I was not at all experienced when I first cared for a family whose baby had died.
I can remember crying my eyes out in the middle of labour ward because it was just too painful. Luckily, I had an amazing manager who gave me continuity with the family in question and I was able to follow them for 3 days worth of shifts. Their little boy had been stillborn after a complicated labour.
Once when I was a student midwife on labour ward, I was reading a leaflet trying to entice junior doctors to go into obstetrics. The leaflet was talking about the blend of medical and surgical skills, young patients, the challenge of emergency situations and the rewards of working with new families.
But for me, there was a spark missing.
Then I realised what was wrong: there was nothing about advocating for women. In fact, the leaflet didn’t mention the word 'women' once.