When you think about giving birth – many women will instantly picture themselves in a hospital – but what if you could deliver your baby in your own home surrounded by your own comforts? Well, this can absolutely be an option!
‘Yorkshire Midwives on Call’ depicts the life of the midwives on Bradford’s homebirth team and the true nature of giving birth at home.
Midwives - Gemma and Michaela - chat to Female First about life as a midwife, the impact of covid and why every woman should have the choice of a homebirth delivery.
What can we expect from the show ‘Yorkshire Midwives on Call?’ And how did you feel when you were approached by BBC to do the show?
Gemma: We were all anxious initially. We’ve all watched ‘One Born Every Minute’ and people were very quick to criticise and say “are they doing that right,” so we were worried that we may be criticised too. But there are more funny bits in the show than I thought there would be and we are depicted exactly how we are. We come across very genuine. It did take a while to settle into it and was quite weird at first, but we got to know the crew, and they wouldn’t be on top of you, so you would forget that they were there. They also got to know the women which made them feel comfortable.
I love that the show is so heart-warming - I’ve cried at every episode! Hopefully it will make women consider the choices that they have and translate to the audience what a home birth is. I want people to enjoy it and make women think ‘I would love a homebirth.’
Michaela: We were very excited to show the world what we do. I love that the show comes across very heart-warming. I think we twisted some of the camera crew into becoming midwives though! One of the camera crew was pregnant and ended up having a homebirth due to seeing how we do it. Many women don’t realise it’s an option it seems, but hopefully we will change that.
The show focuses on homebirths - Why do you think homebirths are becoming more popular now?
Gemma: The pandemic made a massive difference. Before it, we had 90 women on our case load, but when the pandemic hit, it made women reconsider going to hospital. We were just thinking about how we can promote the service and then the pandemic happened, so we didn’t need to. Women who have good experiences then tell friends and family. We were oversubscribed at one point, but we couldn’t deny the women this amazing opportunity. It was hard work but we got lots more experience from this situation.
What does a home birth entail? And how does it benefit the mother and baby?
Gemma: The women choose what they want. They can set the atmosphere and set the scene. When I’m doing a birth plan, I ask exactly what they would like and see how we can facilitate this. We never get many crazy requests, but we have to remember that we are the guests in their home. Our primary concern is looking after the baby, but it allows the mother to have more freedom and have who they want with them during the birth. It’s the simple things like being able to go for a wee on your own toilet, getting into your own bed, have a bru out of your own mug – this is what makes a difference. Knowing that we come to them is reassuring, as many women worry about getting to the hospital in time.
Michaela: I feel that as the mothers -as well as their partners- are more comfortable their body tends to labour a lot quicker due to the hormones reacting differently. I’ve worked on a labour ward before and thought ‘why would I do a homebirth, you’re on your own, it’s scary’ but being part of this team it’s amazing and I love doing this.
MORE: What does it mean to dream about a midwife? (femalefirst.co.uk)
The pandemic has changed the way we now live – how did it impact your role as a midwife, the team, and the families you cared for?
Gemma: It was really difficult at first – everything was changing so rapidly. We had shortage of PPE but this got rectified pretty quickly. I was really worried about catching it and bringing it back to my family - I think we all felt like that. We paused the service for 3 months from March to June but when we opened up again, we had to work out a way to carry on safely. All the equipment had it’s own box which was wiped down before and after use. We had to be so careful and cut down some of the equipment we took inside the home, the rest was left in the car. We’re use to it now and have relaxed it slightly, but it’s become a new normal.
Michaela: It was a really hard time and we got stopped for a while. Women had planned for 9 months to have a homebirth and what they wanted and then that was all stopped due to covid. When we came to work it wasn’t much different, my kids still went to school, we carried on as ‘normal.’ In some ways it was easier for us but still scary and sad at the same time. When we stopped the service for a couple of months, we all got transferred to other areas, some went to the wards, others did the vaccines. But we’re happy we are all back together.
The feeling you and the rest of the midwives portray is a family like unit – would you agree and why is it important?
Gemma: Yes! It’s so important we support each other. Some days can be very stressful so if you didn’t have a supportive team, it would be very hard. We genuinely all get on – we all bring something to the team. I don’t know where I fit in, but Claire is the mum of the group, Laura is our team leader, Steph is like our team counsellor, Kayla works really hard and Leanne is as cool as a cucumber - everyone is different but it works! We are friends and we care about each other. We learn from each other’s experiences. It helps us develop our knowledge and skills – we love going to birth together – we have this telepathy and just know what is happening
Michaela: Yes, it’s massively important! We don’t see each other often so getting together for our meetings and keeping in contact via our WhatsApp group, keeps us together and updated with everything. Even when you’re off and you find out your women is in labour you want to know what’s going on, so it’s lovely to have that ‘go-to’ contact.
You create bonds and friendships with the families who are expecting – what is your most memorable birth?
Gemma: First one I ever did as a qualified midwife and the woman giving birth knew my father-in-law! The ones where you’ve been at the birth of a women you’ve looked after for the whole pregnancy are memorable too.
Michaela: The birth from the first episode is the most memorable for me. You could see her body physically change so quickly. We went in the morning, the contractions were every 15 minutes, so the grandparents came for their other son, then within the hour she drastically changed, and it wasn’t too long after that, she gave birth. It was so relaxed and lovely to be a part of. We had a student at the birth too, so it was great for her to witness that.
Another one I remember, which was a little frightening, was a birth injury called ‘shoulder dystocia’ which is when the babies shoulders become stuck. We had to get mum and baby out of the pool quickly and sadly resuscitate her baby, thankfully mum and baby were fine. It did take me a day to recover from it because of the adrenaline and tension - it can take a lot out of you. I told the girls in our WhatsApp group and Claire rang me at 6am which was really sweet and what I needed.
Michaela – You’re known to have ‘magic hands’ when performing sweeps and you have a very high success rate?
(Laughs) The girls do say that! After I have carried out a sweep the woman tends to go into labour pretty quickly but I did one recently and it didn’t quite work.
Gemma - You became a trained midwife around 2 and half years ago as you were previously an air-hostess – what made you make the big career change?
I worked for British Airways when I lived down South, but I moved to Yorkshire and got an office job as a stop gap. I knew I wasn’t an office person, I preferred shift worked as I felt like I always had more time off. I had a 6-month-old and a 4-year-old, and I thought if I don’t do it know then I never will. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my partner and family. I can’t imagine doing anything else now.
Gemma - You say that you went straight onto the home team. Did you not want to try out the hospital births?
No (laughs) I was the first newly qualified midwife that was put straight on the homebirth team. I’m not sure why but maybe they thought I was a good fit or wanted to give a newly qualified midwife the opportunity to do it. I’m so glad I got the opportunity and felt very lucky.
Do you have any advice for someone who may be considering becoming a midwife?
Gemma: Just do it (laughs). If I can do it, anyone can! I did it with two young kids and never saw myself going into further education. I didn’t know whether I had the ability to do it. Once you get going it goes very quickly. Uni is a means to and end. It’s such a rewarding job – what can me better looking after babies and mums?
Michaela: Prefer for long dedicated hours (laughs!). It’s so rewarding, we do it for the love of the job. Growing up I never imagined I’d be a midwife, as I didn’t think I’d be able to go to university because I didn’t do too well at school. But later in life, I had my daughter, when she was 18 months old, I went to a training centre doing Spanish and we were asked if anyone fancied doing health and social care, so I thought I’d give it a try. During this, one of the tutors commented saying ‘you’d make a really good midwife’ and my sister is a midwife too and she’s always encouraged me. And the rest is history!
What next for the Bradford team?
Gemma: I’m hoping for an increase of homebirths. I am expecting more interest from women and potentially the team will grow. Hopefully more women and more babies!
Michaela: Hopefully, the programme will help to boost the awareness of homebirths – if so we’re going to need another team!
The BBC Two series ‘Yorkshire Midwives on Call' is available to watch now.
Written by Laura, who you can follow on Twitter, @LauraJadeC20
