International Day of the Midwife

To celebrate International Day of the Midwife, Emily Cook, Community Midwife in Hull, and ‘Ask A Midwife’ Team Midwife for the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) talked about her journey in midwifery.

I think I ‘always knew’ I wanted to be a midwife. When I was 11, I spent my summer holidays raising money for the local birth centre to buy some more equipment. Midwifery, pregnancy and birth was something that really interested me, and throughout my teenage years I felt I had a sense of direction that I would pursue it as a career path.

Becoming a student midwife was the biggest challenge of my life, developing as a person and as a professional at the age of 20, but I had a fantastic experience building up my knowledge base working with incredibly passionate, dedicated and supportive mentors. I completed my training in 2014, and post-qualification I worked rotationally on each of the inpatient wards, before starting a secondment within the Children’s Safeguarding Team in 2019. Here I developed my knowledge and confidence of multidisciplinary working with social care, and supporting colleagues with their safeguarding queries and concerns.

Following maternity leave with my first child, I joined a Continuity of Care team. This was incredibly rewarding being able to hold a small caseload and get to know the families under your care well, but it became difficult to balance alongside family life. After 12 months within a fantastic team, I decided to return to the community, where I continue to work now alongside my most recent position within the Local Maternity and Neonatal System in the ICB.

As part of the Ask A Midwife project we provide a form of digital support for pregnant women and their families, answering non-urgent queries and signposting to relevant support and services. We also disseminate public health information through social media posts and attend face to face promotional events such as the monthly HEYBABY Carousel event at Women and Children’s Hospital in Hull. In October 2024, we were awarded a RCM Award for Outstanding Contribution to Maternity Services: Digital, and we are hoping to support in the expansion of the project in other areas. 

I enjoy being involved in the development of personalised maternity care. Being a mother of young children myself, I recognise the importance of feeling listened to when it comes to advocating for ourselves during what can be a vulnerable time in our lives. My hope is that within my job roles I can empower women to make informed choices and feel supported during their episode of maternity care.