Louise May

Absolutely accurate.

Yeah, it's it's magical.

It's the most rewarding career I think that exists today.

I get so much out of my work.

I'm sure you'd agree.

I come home from work with more energy sometimes than I go in because I just experienced the most lovely times with people.

And it's such a lovely time to be with the woman, which is, you know, what the word midwife means with the woman.

So I'm actually the manager of the Rotundas Postnatal Hub service, which is a new service that's been initiated based on a pilot programme designed by the HSE Sparks initiative.

And this is extending the care that the maternity services provide

to women for up to six weeks after they have their babies.

So the feedback from the women was that there was a lot of input from the maternity services, obviously in the pregnancy, the birth of the baby, early discharge home, perhaps some visits from the community midwifery team at home if you were within the catchment area.

But then in terms of the maternity hospitals offering, there really was nothing additional in the postnatal side.

Our colleagues, the public health nurses and GPs really had, you know, the entire responsibility for seeing the women and babies in that postnatal period.

But the role of the midwife does actually extend out to six weeks after the baby is born.

So since the end of February, the Rotunda, Hollistreet and the Coombe were all up and running

that there's external postnatal hubs where women can come, self-refer, for a one-to-one appointment with a midwife, a one-to-one appointment with a specialist women's health physiotherapist.

We have mum and baby groups and exercise groups, and this is out in the community every day.

I was trying to figure this out.

And I think I'm definitely it's definitely in the hundreds.

But of course, the mum delivers the baby.