International Day of the Midwife 2022!

International Day of the Midwife is celebrated each year on the 5th May. As you can see, this post is a little late but I thought this year, I would instead share how I celebrated...at work! I was unfortunately working both night shifts either side, so I started the International Day of the Midwife working the night shift, and finished it working a night shift. 

I was initially meant to be on labour suite for both shifts but with staff shortages elsewhere on the unit, I was instead pulled to the postnatal ward on the first night, then the antenatal ward on the second. I think I had the best of both worlds, as both my shifts were absolutely lovely with a great time. Had it of been the other way around, I think it would have been a different story. 

Labour suite had set up a little party in one of the patient lounges, and the managers had made individualised cards for gratitude. There was also a little goodie bag of treats, including a sweet donation from a Scentsy seller and a little wish bracelet. I thought it was so sweet. I was a little sad I couldn't go down to celebrate, but I did nip down to grab my card and some pictures at the start of the shift. 

I was so surprised and grateful when the postnatal ward receptionist brought out a little goodie bag for me from the ward. As I wasn't rostered on initially, I wasn't expecting anything, but so thankful to be included. They had so many treats and goodies brought in for the day shift, so I was defintely sad I wasn't staying and working. Instead, I treated myself to a McDonald's breakfast as a treat instead. 

The next night, there was some pastries and cake leftover from the day shift. I had my cupcake on my break and it was delicious! The antenatal ward also had some incredible goodie bags but sadly they were pre-prepared and had names on the bags, so none for me. They had so many names, many of which work on labour suite mainly, so I was quite shocked given that I also work quite a lot on the ward, but anyway. 

The theme for this year's International Day of the Midwife was "100 years of Progress". I have seen first hand the progress in just the last few years, so over the last 100 we have seen improvement in almost all areas. I love that trusts and governments are now sharing knowledge globally to improve care across the globe.