and now the chance to stand up.....

Already, we are in the news again: with the call that we must Let the Babies Live and the suggestion that us midwives should be better trained and supervised as Baby's death was avoidable. Now. I do not know the details of this case.... It doesn't look great, does it, from reading those two articles? But, mystery recently qualified independent midwife, whether you were right or wrong, my thoughts are with you. If you need words of support and care, find them here. As you walk into the fire (along with your "midwife supervisor" whatever that may be), know that I am walking along beside you, in spirit if not in body.

So, the next question.... why aren't midwives fighting back in the papers? Why aren't we pointing out that we are over worked, under paid, and often under supported? When the senior and junior doctors strike, who supports the labouring women? US. When the cleaners are on strike, who picks up the slack on maternity? US. Are we thanked for this? No. Are we paid for this? No. Are we given annual pay reviews, and offered what we are worth? No. Do we do what we do because we love it? Yes. Otherwise, Goddess knows, we wouldn't do it for the money or the glory!

As Karen Guilliland said in this months Midwifery news, midwifery issues are global, and women who are cared for by midwives have better outcomes: So why WHENEVER anything goes wrong, is it always us "dangerous" midwives being hauled over the coals? Why when doctors stuff up (and we all know they do) do they come out of it unscathed, unphotographed, and certainly unjudged? Why do we say "well, they are only human, they can't be perfect, they do their best" when doctors err, but mount a full scale witch hunt against ALL midwives if a midwife makes an error?

Why are we held to a higher standard? why must we be perfect, to prove our right to do what we have ALWAYS done, care for women? Sometimes, awful things happen. sometimes, babies die. sometimes, mothers die. sometimes, people get sick, or hurt and sometimes we can't fix that. But most of the time, we get it right. Most of the time, we improve the outcomes. Most of the time, we FIX problems. When does that get to be front page news? When do we MAKE that front page news?