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Andrea Mietkiewicz, CPM, RN, Midwife To be a good midwife, humility is your greatest gift. You must always disregard your own needs, placing the woman you care for above yourself, and above anyone else at the birth. Her needs must be served first. This is not always easy. It is not easy to be her energy at 3:00 a.m. when your labor support crew are tired and dozing on couches and in chairs, and you know there is still a long way to go. I always pray on the way to a birth. I know I am not truly in control of what will unfold over the next few hours, or ever. I am trained to recognize what is not normal, and sometimes I do not recognize it beyond "mother and baby are doing well." How are we hung up? Is it physical, mental, emotional, spiritual? How can I intervene using my intuition and training? I do not control the outcome -- none of us do. Our Creator sees the inevitable plan and I am the facilitator. I pray to never do harm and alway see how to best assist a woman, observing and realizing her needs. I know I am far from perfect, but I strive to be -- knowing this is impossible. I strive to learn more from every woman and every birth, and to become more for myself and for others. I trust our Creator and I trust Nature. We do not always get what we pray for -- or at least not in our time. Regardless, I am there to support families and to try to bring out the best in us all. Being part of difficulties, celebrations, loss, and receiving
the greatest of gifts -- all of this is midwifery and humanity at its outmost. This
is true woman-to-woman, human-to-human being, all of us together at a moment in time that
will not be forgotten. Any mother you ask will be able to give you a detailed
recollection of the birth of her child, and this day is special and not to be forgotten. Andrea Mietkiewicz, CPM, RN, Midwife |
