My mum was a midwife, so growing up I had always been interested in midwifery as a career. I was lucky enough to undertake work experience in a local hospital maternity unit when I was at school. After my A-levels, I applied to university for a BSc in midwifery and health science.
I took a year out before my degree and became a maternity care assistant in another local hospital to become familiar with the maternity setting to ensure this was the career I wanted, and to also learn some basic nursing skills.
I returned to start university and three years later graduated with a degree in midwifery. I have been a qualified midwife for over 13 years. In that period, I have worked as a labour ward midwife, in a postnatal ward and in a buddy system to offer continuity of care. However my heart lies in community midwifery where I have my own caseload of clients who are attached to a GP surgery.
In the last eight years, I have worked in the same GP surgery as a community midwife, seeing and supporting families through their pregnancies.