{"id":6274,"date":"2017-08-22T16:01:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T06:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=6274"},"modified":"2017-08-24T15:22:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T05:22:55","slug":"meet-the-midwives-looking-after-mums-and-bubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/meet-the-midwives-looking-after-mums-and-bubs\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Midwives: Looking after mums and bubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know we have a team of midwives working up\u00a0on our Butterfly (NICU) Ward? We sat down with one of them, Gabby McLeish, to find out more about midwifery at the RCH. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us what a Midwife on the Butterfly Ward involves at the RCH?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

We care for up to\u00a0four mums admitted as patients in the New Mothers’ Unit here at RCH. We can also visit mums at their child’s bedside across the whole hospital for a postnatal check-up, including wound dressings, suture removals, and discussions about continence, family planning, emotional health and breastfeeding issues. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is being a midwife at RCH different to other midwifery roles?\u00a0<\/strong>\"\"<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are many similarities in the\u00a0postnatal care but an important difference is that these Mums have sick babies, they are \u00a0often so worried for their baby that they put their own health last. It’s great that they can still get their own health care needs met, whilst remaining close to their baby. <\/span><\/p>\n

What qualities to you think you need to be a midwife?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A warm heart, a sense of humour, and a big bladder!<\/span><\/p>\n

What made you want to become a midwife? <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I was inspired by own mum who was a midwife\u00a0and\u00a0I\u00a0love working with women and families. <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the training, and ongoing training, involved with being a midwife?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You can become a midwife\u00a0with a\u00a0postgraduate or bachelor degree but I believe the real learning happens at work.\u00a0Every family I work with teaches me something new. Midwives may choose to specialise in certain areas too, I have also undertaken postgraduate studies in sexual health, and am working towards becoming a lactation consultant too. <\/span><\/p>\n

Could you put a number on how many babies you\u2019ve had in your care over your career?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh gosh- I doubt it!! It would have to be thousands!<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best part about being a midwife?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

Watching families transform. <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the hardest part about being a midwife?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

When families don’t get to take their new baby home. \ud83d\ude41<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s some of the positive feedback you\u2019ve received from parents during your time at RCH?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Parents love being able to stay close to their baby- it’s so important for bonding and breastfeeding. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our service also means mums get the healthcare and support <\/span>they<\/span><\/span> need post birth otherwise many say they would have just “put up” with potentially serious post birth complications.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn\u2019t learn from your resume alone?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

My husband reckons I’ve got a pretty good singing voice! I love cooking and have recently\u00a0become interested in\u00a0fermented foods like water kefir….!<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the one thing in this world you are most proud of?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

My gorgeous little family.\u00a0 Professionally, I am proud of the care I give as I believe we make a difference. <\/span><\/p>\n

How long have you been at RCH, and how many years have you been a midwife?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I have been a midwife for 13 years, and at RCH for nearly two years<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could have any one superpower, which would you choose?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A magic wand!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know we have a team of midwives working up on our Butterfly (NICU) Ward? We sat down with one of them, Gabby McLeish, to find out more about midwifery at the RCH. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":6279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6274"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6287,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6274\/revisions\/6287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}