Thursday, February 06, 2014

Mini Me

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this post is about Baby TR, since practically every post since his birth has included a photo or five. But you'd be wrong! It is still baby-related, because today, I'm turning the blog over to Denyse Kirkby, dear friend and author of My Mini Midwife.

I realised I wanted to become a midwife when I was very young and watched my mother help our goat give birth to twins. I was overwhelmed by what a tremendous privilege it was to be a part of welcoming those new-borns into the world. That feeling lingered for years, and as midwives didn’t exist as a profession in Canada when I was old enough to train to be one, my only options were to become an obstetrician or move to England to train and work as a midwife. I chose the latter and even all these years later I still experience that same feeling of what an honour it is to be allowed to be present while people welcome their own little miracles into the world.

I am very fortunate to be able to say that I have enjoyed every aspect of my career – from working in hospital on the antenatal, postnatal and labour wards, my time as an antenatal and newborn screening specialist midwife and working in community with a caseload of clients that ranged from 60 -100 women. Community midwifery allows you to get to know the people you are caring for to a deeper level than those you meet when you are hospital based.

Over time I began to develop a standard set of answers to questions expectant parents, and their families, asked of me about early pregnancy, what kind of care they will be given, what labour is like and so on. Then one couple said they wished they could carry me around in their handbag so they could ask me questions whenever they needed to, and that was when I had a My Mini Midwife light bulb moment.  I’m really pleased with the result and I hope my readers are too.


There is a video with my top ten tips here: http://youtu.be/pvSjI7Hj6Ys and there will be a forum on my website from mid March which will have a peer led postnatal support group and more so please stop by and join in the conversations.

When not otherwise occupied, Dee can be found chatting to people on: Amazon author page: http://author.to/DJKirkbyFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeeJKirkbyTwitter: https://twitter.com/djkirkby.
                     
 Thank you Denyse! 

For a chance to win a copy of Denyse's wonderful book (which I have read and found extremely informative while not overwhelming), leave a comment below saying how cute Baby TR is (ha!) or anything baby-related. 

See you next week!

14 comments:

  1. Hey Talli!
    Interesting midwife isn't an option in Canada. We have them here in the USA.

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    1. Hi Alex, Midwifery is an option in some Provinces in Canada now but eleventymiilion years go when I trained as a midwife there was no option besides obstetricians.

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  2. Baby related, ha! Since I have Sophie probably all I say is baby related :) Am a real bore, aren't I?

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    1. Baby talk is in no way boring! I adore listening to parents talk about their babies :)

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  3. Your baby is cute, Talli! And I don't know much about midwives, but I think their work is very important. As far as baby-related talk goes, ummm, does the fact that I'm craving a Baby Ruth candy bar right now count? :)

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    1. Hi NW, Talli's son is adorable! Thanks for your complement about the work of midwives , I agree (natch).

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  4. Denyse, nice to meet you!

    Well, I'm pretty sure I don't have any babies. That I know of, anyway...

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    1. Hi William, nice to meet you too. I had replied earlier but it has vanished! I like how you managed to get a baby mention into your comment, very clever.

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  5. I have a baby granddaughter (well actually she's three but still my baby). Does that count?

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    1. Hi Wendy, that very much counts! I must confess to a bit of grandbaby envy - I would love grandbabies of my own!

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  6. As an American I never knew much about midwives but I had my first (and will soon have my second!) baby in France and midwives are the norm. Totally changed my perspective and I'm the biggest advocate now! Here we don't have a specific midwife that follows our pregnancy so it's possible to see quite a few different ones throughout the term, but every single one has been nice and knowledgeable, and, oddly, glamourous. I guess because we're in France? My Mini Midwife sounds right up my alley! Oh, and Baby TR is super cute :)

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    1. Hi Vicki, congratulations on your impending birth :). I will be on the Mother and Baby Wednesday Lunch Club on 12th Feb if you have any questions you would like to ask then please join in: http://www.motherandbaby.co.uk/2014/02/wednesday-lunch-club-get-your-questions-answered-by-midwife-denyse-kirkby We are moving towards team shared care in England now too where a woman gets a named team instead of a named midwife. I think it is a good idea and hope others do too.

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  7. Hi Talli - congratulations to Denyse .. what a brilliant idea .. and obviously it's answering a lot of questions or leading to a place where they can be answered .. ie at the lunch club above ..

    Good luck to one and all .. cheers Hilary

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Coffee and wine for all!