Life of a Male Midwife — Inspiring Stories from Male Midwives
‘’There are many men who could provide a great contribution to this industry.’’ Stuart Hislop (Scotland’s first male midwife)
The year of 1975 was really important for the male representatives who wanted to be midwives. Before the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 midwifery was seen by law as a female only profession. Thankfully times have changed, law has changed and prejudice has hopefully changed too. 45 years later midwifery is still one of the most gender-segregated jobs. Male midwives still make up a small proportion of the profession. It’s been reported that just 10.8% of registered nurses were men (NMC, 2017). This makes the midwifery profession one of the most gender-segregated ones.
Undeniably, though, there is progress! In fact, there are universities which aim for a gender balance within nursing and midwifery. They launch programmes targeting male representatives in nursing. Another great way for creating more awareness around the topic is through social media channels. Men make incredible nurses and midwives! We can see that through the inspiring posts. They put so much love in every word they share about their job. Caring, compassionate and hard-working the male representatives of the profession provide a great contribution to this industry.
Let us take a look at some really touching stories from six incredible male midwives. They shared their midwife journeys with the team of Mylocum and we want to reshape them with the world. Their stories come from the heart and show their dedication and genuine love for the profession.
Anders Lindback and his Midwife Story
How did you decide to become a midwife? What was your main motivation?
I had been working as a nurse in a youth clinic with sexual and reproductive health for some years with mostly testing for STI, andrology and counselling different issues that young people could have regarding their sexual health. I really liked it but decided to study a master in midwifery and reproductive, perinatal and sexual health to be able to also work with gynecology and contraceptives in the clinic. As a midwife in Sweden you’re able to prescribe contraceptives and insert implants and IUD’s. But during my studies I noticed how much I really loved assisting births as well so a couple of months ago I decided to quit my job at the youth clinic and start working in a delivery ward instead.
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
For me it’s that every day, or night, is so different and you never know what to expect when you enter the doors to work. Every birth is unique and my job is to make it a safe and positive experience for the new family.
It’s such a complex work. Of course you need to have the medical skills because things could shift really quickly but it’s also a craft and it takes a lot of practice to know what to feel and do with your hands. And it’s also very demanding psychology to be present and calm and be there with the woman.
And last, but not least, to be able to be there in one of the greatest moments of their lives, every day at work, it’s amazing.
Share an inspiring for you story from your professional life.
For me it’s when I care for a woman who’s afraid of childbirth, and in doubt of herself being able to do it. And I can be there to help her to trust herself, and her body, that it knows what to do. To make her experience the great power of giving birth and the extreme reward when she sees her baby for the first time.
Inspiring Story by Midwife Alex
How did you decide to become a midwife? What was your main motivation?
It was a long road to become a midwife. I started as a nurse on a med/surf unit and then transferred to labor and delivery. I did labor and delivery for about 8 years prior to applying to school. I think my biggest motivation was seeing the care many patients received and how uninformed patients felt. I really believe education is such a big part of midwifery and really supporting the individual during this special time. I was motivated to grow in my skills but still have the attachment to patients that bedside nurses have, so I really believed that midwifery was the correct path for me. You have the best of both worlds being a nurse and provider.
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
I truly feel the most fulfilling part is Building a connection with clients and being allowed to be part of this special moment in their lives. It was such an honour to help catch babies and just see this moment of time of pure joy and peace in a room.
Share an inspiring for you story from your professional life.
A few months ago I had an induction of labor who ruptured her membranes and on examination there was a prolapsed cord. This is an emergent situation that requires quick delivery. I called the physician to the room and started to discuss to the patient about the need for a stat cs. We started rolling to the OR and all I hear is the patient asking me to save her child over and over again. I told the patient to look at me and breathe and that we will do our most due diligence to have this child. I wanted the patient to focus on me and breathe with me. We had a beautiful baby in less than 10 minutes. About two weeks after that I saw the patient for a postpartum visit. The patient and her husband gave me a card with the most heartfelt message I have ever received. Thanking me for being calm and reassuring, but for being there at that right time. It was truly emotional and at that time I realized this is why I love what I do. Not for cards and thanks, but to be a captain on.
A team to steer the course, to provide calmness, to act upon situations, to empower the individual, to educate them and their partners, and to be caught in a moment of pure happiness. I do what I love and it is such an inspiring thing to see and witness.
Midwife Journey of Paul Byrne
How did you decide to become a midwife? What is your midwife’s journey?
My journey into midwifery has been a little unusual. I was living in Dublin, working as a roofing contractor for 28 years. My partner of 15 years became ill with lung cancer and died after 6 weeks in hospital. This was an extremely challenging time for me and like most men I buried myself in work to keep busy as a way of coping with the grief of my partner’s death. One day in work I fell 36 feet off a roof and broke 11 bones. I was in a wheelchair for 3 months, I had 5 operations and had to learn how to walk again. This event was a blessing in disguise as it afforded me the time and space to reassess where my life was going and what I would do next.
I was inspired by the care I had received by the Nurses and Doctors that had cared for me. I thought that I would like to enter some aspect of the caring professions. Midwifery was the discipline that called to me, as it is generally supporting women with a normal physiological event that is incredibly life affirming. I had left school some 28 years previously and I had no qualifications to enter university. I started an access course in nursing studies, I was still on crutches when I started this course. I successfully completed the course with 10 distinctions. I applied to universities in Ireland and the UK, out of 15 applications I got 1 interview in the University of West London. I was successful in my interview and was accepted on the course as a midwifery student.
This meant I had to move to London but before I could I had to return to roofing for 6 months to accumulate some money to get me started in London. Fortunately I had a cousin living in London and he kindly put me up for 18 months. My first day in University was funny, one of my classmates confided in me that she thought I was one of the students’ husbands. “How sweet of him to accompany her on her first day of University….. But why is he still the lecture hall”? The penny finally dropped.
I have had a number of challenges as a male student midwife, on my first day on labor ward I was declined by 5 women. By the end of my course I had been declined by 32 women. While I may be a male midwife I have come to understand that whether you are male or female first and foremost you are a healthcare professional. Charged with providing care and support to women and babies.
Declan Brown and Midwifery
How did you decide to become a midwife? What was your main motivation?
Hello, I’m Declan, a Post RN student midwife who is a month away from qualification. My journey in becoming a midwife started right after watching the film ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’. I remember going straight home from the cinema in 2012 and told my mum that I wanted to be a midwife. Something just clicked whilst watching the film and the appeal of midwifery just took over. I put the idea of pursuing marketing to one side and focused solely on midwifery. Skip forward 2 years and I started my nurse training. I knew it would be demanding in every way possible, but I had that goal of being a midwife and this is what motivated me. Once qualified, I worked as a nurse for 2 years and I knew it was time to transfer over to midwifery whilst the top up courses were still available. Skip another 18 months and I’m nearly there, the feeling of being at the end of such a long journey is overwhelmingly amazing.
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
I’d have to say the most fulfilling part of my role is knowing I am able to make a difference to a couples life through both the highs and the lows, during the most important time in their lives. It’s also the feeling of being able to support and advocate for those in such a vulnerable position, enabling them to be heard and their preferences be recognised. As we all know it’s not a ‘one size, fits all’ service we provide. It’s also nice to see more and more women becoming open to males being involved within their care, something I feel passionately about and centered my dissertation around. Males have come a long in midwifery since the early 1980s but we still have a way to go.
Share an inspiring for you story from your professional life.
My 1st and my 40th births will forever stick with me. I can remember all details because they were so monumental in my development as a student midwife. At my first birth, I was so taken aback by how utterly amazing childbirth was, that I could not imagine I would be able to deliver a newborn without the guidance of a mentor but here I am after bringing 40 babies into this world. The rapport you build with the mother and partners and being able to share such a special moment with them is something that will, quite frankly, never grow old.
The Midwife career for Christos Vrakas
I decided that I wanted to be male nurse from the age of 15. Even though I had never given any thoughts on becoming a male midwife, while in the 3rd year of my nursing bachelor degree we had a lesson on midwifery. I instantly fell in love with the idea of being so up and close with a birth so at that specific point I decided that I wanted to be involved with this.
Later that week we went to the hospital for our weekly practical placement and there I was inside a nursery full of newborn babies. It instantly felt like home, like it was always meant for me to be there. I started helping moms give their infants their first bath and it felt so beautiful.
I specifically remember turning to my sister who was also in nursing school with me and telling her these exact words, “Natasa, this is what i want to do in my life, this is where i want to be. I want to become a male midwife, I want to be here”.
She turned around and looked at me with her eyes watering “ I’ve never seen you talking about something like that, I hope you make it but knowing how determined you are I have no doubts that you can make it”.
At that point in Cyprus, the only options for someone to become a midwife was either to travel to the nearby country of Greece where you could attend a 4 year bachelor degree in midwifery or, having a 2 year Masters degree on the subject.
I decided to complete my bachelor as a nurse and later on the same year I immediately enrolled on the Master Degree In Midwifery.
Fast forward 2 years later I completed my Masters after many sleepless nights working 2 full time jobs and waiting for mommies to give birth to their babies. The feeling of bringing new life into this world made all the tiredness I felt go away in seconds.
I had never been more proud in my life for achieving something and it was with great sadness that when i started looking for a job as a male midwife i realised that most Private sector clinics in Cyprus would not hire me as a midwife just because Iwas a man.
After many struggles I managed to find a job in a different city from the one that I was at that time and I remained there for 3 years until I was appointed in Ammochostos General Hospital which is a public hospital and to which I remain to this day.
Unfortunately due to the Covid19 Pandemic, our hospital has been appointed as a Covid19 treatment centre and all of our midwives have been working in the Covid19 wards for the past year. I have really missed our maternity ward but hopefully we can go back to normal in a few months.
After working as a nurse for a total of 7 years and as a midwife for the last 5, I have also acquired a position in teaching at the European University of Cyprus where I teach midwifery both on undergraduate nursing students as well as on postgraduate midwifery students. I have also applied for a PhD on midwifery and I’m waiting for an answer from the specific institution.
A very common question i get from people is if women don’t feel as comfortable with me as their midwife as they would with a woman and my answer is always the same. A woman that is in labour just wants help, attention and respect. When you give this three things then gender doesn’t really matter. When approaching a woman with respect at one of the most important moments of her life, then her acceptance towards you is almost guaranteed.
There are differences in the way I handle situations but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing.
For example, I cannot approach a woman and just check her breasts or her postpartum bleeding without her consent which is something that most midwives forget to do. As women they can approach and touch a woman’s body without really talking first.
As a man on the other hand, before I do anything I like to speak with women, explaining to them about everything I am going to do and that makes most women feel respected. It also makes them realise that I am there to help them, providing them with useful information regarding them as well as their newborn babies.
I think the most fulfilling part of my job is gaining the couples trust and rewarding them with a beautiful healthy newborn baby. I love being the reason that families are created, I love seeing full grown men in tears when they hold their babies for the first time, I love supporting and engaging couples and I love being the one that brings a new life into this world.
Thank you for giving me a chance to share a small part of my story and I hope that more men decide to be midwives.
Dr Donovan Jones and his midwifery experience
How did you decide to become a midwife? What was your main motivation?
One of the things that really sparked my interest in midwifery was my exposure in third year when I was a nursing student. What happened at the time was we had placement which was a specific time where you got to go and experience different parts of nursing. And while all my friends were going off to coronary care and Intensive Care Units and emergency department, I was fortunate or unfortunate (as it felt at the time) to actually get a placement on a postnatal ward (not knowing anything about what postnatal care is), certainly knowing nothing about midwifery. Um…I tried to swap with some of my female colleagues but unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to swap. So I went along with an open mind and was exposed to the world of postnatal care and just fell in love with it. Just thought it was awesome!
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
Reflecting on my own midwifery practice being a male midwife I often get some odd looks when entering the birth environment. More often than not the women’s birthing support people joke that I should be called a mid-man or mid-husband. However, I find once the explanation of the word midwife to the woman and her support people, “with woman” brings an understanding and acceptance to my presence in the woman’s birthing environment. I remember one of my midwifery mentors telling me repeatedly early in my career “you will have to work hard as being a male means every little mistake will be noticed”. Clearly the journey of a midwife is amazing and being a male has its challenges, but ultimately midwifery has led me to an incredible life, allowing me to share the precious time in a woman’s life for which I am humbled and honoured.
Share an inspiring for you story from your professional life.
Don’t, really have one that I can share that would not break confidentiality, but I can tell you that I have been blessed as moving into educating our next future generation of midwives is one of the most amazing experiences. Being a part of a beautiful discipline like midwifery is to be a part of something that is bigger than you and I.
Still a Way To Go
These touching stories get close to the heart, don’t they? You can hear the love coming out from their words. These men speak out of compassion. We must all be proud to have such incredible and dedicated midwives!
It is still a long way to go, but the overall progress seems optimistic. Let’s put the past behind and work on growing the percentage of male midwives in the industry. Let’s also don’t follow stereotypes. Yes, it is normal and natural for women to be firefighters as well as for men to be midwives. At the end those men support women — look at the beauty of this concept!
As Stuart Hislop (Scotland’s first male midwife) says “Men could and should be a substantial part of the nursing and midwifery workforce. There are many men who could provide a great contribution to this industry.”
Women who were cared for by men describe them as supportive, calm and gentle. Some of them even share that they are more understanding and sympathetic than female midwives. Share stories of your experience in the comments — personal or professional.
Originally published on www.mylocum.com in our blog.
If you liked our blog, you might also enjoy reading about the International Midwife Day. We are very happy to also connect with 3 more male midwives who shared their touching stories with us in Part 2 of The Life of a Male Midwife.
Also read:
-Benefits of Doing Night Shifts as a Nurse and 5 Ways to Deal with it
-International Recruitment — Become a Nurse in the UK with Mylocum
-5 Meal Prep Ideas and 5 Tips for Busy 12 Hour Hospitals Shifts
-6 Top Qualities of a Great Nurse
Mylocum has many opportunities in midwifery and we would like to encourage both males and females to apply for their desired job. Check out the vacancies here and pick the one that suits you. Mylocum is also on my CV Library.
