A letter to the women I have cared for
A letter to the women I have cared for.
I am so deeply sorry.
You deserve so much more than what I have been able to give you, while you were in hospital having a baby. I often finish my shifts with a sense of disappointment about the very basic care I have given you. Frustratingly, I am both trained and capable of giving you SO MUCH MORE! We all are.
You deserve genuine care, time, support, focus, energy, and empathy from me.
I want to spend my time giving you practical support, to help you learn how to breastfeed your baby, to debrief with you about your birth, to educate you about everything that is so unfamiliar and overwhelming about having a baby. To reassure you when you are pregnant and suffering complications. To comfort you when you are scared and alone in hospital with Covid, pregnant or caring for your brand new baby, without your support person.
Sadly, I just can’t do that to the standard you deserve.
Not when I have regularly have 8+ women (plus babies, either inside or outside) in my care.
Instead, my colleagues and I are treading water, just trying to keep you physically safe and meet the absolute basics, and trying not to drown.
Patient ratios are evidence based and what women and families deserve. That is what we are fighting for. For your right to safe, quality maternity care, as is our calling and professional responsibility to do.
Please support us in anyway you can, so we can support you.
Love, YOUR MIDWIFE