Interview: Kate-Elizabeth
Kate, the self-professed maternity nerd, registered and endorsed midwife, mother of three, wife, feminist, and passionate about motherhood.
The list of ‘accreditation’ is impressive BUT what I was most interested about is her journey from Melbourne to Perth (sound familiar?!), stressful working conditions in rural WA, when it became too much (and what took the hit!). Not to mention where she sits now with her career and life integration-happy as a clam.
A path to Midwifery isn’t often linear and Kate’s experience was no exception. However, the knowing Kate felt around working in healthcare was always a consistent factor.
Once the romanticism of ‘learning’ Midwifery wore off, the stark realities of Midwifery in the hospital setting and rural WA took its toll both professionally and personally.
As often happens when feeling emotionally burnout at work, relationships take a hit and this saw a move BACK across the Nullabor with 2 small humans and reintegrating back into shift work in Melbourne.
We reflect on the challenges faced by working Mum Midwives in a ‘woman-entered’ profession which leaves us feeling ultimately unsupported in both roles. The juggle of getting to and from any ol’ shift is REAL and we chuckle about the daycare run that our children sleep through.
With these exceptional organisation skills comes bucket-loads of guilt and the added challenge of where to direct our limited emotional and physical energy. The battle of being a ‘good’ hospital Midwife (thorough notes, jobs ticked, clean room etc) Vs truely WITH woman in labour (terrible, scrappy notes, messy room etc) is one we can both identify with and fuels the desire to enter into an area of work that compliments the Midwifery soul over the allure of set shifts and pay check.
We dive deep into THAT last shift for Kate which confirmed the need to transition into her own private practice! This led us down the garden path of (ongoing) EFT concerns, the lack of understanding from executive levels of management and how WE as Midwives, need to draw a hard line and hold it in regards to patient/Midwife ratios.
Work for Kate now feels in pure alignment and keeps her motivated as she feels much more supported and a sense of community.
AND Kate shares her TOP 3 tips for any Midwife working in the hospital at the moment:
1> Don’t do doubles! (if financially able)
2> Find your support network (a good gaggle of Midwives helps SO much)
3> Research and action your exit strategy (because the thought will have crossed your mind!)
Click through below and have a listen.
Links and Resources:
Download ‘The Midwives post-shift debrief:ultimate energy saver on-the-go!’ HERE
Join our FREE FB group ‘The Midwives Tea room’
Find Kate here: https://www.kateelizabethparenting.com.au
Listen to her NEW poddie here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/grow-birth-mother-a-podcast-with-midwife-kate/id1659844335