On Friday 5 May, we are celebrating International Day of the Midwife (IDM)! This year’s IDM theme, “Together again: from evidence to reality” 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.
In the lead-up to the day we interviewed Hannah Oppy, Maternity Midwife Manager and Opal Team Leader at Tuesday’s Employee Forum and then we sat down and chatted with her about her career in midwifery.
Since she was young, Hannah had an interest in births.
“At the Melbourne Royal Show, I’d always want to watch the lambs being born. So, there was always that innate maternal instinct within me.”
Hannah initially pursued the nursing career path. But her interest in midwifery never changed.
“I did my [Nursing] graduate year through Monash Health. I then moved to Special Care and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and worked there. However, I knew I always still wanted to be a midwife. So, I did the 18-month postgraduate diploma through Monash Health and then the supported 6-month graduate program as well.”
Recalling the first time she experienced a birth, Hannah was a Postgraduate and had a surprising reaction, but maintains she still enjoys being in the room for births.
“I actually got really overwhelmed and quite dizzy after the first birth. I don’t know what was happening, whether I had eaten enough. But it was just magic. It was beautiful.
“I love the adrenaline of birth suite. But I love what you can give to a woman on a post-natal ward in terms of education, about breastfeeding and caring for her baby. Just really watching her journey from a pregnant woman to a mother is really special. And giving them little gold nuggets of information to take home with them that can really help them on their journey into parenthood.
“I’ve got lots of friends having babies now and they invite me to be part of their birth space and in that immediate postpartum period, I feel really honoured to be a midwife.”
Hannah enjoys working as a midwife on the floor, but it was her work with the Adolescent, Drug and Psychological Pregnancy Team (ADaPPT) where she saw different roles in midwifery at Monash Health.
“I was originally in the Amethyst team, working as a midwife on the floor. I then became interested in more vulnerable women that needed more intensive pregnancy care support. And ended up in ADaPPT.
“[ADaPPT] is a smaller team and there, I really developed my passion for case management.
“I then became more interested in the management side of things. So I did ADaPPT for a few years and then was successful in becoming the 52 Maternity Midwife Manager and Opal Team Leader.”
“I’m proud of the women and men I get to work with, that I get to call my colleagues. I see them put in 110% every single day even when they’ve had a rough one. It’s something really special to be a part of, that working environment.”
During her time with ADaPPT, Hannah saw the benefits of patients having a continuity of care and tries to implement these meaningful insights into her current work.
“There’s lots of evidence to say that women that have a continuity of care have better outcomes and are more likely to have a better bonding with their baby as well.
“Those familiar faces that make women feel safe and allow them to have a really good pregnancy and birthing experience is something that’s really important.
“A lot of our midwives do rotate from pregnancy care, birth and postnatal and our home-visiting midwives – doing the full spectrum of midwifery. So every day is a little bit different for them. But they can follow the woman’s journey. It provides the woman that security, safety and sense of being cared for from the woman as well.”
Observing her experiences in midwifery, Hannah suggests that the essence of midwifery hasn’t changed, but some protocols have changed for the better.
“Being a midwife means ‘to be with woman’. So the core part of midwifery has always stayed the same.
“We still want to be by that woman’s side and holding space for her in whatever capacity in her pregnancy journey: antenatal clinic, in the birthing suite or in the postpartum. We just want to try to hold that space and provide them with as much support and education and empowerment as we can.
“It’s really important to empower our women to make informed educated choices.
“We’ve been able to adjust the way we care for women and still provide excellent midwifery care. And that’s through telehealth or phone calls, and offering a more diverse range of supports for them – whether that is mental health support or access through our pregnancy assessment unit.
“Nothing takes away from actually engaging with the woman face-to-face and building that rapport and doing all those midwifery assessments. But giving her a choice if we can and it’s safe, we can offer that to her so she is able to engage in pregnancy care easily.”
Hannah has found her nursing experience enhances her care for patients.
“It’s really different to other kinds of care in the hospital. Throughout the 10-month pregnancy journey, we get to know the woman, their family and their needs.
“We get women that are medically complex. So having that nursing background I think benefits and enhances your midwifery knowledge as well. Because if you understand from a nursing perspective and have got your midwifery perspective as well then you can combine the two to provide really specialised and niche care for these women.
“It is really special to be a part of birth.”
Thank you, Hannah, for sharing your story. Keep an eye out for more stories about our Midwives for International Day of the Midwife.
Approved by Adjunct Professor Katrina Nankervis, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Executive Director, Nursing and Midwifery