Midwives are the calm during Covid-19 storm for pregnant women

International Midwife Day was celebrated on May 5.

This day is all about celebrating women who have the practical knowledge to help pregnant women give birth.

This year the day was celebrated under the theme Midwives with Women: Celebrate, demonstrate, mobilise, unite – Our time is now.

Midwives have been helping with home births for decades and still do home births for those who choose to give birth at home.

The GCN had the opportunity to talk to two midwives from Great Expectations Midwives about their work and how they are assisting pregnant women during the pandemic.

Sisters Sarah Jones and Elrika Knoetze gave insight into how midwives work.

“Midwives are specialists in normal pregnancy and normal births.

“They are qualified and undergo formal training on all aspects of pregnancy and birth.

“We work with obstetricians and gynaecologists so that if anything outside of normal presents during the pregnancy or birth, we have someone to refer the client to,” shared Sarah.

She said as midwives they work very closely with the expecting moms and guide them through the pregnancy journey.

“We see our clients at regular intervals during the pregnancy which increases as the pregnancy progresses.

“The point of these visits is to monitor the pregnancy so that we pick up any complications timeously, as well as to give health education as required and to get to know the client.

“We are then present during the labour and birth.

“We are then available to the client for assistance with the baby and breastfeeding until the baby is six weeks old,” said Sarah.

The GCN asked Sarah and Elrika how they are helping mommies-to-be during this difficult time as hospitals are under strict regulations.

“The way we work has not been affected that much by Covid-19, except for the hospital restrictions.

“It is beneficial in these times to have a midwife as we can still be of support to expecting mommies throughout the process.

“We are also able to offer the option of home births if the client is low risk and would like to give birth at home, therefore, limiting their exposure to hospitals,” said Elrika.

She said if expecting moms are worried about being in hospital having a midwife is something they can look into.

“As midwives we also have a more personal relationship with our clients and, therefore, are available to answer questions or alleviate anxieties as and when they come up.

“Another way of offering assistance during this time is that midwives do home visits after the baby is born.

“This allows moms to be discharged from hospital earlier and, therefore, decreases their hospital stay,” said Elrika.

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She said the pandemic has not affected them too much in how they work, but they had to make safety measure adjustments.

“We have not be affected too much as midwives.

“The only thing that has changed is that we limit the number of people present at consultations and births.

“We also wear masks during consultations and births.

“However, everything else is the same,” she said.

“The way we manage clients has not changed.

“Covid-19 has changed the amount of stress in a global sense and, therefore, we have found that clients are carrying further in their pregnancy than we’ve had previously and sometimes the labours are longer.

“This is in innate response as stress delays the normal hormonal effects of pregnancy and birth.

“So maybe it has changed because we’ve had to learn to be more patient,” said Elrika.

The sisters said it’s possible to still have a wonderful pregnancy journey even during a pandemic and midwives can assist in that journey.

“This is a very stressful and unknown situation for all.

“What we as midwives hope to do is to support and help mommies-to-be as best we can in the circumstances we find ourselves in.

“We are there to support women in the decisions they need to make and assist them to still have an empowering birthing experience despite the pandemic.

“Women were made to grow their babies and birth their babies. This is still possible even in this pandemic as long as we feel safe and supported throughout.

“This is our aim,” said Sarah.

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