Show Your Heart

Last week I was mentoring future midwife Emily Leeder and I wanted to explain the value of “show your heart” 

As a midwife/ maternity care worker would you sit down next to a woman in labour – hold her hand ? Put your hand very gently onto her shoulder and you will connect with her- sometimes silence is more powerful than any words 

Try putting your hand on a colleagues shoulder and imagining warmth and kindness flooding from you – ask your colleague to be mindful for a moment and I can guarantee she will feel calmness and reciprocity in that moment. Now imagine that for a woman in labour in any birth setting – teach her birth partner to do this – you are connecting the human spirit and showing empathy by a simple act like a hand on a shoulder

Could you help a woman to prepare her mind when the obstetric team are about to come into the room on the labour ward round? Or do you wait in the office ? Does your labour ward have privacy curtains inside the door entrance of each birth room – question why and start to make a change – your Trusts privacy and dignity policies & guidance will help you 

…..ever been strapped to a CTG machine  sat on a bed and had a group of health care professionals standing over you discussing …

your baby 

your body

Your pregnancy

 your induction 

your pain relief 

Your progress

Their plans ? 

I want to shake up midwifery and obstetrics so that all women have an equal voice and so that we all have the same goal – I want midwives obstetricians , maternity workers, MSWs  to show their hearts , to care for women like they’d want their own female family members & friends  to be cared for. 

Start today by caring for each other in the workplace – show your colleagues your heart. If you know a colleague is off work do you wonder if that colleague is ok ? Do you send a card ? You don’t need an address you just need kind words and a stamp – take the card to a manager & they will add the address & post for you. – if you find this difficult then imagine how difficult it is for a woman you are with to show you her own heart and explain how she is feeling 

Be kind to one another and from the 6cs I’d like you to use the following three to help you on your journey 

Compassion 

Courage

Communication 

As a caremaker each day I go into work to think how I can improve my kindness rating I try not to be complacent about what I do – I focus on imagining myself as the other person (whether this is a colleague or a women) and I try to think hard about how they may be feeling -this helps me – I tell future midwives that I’m not perfect that I make mistakes & that I’m learning each & every day. I ask future midwives if they have new information to share -they are basking in the depths of learning and we can all learn so much from others 

Be kind 
Thankyou for reading my blog 
Jenny x