International Day of the Midwife

Today is International Day of the Midwife with the theme being 'Together again: from evidence to reality’.

This theme honours the efforts of midwives and their associations to action critical evidence towards meaningful change for our profession and the women and families they care for.

Meet Clinical Nurse Manager Noeleen Noon, who is in charge of Maternity, Women's Health and the Special Care Unit at The Wesley Hospital.

Noeleen has 43 years nursing experience and has spent 37 of those as a midwife, as she came from a big family with eight siblings she always felt she knew how to care for babies.

“I love working as a midwife, birth suites are such a happy place, you’re brining a new life into the world,” she said.

“As midwives feel that we’re part of the family, it’s really lovely when you see family’s years down the track who come up to you and introduce you to their children who you helped deliver.

“My favourite part is seeing the expressions on the parents faces when you hand them their child for the first time, many are reduced to tears as it’s such an overpowering experience.”

Noeleen said while having a baby was a special occasion it can also be an uncertain and daunting experience.

“I do believe in providing the best evidence-based care to our families, it’s our jobs as midwives to advocate for the health of the mother and baby and make sure they have a safe birth,” she said.

“There are so many moving parts to delivering a baby and we work incredibly hard to deliver the best health outcome.

“Here at the Wesley we have an incredibly dedicated team of midwives who are so passionate and caring, they want to ensure families go home well prepared for parenthood.”

For younger nurses who were thinking about joining the field Noeleen said it was a very rewarding career.

“My advice to new midwives would be to listen to the parents about what they want, we are there to help and guide them on this journey,” she said.

“We are here to provide evidence-based quality care but at the end of the day the parents have to be comfortable with their decisions.

“It’s so important we keep up-to-date with standards of care, things can change in the medical landscape so quickly.

“I meet so many grandparents who ask questions as to why we are or are not doing things a certain way and I need to explain that things have changed dramatically since then.”

Noeleen said her advice to new parents is enjoy the newborn bubble with your baby.

“The housework will always be there but you need to care for both yourself and your baby,” she said.

“When you have a new baby people will come out of the woodwork to give you advice, it’s always well intentioned but not all of it helpful, take what you need.”