FERMANAGH and Omagh Community Midwife Team Leader, Brenda McCabe is a leader in every sense of the word.
The Lisnaskea woman not only has the official qualifications to prove she has earned her stripes in the midwifery profession - she also is a mother of five.
Her passion for the job saw her travelling to and from Altnagelvin during her placement at a time when she had a four-week-old breastfed baby at home.
But her commitment to her career development and her own sheer determination ensured she saw it through to the end, and is now a proud member of a team of midwives, working in an ever-evolving and ever-rewarding profession.
But as the local midwives celebrate the centenary of the Midwives (Ireland) Act this year, Brenda says she has concerns, both regionally and UK-wide, for the retention of midwifery in the future.
“There is a shortage of midwives here in Northern Ireland,” she says, “An awful lot of our most experienced midwives are due to retire. I don’t want all our hard work to be compromised.
“I love to see passionate and enthusiastic new midwives coming through - I just want to see more of them!”
Brenda’s passion for the caring profession was instilled in her after losing her father when she was 13.
“I felt a sense of helplessness,” she recalls, “I wanted to be able to do something.”
Initially training as a nurse, Brenda gained experience in all departments.
“I saw the sad side of maternity services on the gynae ward - I wanted to see the happier side.
“So on my 30th birthday, when I was lying in a maternity ward with my fourth child, I decided to go for midwifery, never thinking I would get in - but I did.”
And when she became pregnant with her fifth child, Brenda was as determined as ever to get her qualifications.
“I would put the children to bed and from 8.30pm I would be studying right through until 1am.
“When my daughter arrived, I was getting up at 5.30am and travelling in the snow and ice to go to Altnagelvin.
“I would be standing with a mother who had just given birth and needed stitches, telling her: ‘I know how you feel - I really know exactly how you feel!”
And determined to breastfeed her fifth child, just as she had with her other babies, Brenda expressed throughout the days that she was on placement.
“I knew every ditch in Fermanagh because I would be pulling over to express!
“I felt I owed it to my baby because of the situation I was in. Honestly, it made me feel better about the circumstances. Even if she wasn’t in my arms, she was always in my mind at all times.”
Her passion and commitment for the job has never waned.
“Every day is a privilege and you get to see a wee miracle being born.
“It does have its highs and its lows. Thankfully the lows are infrequent.
“But we are professionals and we engage in reflective learning. If an event doesn’t go the way we had hoped, we research and learn from that and ensure it doesn’t happen again. And we are always supported by our supervisor and manager.”
In the nine years since Brenda qualified as a midwife, the profession has gone through incredible change.
“It is not just about delivering babies anymore!” she says.
“As midwives, we are now trained to put in canulas, to take blood samples, to prescribe for certain drugs that nurses can’t, stitching, IV anti-biotics.
“And our doctors are so supportive and are involved in our training.”
The Community Midwifery Units in Omagh and Enniskillen provide holistic midwifery care to mothers in the area, in partnership with GPs.
This includes a homebirths service, parent craft, hypnobirthing, aqua natal, reflexology, a maternal fetal assessment unit, a specialist diabetic and twin clinic and the pioneering ‘Getting Ready for Baby’ programme.
“Our job is to give families the most positive experience possible,” says Brenda.
“Our services aren’t dictated by people in NHS offices -- but rather by the users themselves. We have established Listening groups in both Omagh and Irvinestown where users can give their feedback.”
Describing her job as a ‘vocation’ Brenda says she can’t imagine doing anything else.
“On paper my job is a ‘9 to 5’ but I have never done that.
“None of my girls have. But they never complain.”
With recruitment drives ongoing across Northern Ireland, Brenda’s advice to anyone considering midwifery is to ‘go for it’.
“We have such an idyllic set up here. We are a training hospital linked with a university and we are a great team.
“If someone had told me nine years ago that I would be a band 7 team leader I would have laughed at them. But I would like to think that I have earned my job.”