On the subject of dealing with gossip in midwifery, this passage from 'I Thought It Was Just Me' by Brené Brown is so helpful: 'When I first came into my critical awareness, I felt the need to publicly hold people accountable...I soon realized that it’s not a good idea to back people into a corner. Even making a valid point doesn’t warrant using shame or intentionally putting someone on the spot in front of other people. Next I tried the “teach/preach” approach. Although it’s a little less drastic than shaming, it doesn’t work well either. In this example we might respond to the same commen ..read more

I put together a video on the small playful challenges to power I find helpful. You can click here to watch. It's a clip from Safe House Saturdays ..read more

Writing your personal statement is often an effort, that’s normal as you care so much! But getting to know a few key midwifery reports will give you a good grounding in what’s going on and give you something reliable and impressive to reference. Remember, even academics rarely read things cover to cover! Think, what’s the top 20% of this which will be helpful? (Unless you’re really enjoying reading something wholesale that is, if so, have at it!) NICE Antenatal Guidelines NICE Intrapartum Guidelines NICE Postnatal Guidelines MBRRACE - this is the big report on maternal mortality in the UK ..read more

How do you get on with presenting? Some ways of thinking about presenting especially if you get nervous, like the cat/dog model, and what push/pull communicators are. The community I mentioned can be found here ..read more

Write an introduction explaining why you would like to work at the trust, and what you have to offer in terms of your training and background Write about your clinical skills - the number of births that you've done, the type of births, complex care, midwife-led care, water birth, intermittent auscultation, CTG interpretation, emergencies, documentation…paint a picture of you being a brilliant band 5 midwife to be Discuss your academic background, for instance, reflections, or helping clients achieve informed choice via research, whether you've been out with specialist teams Include any ..read more

Below is an essay by one Melissa Newman. She’s a qualified midwife doing her PhD. This is one of her undergraduate essays that scored a 1st. Cheers Melissa! There’s a version of Melissa’s essay with nicer formatting here. Complications Around Childbirth: Pre-eclampsia Toxaemia Word count: 3,292 This essay will firstly look at the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia toxaemia (PET) in the case study of Lucy and describe the subsequent care she received. The pathophysiology section will explore the causes of this progressive disease and then analyse the role of the midwife in caring for a woman wit ..read more

???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ? ??-??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ?? '???????????', ?.?. ????????? ??? ???????. ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? [??? ??] ??? Don’t hate me, but I don’t sweat very much. Even when I do kettlebells, which is turning into a rarity at the moment, I just get a bit of a sheen. I have found, however, that if I want to sweat, therapy is a reliable way of achieving that. It makes me sweat more than being on delivery unit. Therapy sweat is just underarm sweat. I’m not sure anyone can tell as long as I change my top later in the day. Or, pro tip: baby powder can sort it out i ..read more

???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ? ??-??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ?? '???????????', ?.?. ????????? ??? ???????. ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? [??? ??] ????? ?????? ⁣I’m watching ‘Couples Therapy’ at the moment, a BBC series. There are some relationships on this show that make you think ‘how on earth would you begin to repair that’. The conflict and the affection are bound up in interaction based on how these two individuals were formed as children, and because of how our society works, they have had to deal with all the fireworks all on their own, behind closed doors. Kudos to any professional ..read more

???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ? ??-??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ?? '???????????', ?.?. ????????? ??? ???????. ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? [??? ??] ??????? ?????? At the moment I'm finishing off some one to one sessions for the Letter Set project. This was a series of letters to be opened day by day over January. I put them in beautiful boxes and posted them out. The letters were about joy, trauma and restoration in midwifery. I was amazed that midwives from the UK, but also Australia, Canada and the USA wanted a box. And each Saturday for a month, we had a group call on Zoom and t ..read more

???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ? ??-??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ?? '???????????', ?.?. ????????? ??? ???????. ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? [??? ??] ???? Did you know women in the UK have only been able to open bank accounts in their own names since 1975? We will not solve issues around women and birthing people's autonomy in my lifetime. The problems are too big and ingrained. The 'good girl' of medical appointments is the tip of the iceberg. Financial insecurity and exhaustion from balancing work and childbearing are hurting the women I love. But what's the point of concentrating on this? I ..read more