"You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A Milne, and Pooh no less. Words I heard paraphrased on a TV Program I watched this evening baring the delightfully simple title, "Midwives." A program detailing the journey of 6 midwives who's work sees them trace a path through Manchester City, both in a pre and post natal capacity.
I have cried my tiny little eyes out every single episode so far. And not just at the sentiments of new arrivals into this world, but more at seeing a portrayal of the emotional path I myself went through. The shock, the terror, the elation. One particular dad, who had seemingly abandoned the mother-to-be, wore the same 'my-life-just-changed-for-good' expression as I did, over two years ago when Olivia was born.
But I digress. This post is not about me, my experiences, or my girlie tears. I'd like to talk about some true heroes of this world; midwives.
You hear talk of help for heroes, honouring heroes, respect for heroes, but this attention is aimed at those who, to all intents and purposes, end lives. The heroes we don't hear much about are the ones who bring us into this world.
When you become expectant mum and dads, your midwife becomes the most important person in the world to you. She's there to calm the freak-outs, to give answers to the neurotic questions you have, and most importantly to actually get your baby out. She makes you feel like you're the only people having a baby in the 9 months that you patiently wait for yours, when in reality, you're just a number in a hat that's picked out. And what a huge hat that is! I'm led to believe midwives can see 20-30 expecting mums every single day. That's 30 people to advise, 30 people to counsel, 30 people to correct in some way (your mums advice is usually to be ignored!)
These woman deal with not only the emotional roller coaster of child birth, which is enough in itself, but they also bare the brunt of people's anger, abuse, selfishness, ignorance and stupidity. Of course not everyone hurls this their way at once, but to be subjected to any of this at all is not, I'm sure, what they signed up for.
So here's a nod, if you will, to some true heroes of this world. The ones that probably made it possible for you to be reading this.
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