Blog

International Day of the Midwife - a day in the life with Rebecca Craig

Career overview

I started my midwifery training in 2013 when I was in my mid 30’s. I trained at Northumbria University and my placement allocations were here at Northumbria Healthcare. I qualified with a 1^st Class honours degree and I was very proud to be awarded ‘The Heath Award’. The Heath Award, which was established in 1892 by George Yeoman Heath, former President of the Royal College of Medicine, is presented to a small number of Northumbria nursing and midwifery students each year in recognition of the commitment shown whilst studying for their degree; both academically and within their work placements in local NHS hospitals and community teams.

I began my first band 5 role as a Newly Qualified Midwife at Northumbria in Oct 2016. I had always enjoyed all my placements at Northumbria, so I was pleased that I was also able to get my first job in the Trust. I completed my preceptorship in just over a year and moved up to a band 6 midwife. During this period, I worked at NSECH and rotated between Ward 16 Postnatal ward, Birthing centre and Pregnancy Assessment Unit.

At the end of 2018 I was approached by my matron who felt I would be the right person to take on a 6-month secondment to implement Continuity of carer into the maternity pathway as part of the implementation of Better Births. In January 2019 I started a Band 7 secondment as Continuity Lead. This was a challenging role that I felt somewhat underprepared for, however it gave me some fantastic opportunities and experiences both within the trust and externally that I would never have been available to me otherwise. By the late part of 2019 and early 2020 the work I was doing in relation to implementing Continuity of carer into local areas with higher indices of deprivation to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes was being recognised, firstly at a local level and then at a national level after presenting at several Local and National Maternity System events. This cumulated in March 2020 when I was asked to present my work on the implementation of Continuity of Carer by focusing on the women that needed it most at the Better Births 4 years on event alongside The Chief Midwifery Officer at that time Jaquline Dunkley-Bent. As a result of this work, I was set up our first midwifery continuity team focused on the Women and families that need it most. The hard work and commitment needed to establish this was recognised later in 2020 when I was very proud to win our Staff Award for International Year of the Nurse or Midwife.

In March 2021 I stepped back from Midwifery and went on Maternity leave with my third Child Ellie. When I returned to work in June 2022, I wanted to work part time in a less demanding role and go back to clinical work. I now work at Hillcrest Midwifery led unit and have my own caseload of woman that I see both Antenatally and Postnatally and we also can provide low risk midwife led intrapartum care. I am really enjoying being back clinically and working to support women and their families.      

I think I first became interested in midwifery as a teenager when I used to work in the Summer holidays in my dad’s GP practice helping with the admin. I loved having a chat with the Community Midwife Rosemary and I was curious about pregnancy and birth.

At school I was academic, and I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do, at the time Nursing and Midwifery wasn’t seen as a choice for students that were completing A-levels. So, I applied and went to university starting a degree that I really did not enjoy. By the end of my first year, I had decided that I really wanted to become a midwife. I then had to complete a science higher in biology as I didn’t have any science-based A-Levels and apply the following year. I applied and was given offers from all my university choices however due to personal reasons I did not go on to start my midwifery degree at that time.

Midwifery was always in my heart, and I knew that I would go back to it. When I turned 30 and my first two boys were getting a bit older, I decided it was time to start a new chapter and go back to Midwifery. As a mature student things were more complicated, and I had to spend time demonstrating recent study, so it was back to college to study another biology module and after 3 application rounds, I was finally accepted onto the course. It’s been a long journey into midwifery but it something that I always wanted to do, and I am pleased that I have persevered and followed my heart.    

Day in the life

I am now working at Hillcrest Maternity Unit where much of my role is working as a Community Midwife caring for Antenatal and Postnatal women. I have a caseload of about 35 women in Amble/Hadston/Widdrington and I run my Antenatal clinic from the Family Hub in Hadston. As a team we also provide an on-call service for low-risk intrapartum care for women who want to deliver in the Midwife led unit or at home

I really enjoy my role, I’m passionate about providing the best quality of care to my women, pregnant people and their families and this role provides me with the opportunity to get to know my caseload throughout pregnancy and to understand them and their family life. I can explore their individual needs which is important as pregnancy is a great time to support change and improve the wider health of women, babies and their families. This can include supporting healthy eating, smoking cessation, physical activity, recreational drug use and mental wellbeing. Pregnancy and the arrival of a new baby is a great motivator for change and supporting lifestyle improvements can benefit an entire family’s health. I really enjoy the wider public health role that working in midwifery provides the opportunity for.

As our team is based in North Northumberland we cover a huge geographical area from Berwick in the North, Wooler, Rothbury and past Thropton to the West and as a far as Ellington and Widdrington to the South and everything in between. This is challenging in terms of post-natal care as we visit all our postnatal women at home with their new babies at least three times in the first 10 days. As a team we do a lot of rural driving and have been to some of Northumberland’s very hidden pockets. At postnatal visits I support women with feeding, caring for the newborn, lots of support with mental health and transition to parenthood which is hugely underestimated.     

I have 2 small children and a dog so most of my downtime is spent with my family and we like to be outdoors, we spend lots of time enjoying all the beautiful places that North Northumberland has to offer with lots of days at the beach, exploring the countryside or making the most of our National Trust membership!