Four of our amazing Epworth Freemasons midwives welcomed their own bubs into the world in 2020, in their own maternity unit.
We caught up with them to find out what it was like to give birth where you work, as midwives what they’d found surprising about motherhood and what it was like being pregnant and having a baby during COVID times.
On giving birth where you work…
“At first it seemed a little bit strange because your colleagues see you at your most vulnerable, but then when I fell pregnant I couldn’t think of anywhere else that I’d want to be cared for.” – Jesenia
“It was also an opportunity during COVID times with all the restrictions around visitors to be around friends and your work family after the birth of bub.” – Olivia
“For someone who doesn’t have family in Melbourne, it was nice to have my work family around me.” – Emma
“It was never really a question for me because as a midwife you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” – Elyse
On having a baby during a pandemic…
“It was good to be able to keep working and going about our day-to-day life, and being a midwife it felt like we had a bit of insider knowledge.” – Jesenia
“It was a bit of a whirlwind and lots of unknowns because my obstetrician suggested I take a step back from working on the floor as a midwife and focus on admin so I did that for a few weeks, but then once we knew a little bit more I was able to continue working on the floor again.” – Olivia
“Sometimes it was overwhelming because restrictions kept changing so regularly and during the peak it was a little bit scary because you didn’t know what was going to happen.” – Emma
“A great story to tell our bubs when they’re older about the year they were born. Hopefully we’ll be looking back on it soon.” – Elyse
On surprises of motherhood…
“As a midwife we only look after babies up until a certain point, so you’re still learning things after that.” - Olivia
“Breastfeeding has been more challenging than I thought. We teach women about it every single day but experiencing it yourself is very different.” – Jesenia
“People always say ‘oh you’re a midwife you’ll have birth/motherhood sorted,’ but sometimes it felt like you knew a little bit too much, for example about labour and any possible complications!” – Jesenia
“I think motherhood will make us better midwives. We can relate to mums and know what they mean by sore nipples!” – Elyse
“Agreed, after the birth of my first child I definitely could relate to everything the women were going through more, particularly after they’d given birth and there was so much information out there to filter through.” – Emma
21 January 2021