The Maternity & Midwifery Hour

Mayes' Midwifery is a core text for students in the UK, known and loved for its in-depth approach and its close alignment with curricula and practice in the UK.

In this session we meet the two editors, Sue Macdonald and Gail Johnson, of Mayes' Midwifery (just published!) and three of the authors, Lyn Jones, Alicia Burnett and Kylie Watson, who share their journey from initial draft the to the final chapters.

What is it really like to be an author? What are the challenges and the rewards?

Supported by MATFLIX: ⁠⁠https://matflix.co.uk⁠⁠

Register to watch the next episode LIVE or attend a Maternity & Midwifery Festival: ⁠⁠https://mmf.eventbrite.com⁠⁠

Watch the live stream: ⁠⁠https://facebook.com/midwiferyforum/live

This week it will be Menopause Awareness Day, and we will be focusing on the effects of peri-menopause and menopause on midwives in their working life supporting women and families.

Menopause has for far too long been a taboo and stigmatised topic. Finally, this generation of menopausal and perimenopausal women are fighting back and smashing that taboo. 50% of the population will experience menopause and the other 50% may be impacted directly or indirectly. Menopause in the workplace impacts employees, personally and professionally, with 10% of women in the UK forced to leave work because of their symptoms. Over 75% of NHS Scotland’s workforce are female, and 83% of the social care workforce are female , managing the impact of the menopause at work is important for both employers and their staff. Join Loretta Dignam, Founder & CEO of The Menopause Hub and Leah Hazard, Midwife, Author, Activist to hear more about why menopause matters.

Hosted by:

Sue Macdonald, Midwifery Expert, Mayes Midwifery

Contribution from:

Leah Hazard, Midwife, Author, Activist

Loretta Dignam, CEO & Founder, The Menopause Hub

Supported by MATFLIX: ⁠https://matflix.co.uk⁠

Register to watch the next episode LIVE or attend a Maternity & Midwifery Festival: ⁠https://mmf.eventbrite.com⁠

Watch the live stream: ⁠https://facebook.com/midwiferyforum/live

As midwives we are caring for women and their babies and families, and for partners and dads too. This session explores the experience of fathers, and we will be hearing from two leading speakers. The first will be Mark Williams, author, Consultant, and campaigner for dads mental health. Then we are joined by Midwife Debbie Garrod, who will share insights from her ethnographic PhD research exploring midwife-father communications during labour and birth. She will focus in particular on the nature of these communications, the impact of different birth environments on communication, and explore some ways in which midwives can help fathers, partners and other birth companions to habituate to the childbirth landscape.

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Does love have a role in midwifery? If so, what is that role? While the concept of love in nursing has been widely explored, this has not been the case in midwifery and maternity care. Therefore, we invite you to join us to reflect on the relevance of love to our work.

Hosted by:

Contribution from:

Biographies

Dr Diane Menage

Diane is an experienced midwife, educationalist, mother, grandmother and feminist, but most of all a human being! Throughout her career her focus has always been on safe and effective care through relationships. She has worked clinically in hospital settings, community midwifery and independent practice. In 2018 she completed her PhD thesis on Women’s Lived Experience of Compassionate Midwifery at Coventry University before coming to De Montfort University as a senior midwifery lecturer.

Dr Jenny Patterson

Jenny is a midwifery lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Jenny’s work as a midwife since 2007, both independently and in the UK National Health Service, led to her particular interest in women’s traumatic birth experiences and midwives work-related trauma.

Jenny’s PhD thesis explored the woman/midwife interaction, which is a significant factor in the development of PTSD-PC. Jenny is also passionate about supporting the midwives and maternity care professionals to provide the high-quality care they desire.

Communication and consent are key in this interaction and care quality, and so exploring the impact of language barriers in relation to informed consent within Scottish maternity services with Dr Şebnem Susam-Saraeva is an important step in further understanding contribution to birth trauma and maternity care challenges. Click here to read more

- Reviewing assessment of the newborn at birth and beyond

- Students as advocates

As we come to the final programme in the season, we are including two issues that are ‘hot off the press’ and important for midwives and students to know about and engage with.

One of that of Students role as not just learning the art and science of midwifery, and balancing theory and practice, but also about being advocates for women and families and for fellow practitioners and highlighting disparities and inequalities that are faced by women and people of colour navigating the maternity services. Student midwife Amba Morrell shares and reflects upon her experience of undertaking this role.

We are also joined by Professor Hora Soltani, who will be presenting some findings from the newly published review of neonatal assessment practice in Black, Asian, and minority ethnic newborns supported by the NHS Race and Health Observatory study. This highlights the need for better assessment of neonatal well-being at birth by professionals, as well as ongoing assessment, being aware that some terms in use to describe the newborn such as ‘pink’ ‘describing a well-perfused baby, need to be better described in caring for babies of colour.

Hosted by:

Contribution from:

This session explores the under-researched phenomenon of midwives/student midwives themselves giving birth (and people who have given birth becoming midwives), how positive or negative experiences may inform future practice, and/or increase vulnerability to repeat trauma exposure.

Midwifery is a career which carries so many possibilities and choices, and remains a popular career choice. In this session we are exploring with our speakers, their journeys into midwifery, including the highs and lows and the challenges they have face to be where they are now!

I am a Mother, Midwife, Health Visitor, Antenatal Teacher, Baby Massage Facilitator , Baby and Infant First Aid teacher

A qualified midwife working within the NHS via agency / flexibly on delivery suite, antenatal and postnatal wards . Working part time as a health visitor with specialist experience in parental and infant mental health , whilst focusing on Professional Aunty private services that support parents get off to the best start by providing bespoke services that bridge the gaps of care .

Professional Aunty services was founded On my own unique lived journey of parenting where i realised the gaps and support in services parents - so I became the support I needed for other parents

My Mission is to Support, Assist and Guide you along your journey, by providing you with products and flexible services made fun! -current services - baby massage facilitator , bespoke postnatal visits and baby and infant first aid for the family . We also provide amazing survival boxes with key essentials for mum , dad and baby 😊

I have had partnership work with : @themotherhoodgroup, @fivexmore_, @theperinatalmhpartnership and The Baby Show

I have been part of Podcasts since starting my business @professionalaunty 😊 with a growing following of 1k+ and engagement of 4.5%

1st @whomovedmybirkin where we discussed racism in midwifery, juggling work, business and parenthood.

2nd @thebirthboothpod where I discussed the role of a health visitor and explored the various levels of support provided to families as they transition into parenting.

3rd @wellrestorer who discussed my business as a health professional practising outside the box

I enjoy Spending time with my son and watching him grow daily and myself evolve as a parent has been amazing and grows my passions daily to educate and support parents

Where can you find/contact me ? Instagram and Facebook: @professionalauntyEmail: [email protected]: www.professionalaunty.co.uk

My current role is a specialist midwife, providing antenatal care for pregnant women with haemoglobinopathy disease, and offering counselling and further screening for couples who are at risk of having a baby affected by major haemoglobinopathies.

Haemoglobinopathies are complex genetic blood disorders (diseases of the red blood cell). Most people affected by haemoglobinopathies are of African, Caribbean and Asian origin, but both the sickle cell and thalassaemia genes are found in most ethnic groups. Sickle cell disease is said to affect about 12,500 to 15,000 people in the UK.

Pregnant women who are affected by sickle cell disease are at risk of pre-eclampsia, inter-uterine growth restriction (IUGR), stillbirth, preterm deliveries, increased risk of caesarean sections and maternal death. This means that specialist knowledge and understanding is required in providing antenatal care.

Since 2015, I have been providing antenatal care for pregnant women who have haemaglobinopathies. In order to continue my role and provide women with quality care, I registered for a haemoglobinopathy course in 2016 to update my knowledge, but due to lack of funding I had to defer the course. I was then accepted for the Advancing Client-Centred Care course in 2019.

On this episode we looked at continuity of care with a wider lens. Sam will explore how a very small team designed and implemented the maternity care system in New Zealand where 94% of women get government funded continuity of midwifery care. We will be joined by Emma to look at midwifery continuity of carer and supporting parents-to-be in their pregnancy and birth choices, working flexibly to provide holistic, individualised care.