Contact Details

 An update of our contact details:

Phone: 0488 481 604

Please note that this number is frequently unanswered if we are attending appointments. For non-urgent questions or enquiries, please send a text message instead, and we will get back to you. For urgent enquiries, please contact your chosen maternity hospital for advice if we are unavailable.

Email: selectmidwifery@gmail.com

Email is the best initial contact. We can then get back to you with relevant intake forms and information at a more convenient time.

We also have a facebook page for general midwifery-related information and service updates.

Birth Trauma and Debrief Service

 Select Midwifery offers a birth trauma and debriefing service for women everywhere. These sessions are run via Zoom, at a time that's convenient for you.

Please note that these are not counselling sessions, although we do offer referrals to counselling services. 

If you feel that your birth impacted you, your baby or your partner negatively, if it left you wondering what happened, if you feel that you need to talk about it, then please get in touch for a debrief.

What we offer is a frank and open discussion with an experienced midwife, focussed around your birth experience. After a few initial questions, you lead the discussion, focussing on the issues that are important to you. We offer unbiased support and feedback, and assist you to work through your experience in your own time. In many cases, we can offer general midwifery advice and suggestions that might assist you in your recovery. Please feel free to compile some questions and concerns that you would like to discuss - this session is all about you! Partners and support people are most welcome too, and we value their input as an important part of your journey to motherhood.

The fee for a one-hour session is $55.00 (AUD).

Unfortunately this service does not attract Medicare rebates and fees must be paid prior to your session. If this is difficult for you, please let us know and we can work something out. If you are outside Australia, you will still receive an invoice in AUD. 

Most women find it beneficial to request their medical records prior to their debrief session. This gives a better picture of the clinical picture during the labour and birth. Records allow the midwife to explore and explain anything which you may find confusing or do not understand about your experience. However, this is not essential, especially if you may find it distressing to read your records. You can request your medical records from the health service where you were admitted.

Email us at selectmidwifery@gmail.com to book in. We will send you a short form to complete and then schedule a time that suits you.

Men at Birth - yay or nay?

Note: this piece is about heterosexual couples - birthing woman with male partner. Please feel free to share experiences if you are not heterosexual! I would love to hear from you, so I can better understand your experiences of birthing and maternity care.

Birth is women's business. Some women, most women in Western culture, want their partner there to support them. My experience has been that the men have mixed feelings about it.

Some men are fantastic supporters for their partner, others try hard but turn out to be annoying, and some I just want to throw out of the birthing room 😀 A lot of men clearly do not want to be there - sitting in a corner, watching tv, talking on or playing with their phone, and generally being a distraction. Dad jokes are the worst - seriously guys, don't try to be funny while your partner is in labour, it's really not helpful.

It was not too many years ago that men were not allowed to be present, at all. Like my own dad, who was promptly told to go to work and he would be called at the appropriate time. This isn't the answer either!

I particularly take offence to the statements I often hear from women, along the lines of "he put it in there, he can damn well be there to get it out." How disrespectful! Surely this is a decision best made as a couple, with frank and open communication both ways. Birth is such a profound experience for all involved and birth support is an important part of it. Birth support needs to be the right fit - nobody should feel obligated or coerced into something they don't want to do.

I'm also on the fence about men being on postnatal wards overnight. Surely women can have this one safe space? It really won't affect bonding if dad's not there the first night or two. If you want dad around, why not do early discharge instead? Bonding with baby is best done in your own safe space at home, not in a busy hospital ward with its bright lights and constant activity. Many hospitals offer home midwifery services, or you can find yourself a private midwife to visit you at home for checkups and support. Postnatal doulas are also fantastic!

There may be women on the ward who have suffered abuse and don't want strange men around. Women are very vulnerable in those first hours and days. It's not appropriate to have men unknown to them in close proximity when they have just given birth and are bleeding, trying to breastfeed and get through the night without giving in to the waves of emotions that happen after birth.

Guys, I'm not excluding you. But women need this safe space. Lots of women are okay with men being in their space, but many are not. It's these extremely vulnerable women that we need to support, respect and protect. If you do stay on the postnatal ward, please be respectful of others, and remember that they may not be comfortable with you being there. 

Birth plans

Birth plans - useful or the root of all evil?

A lot of doctors say they give women unrealistic expectations and are dangerous. Some doctors are openly derisive.

Many midwives also scoff at them.

A lot of women say "you can't plan your labour" and decide against one.

But birth plans aren't just about labour. I see them as a useful tool for some women, to educate themselves in the processes and possibilities. Obviously you cannot plan your labour. But you can make known things that you would like to happen in various circumstances. Call it "birth preferences" if you like.

The birth plan is not about dictating that you will have morphine at 2cm and then an epidural at 4cm, nor is it about getting into a bath at exactly 5 minute contractions. Labour doesn't work that way. They also aren't about candles and essential oils and a willow tree (although some women do choose these things!).

 A birth plan is more to do with seeking information and deciding what options are best for you and your baby. I encourage women to add things like whether you want to be offered pain relief or ask for it yourself, whether you want baby skin to skin after birth, and whether you want your third stage to be actively managed or physiological. Put in your feeding preference (if you have one) so you aren't asked fifteen thousand times if you're planning to breastfeed or formula feed. Note down your preferred support people, and any cultural requests. The type of things that you CAN control. And you can also investigate alternative options if things go awry, when you might not be in the right headspace for rational thought. They can also help your partner to advocate for you. Even women who are having a planned caesarean can benefit from a birth plan!

Birth plans are about YOUR CHOICES and what is important to YOU. Going into birth armed with evidence-based knowledge and clear lines of communication empowers women. In today's medicalised system, women often feel as though they aren't being heard. A good birth plan articulates what's important to each woman in a way that she in comfortable with.

And if you choose not to have a birth plan, that's fine too! We're all different.

Welcome to our Privacy Policy

Your privacy is critically important to us.

It is Select Midwifery's policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our website. This Privacy Policy applies to selectmidwifery.blogspot.com (hereinafter, "us", "we", or "selectmidwifery.blogspot.com"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting personally identifiable information you may provide us through the Website. We have adopted this privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") to explain what information may be collected on our Website, how we use this information, and under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties. This Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through the Website and does not apply to our collection of information from other sources.

This Privacy Policy, together with the Terms and conditions posted on our Website, set forth the general rules and policies governing your use of our Website. Depending on your activities when visiting our Website, you may be required to agree to additional terms and conditions.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, Select Midwifery collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Select Midwifery's purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Select Midwifery's visitors use its website. From time to time, Select Midwifery may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

Select Midwifery also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on http://selectmidwifery.blogspot.com blog posts. Select Midwifery only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to Select Midwifery's websites choose to interact with Select Midwifery in ways that require Select Midwifery to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Select Midwifery gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a blog at http://selectmidwifery.blogspot.com to provide a username and email address.

Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Advertisements

Ads appearing on our website may be delivered to users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by Select Midwifery and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Links To External Sites

Our Service may contain links to external sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy and terms and conditions of every site you visit.

We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites, products or services.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Select Midwifery discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on Select Midwifery's behalf or to provide services available at Select Midwifery's website, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using Select Midwifery's website, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. Select Midwifery will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, Select Midwifery discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when Select Midwifery believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Select Midwifery, third parties or the public at large.

If you are a registered user of http://selectmidwifery.blogspot.com and have supplied your email address, Select Midwifery may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what's going on with Select Midwifery and our products. We primarily use our blog to communicate this type of information, so we expect to keep this type of email to a minimum. If you send us a request (for example via a support email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. Select Midwifery takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Aggregated Statistics

Select Midwifery may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its website. Select Midwifery may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, Select Midwifery does not disclose your personally-identifying information.

Cookies

To enrich and perfect your online experience, Select Midwifery uses "Cookies", similar technologies and services provided by others to display personalized content, appropriate advertising and store your preferences on your computer.

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor's computer, and that the visitor's browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Select Midwifery uses cookies to help Select Midwifery identify and track visitors, their usage of http://selectmidwifery.blogspot.com, and their website access preferences. Select Midwifery visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using Select Midwifery's websites, with the drawback that certain features of Select Midwifery's websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

By continuing to navigate our website without changing your cookie settings, you hereby acknowledge and agree to Select Midwifery's use of cookies.

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Select Midwifery may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in Select Midwifery's sole discretion. Select Midwifery encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Credit & Contact Information

This privacy policy was created at termsandconditionstemplate.com. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us via email or phone.

Documentation Basics

A short powerpoint about documentation basics. Worth watching for all nurses, midwives and students, especially if you struggle with documentation.

Bullied out - a midwife's story

Bullied out…a midwife’s journey…

As registration time rolls around again, I am seriously considering not renewing my midwife registration this year. Why? Certainly not by my own choice, but because others decided that I wasn’t good enough. In one breath saying my work was exemplary, but that they just had no place for me – in the midst of a midwife shortage!

We all know the saying – nurses and midwives eat their young. We’ve seen it, we’ve probably experienced it, and I dare say some of us are guilty of it, whether we realise it or not. We may even have tried to fight it. There is plenty of research proving that horizontal violence exists at high levels in healthcare settings. I won’t delve into the specifics of my case, as it is still, after 2 years, being fought. Suffice it to say that not only were my colleagues on the floor involved, but the intimidation and bullying also extended to management at a local and district level, and also to human resources. I followed union advice to the letter…and ended up terminated! As a result, I can no longer work in public health – despite a perfect work record and excellent references. That’s right, I did not have any performance issues, and my case involved an incident outside of work, yet I was still forced out and blacklisted, whilst on maternity leave. All because I fought back and stood up for myself.

What ensued for me personally, after the original incident that set off the “investigation” (and I use that term loosely), was a rollercoaster of emotional turmoil, disbelief, burnout, and a frightening vulnerability that I had never experienced before. I was at the mercy of those around me, and the harder I fought the accusations, the worse things became. You see, I am not one to just lay down and admit to things that just aren’t true, even if it destroys me in the process. To submit to the “findings” and subsequent working conditions would have been a lie, and went against the very fibre of my being. Many people told me to just submit and move on, but if everybody did that, nothing would ever change, and the bullying would just continue. One voice is not going to be a catalyst for systemic change, but maybe my story can create awareness and prevent even one other person going through this. Maybe it will encourage others to speak out – and THEN we can create some real change!

My biggest issue with the whole thing, was that I was never given the chance to properly defend myself. I received a written warning for one of the accusations, which was never even brought up at the one “interview” I was granted in the entire 9 month ordeal. My privacy was invaded, medical records were accessed, appointments changed without my permission - confidentiality was well and truly broken, and yet nobody would even listen to my side. I suffered through suspension, “alternate” duties, being blocked from returning to work after maternity leave, AND blocked from working in another local facility – all with an unblemished work record! I even moved 600km on the promise of a midwifery job, only to arrive and have HR put the kibosh on that, despite being in a completely different health district. So here I was, in a town where I knew nobody, broke, isolated and unable to work. Because other people, many of whom have never even spoken to me, let alone met me face to face, decided that I was dangerous. Yes, that is the word they used. Dangerous to patient care because I stood up for myself.

Dangerous? Far out. I have dealt with the end result of dangerous practice. I valued my registration too much to be dangerous! I annoyed doctors if I thought even the slightest thing was not right.  I got that “dangerous”  label because I fought back. I said no, I was not going to submit to unproven accusations, I wouldn’t agree to a lie. I would not comply with a “voluntary” mediation process that would have destroyed my already fragile mental health. And for that my career was  crucified.

The dark road that I walked is not one that I would wish on anybody. To this day I still do not understand much of what I was accused of. I never saw any of the “evidence” against me, despite asking for it, as I am legally entitled to do. I completely lost myself. I lost my desire to work as a midwife, even after working so hard to attain it. I questioned everything about myself – and I doubted everything . I lost valued friendships. I struggled to enjoy my pregnancy and to bond with my baby when he was born. I lost my income, and being the breadwinner, this put my children at risk. My mental health declined to the point that I could not function, and with a new baby on the way, this was even more disastrous. I did not sleep more than 3 hours a night since it all began, and the anxiety was so bad I couldn’t even answer the phone or my front door. I became a prisoner of my own mind. My children suffered immensely, in particular my autistic child.

So where to now? I no longer work as a midwife. I work in a nursing home. It’s a good recovery job, I enjoy working with the residents, and it encompasses my other passion of palliative care. But obviously it isn’t my first passion. I gained my nursing degree in order to continue on to be a midwife – and right now I am glad I chose to get a nursing degree first be ca  it meant that I could still get a job! It feels as though all the time and effort to first qualify as a midwife, and then to gain my Master of Midwifery degree, were wasted (and anyone who’s done the RN to RM year knows just how tough it is!). I am obviously in danger of losing my midwife registration if I cannot work as a midwife. I could go into private practice but I don’t have the recency of practice to upgrade my registration, and I don’t know if I have the heart for it now.

From my perspective, the system is set up to defend the multi-level bullying and intimidation, with the bullies free to continue their lives and careers. And I am not alone. There are many more stories like mine out there. Passionate, skilled nurses and midwives who have given up their careers after they couldn’t take any more. Ridiculous investigations that are not conducted by qualified people, and set the victim up to fail. New graduates who don’t even last the year before giving up – what a waste! (I endured plenty during my grad year, but I was able to tough it out.) We need change. We need it now. In a system that is crying out for skilled nurses and midwives, why do we keep pushing them away? I can’t believe that the health system would invest a lot of time and money into so many people, only to destroy them. It’s counter-intuitive.

The best advice I can give is to go in with your eyes wide open. Make those diaries, every day, and don’t be afraid to speak up at the slightest hint of trouble. Don’t let the shortcomings of others dim your fire. Be the sort of nurse or midwife that you would look up to and respect, that others can look up to. Lead by example. Speak up for yourself and others, because nobody else will. Maybe if we all start to speak up, change will happen – but always be aware that the system will not protect you. I had to learn that the hard way.