When you are invited to attend a birth, you are honoured to be supporting a woman at an immensely important time in her life. As a midwife, the energy that you bring into the room during the labour and birth is really important, as you need to be able to 'hold' the space around the woman so that she can labour with minimum disruption and in her own time. This ability to 'hold a space' requires a great deal of emotional strength; trust; patience and the ability to sit on one's hands. This is being 'with woman'.
In March, my mother died, and the recent months have been difficult for me. Aside to the loss of my mother, I am learning to support my daughter who is Aspergers, learning 'how' to home educate two of my children (!), dealing with a teenage daughter...... and still wanting to be the absolute best midwife I can be.
Something has to give, and for a little while that will be my midwifery. I am taking a short 6-month sabbatical so that I can grieve, heal, rest, learn, and support my family. Only then, when I have taken care of myself, can I return to supporting women as they journey to meeting their baby and be the midwife I aspire to be.
Angela x
