WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO …

CATRIONA GRAINGER, MIDWIFE

IT’S accurate to say being a midwife is the best and the worst job in the world. It’s emotionally and physically shattering, but wonderful at the same time. I did a degree in psychology and didn’t use it for anything, then had my own children and was interested in it from going through it myself.

My youngest daughter was very sick when she was a baby, and I saw the medical profession as a good thing to go into. I didn’t want to do medicine, didn’t want to do nursing, but wanted to give something back, so I trained to be a midwife.

The responsibility is huge, so even when everything’s going beautifully you’re always conscious that you might have to intervene if there’s an emergency procedure, so you still have that nerve-wracking feeling until everything’s over – baby’s out, placenta’s out and everything has settled down. You never really relax, but you have to not show that.

The first time I delivered a baby was when I was a student, because you have to deliver 40 babies to qualify. It was strange and nervewracking because even though you’re supported, you’ve got a lot of responsibility. But it was amazing, even having had children of my own I’d never seen a baby being born, so to realise how amazing the process is, that was something special.

I delivered a friend’s baby and that was the best. I was grinning like a crazy person all the way through. Once the baby was born I was in floods of tears, I could hardly see what I was doing for crying. In some ways it was more stressful. The responsibility is vast always, but if it’s someone you know and love you’re looking after, you think, ‘“Oh my goodness, I really hope nothing goes wrong here.’

I’ve delivered women who have had a baby after years of trying with IVF, and it’s amazing when you put that baby in their arms.

It has to be teamwork between midwives, obstetricians, paediatricians and anaesthetists. It’s a good functioning team – it has to be. It has to be seamless and there’s not a hierarchy as such either – we’re all individual professions and we all work together, but we all have to respect each and know when it’s appropriate to ask for help.

Sadly we do have situations where the baby doesn’t make it. It’s very hard to deal with but to be part of that is also special, because you’re one of the very few people who ever

meets that baby. It’s a privilege to be there for that. You cope with it because you know you have given the very best care to the couple. You don’t really get training to know what to do in these circumstances – you just know what to do.

For me, the best thing is the people I work with. We’ve got a really strong bond, and that’s something you wouldn’t find it many other jobs. It’s a privilege to be part of a new family being made and that’s the best bit. That and seeing how strong and wonderful women can be. I can’t imagine doing any other job.

PHOTOGRAPH: GORDON TERRIS