Special delivery: Student graduates in course run by midwife at her birth
IT WAS an extra special delivery for one midwife when a baby she helped deliver 23 years ago graduated as a midwife herself and from a course she now oversees.
Newly qualified Emily Campion’s second name is Kathleen – after midwife Kathleen Nallen, who cared for her and her mother when she was born in 1995.
Now Dr Nallen is the acting head of section of midwifery in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).
She said she was thrilled that one of her deliveries was studying midwifery.
This week she was delighted to call Emily to the podium to collect her parchment as she graduated with her Bachelor in Science in Midwifery from DkIT.
“We were in our second year of studies here when I asked Kathleen if she had worked in the labour ward in Drogheda in June 1995,” Emily explained.
Emily became curious about this as her mother Dolores said the name of her midwife was Kathleen and her middle name was given in tribute to her.
When Dr Nallen was next visiting the maternity unit in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital she mentioned it to the director of midwifery.
They checked the birth register for June 16, 1995, and found Emily’s birth details, entered by staff midwife Kathleen Nallen.
Kathleen said: “It is a unique privilege to have been present at Emily’s birth and to now see her graduate as a midwife herself and to be involved in her graduation ceremony. It felt like the story of Emily’s birth had gone full circle.”
Emily’s mother Dolores added: “It is a wonderful and incredibly special opportunity to meet the midwife who supported me at Emily’s birth 23 years ago and who has now supported Emily in her own midwifery studies.
“Such things don’t happen very often but when they do they should be celebrated,” she said.