OVER 30 years on from first becoming a midwife, Mary B. Reihill says the nature of her profession means she is still learning.
The community midwife has moved towards the more holistic side of midwifery, focusing on reflexology, hypnobirthing and delivering the highly acclaimed Early Interventional Transformation Programme (EITP).
“I have been a midwife since 1984,” she says, “There has been a lot of changes in midwifery practice within the last 10 years, never mind the last 30.
“And as far as the profession is concerned there are more changes to come for the better we hope.”
Originally from County Down, Mary has been living in Fermanagh for the last 20 years.
“I got out of Belfast at the time the Troubles were at their height,” she says.
Mary did her midwifery training in England. She had completed her general nursing training in Belfast.
“I was working in a much bigger outfit over there in London,” she says, “The policies and guidelines are adhered to according to the structure and policies of each Trust. But the Code of Practice is the same wherever you work.”
Through her role as a Community Midwife, Mary is part of the educational side of the job.
“We do a lot of the antenatal clinics as well as seeing women post-natally through the educational Parentcraft classes and the EITP.
“These classes are full of information,” she says, “We are getting great feedback about them.
“They are all about getting to know your baby and looking after yourself from a very early stage, helping mothers with understanding of all the changes that go on with themselves and their emotional state.
“It’s all about setting the right mindset for mums and dads. I think it provides a fantastic support network.
“The things that I’m learning now, I often think: ‘If I had only known them years ago’.
“There is more recognition now about getting to know your baby before they are born. Making that special connection with them in the womb.
“For example, from 20 weeks they can hear you. They are open to smell and taste.”
Mary loves her job, but she wishes there was more financial recognition for the role she and her colleagues play at such an important time in anyone’s family life.
“Like every job, midwifery carries with it its own stresses,” she says, “But I love the variety of the job and I get a buzz from my work.
“It is very rewarding and it offers real job satisfaction, most definitely.
“I think we are extremely under paid for what we do and the responsibility that we have. We are diagnosing now, we are treating now, we are referring if needs be. We do a lot of what would have been a doctor’s role previously, including doing scans now.
“And at the moment, there is a great shortage of midwives. We have a lot of great midwives due to retire. The newly qualified midwives need our support as well.”
Mary sees her role in the educational side of midwifery as being hugely important in a bid to “remove the fear factor” surround giving birth.
“I think programmes like ‘One Born Every Minute’ really dramatises the whole idea of labour and delivery,” says Mary.
“Have you ever seen a cool, calm and collected delivery on a drama?
“They totally sensationalise the whole thing. It’s my job to remove that fear factor for the mother. And I really enjoy that educational side of midwifery.
“Am I happy in my job? I very much am. I couldn’t see myself in an office job at all. I just love the variety that comes with midwifery now.
“You can specialise in particular areas if you want to, just as you can go into the management side or educational side as well if you want to.
“I think we have a fabulous unit here in South West Acute Hospital - a new building, all with ensuite rooms.
“It is wonderful that we have this on our door step. Our women are very well looked after.
“And we are a good team here - we work well together. We are very good at supporting each other and we just pull together. That is what is most important in this job - that we can pull our the stops for each other.”