Happy International day of the Midwife

Monday 5 May is International Day of the Midwife,  a day that acknowledges the incredible work midwifery colleagues do every day to support pregnant people and their families.

Scroll down below to see a special celebration message from colleagues across our organisation and from our Director of Midwifery, Isabelle Cornet.

 

Did you know that the term ’midwife’ originates from Middle English, combining ‘mid’ meaning ‘with’ and ‘wif’ meaning ‘woman’?

 

Therefore, "midwife" literally meant "with-woman" i.e. a woman who is with another woman and assists her in giving birth.

 

Another fun fact is that a man named Julian Clement is often attributed to being the first male midwife, after he helped the chief mistress of King Louis XIV of France give birth to their son Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

 

Midwives are there, (and have been there for centuries!) every step of the way for service users and families. They help people to make informed choices about their pregnancy, and support them through challenging times.  A big THANK YOU to all our of our midwifery teams!