents. Some will even choose whether to have more children based on their experiences in the first  few weeks after birth. So its a very important time frame for them.

Anyway, the next challenge for  me in my return to work, will be working in birth suite again, ? before or after I return to my education role.  Its a totally different ball game, working in birth suite.  Postnatally, a midwife can care for up to 6 women and their infants, and partners etc at any one time, and has to juggle many balls at once.  In birth suite, or 'labour ward', or the 'delivery rooms,' usually one midwife  is caring for one or two women at a time, along with their partners. Midwives work in tandem with others, supporting each other as their women birth.  These can be straight forward births, or complicated births, inductions of labour, caesarean births or the birth of a stillborn infant. Working in birth suite is much more focused, with a coaching aspect and one on one. It has a totally different feel, and places different demands on the midwife concerned. Still there are balls to juggle here too.

I return to an education role in February. I enjoy teaching midwifery and am looking forward to meeting the new students this year, and working with them as they learn the art of working  with women. Its a true skill to be a good midwife and I work with some incredibly skilled, effective, capable and gifted midwives. I think I am very fortunate to work where I do. Healthcare is a challenging work place at the best of times, because of the nature of work. Maternity is not such a place, and is generally an oasis of pleasantness in the health care system.   But its not without its challenges either.  So heres to returning to work, and to helping people become parents, and students become midwives, and all that happens in between.