The Postnatal midwives

 Our  postnatal  midwife,  Gerta, saw a woman six days after her delivery at Ste. Therese Hospital. This woman had a cesarean section, and she is here at the postnatal clinic for her 6 day visit. When the woman first came in, the baby was hungry, so Gerta helped the woman with positioning the baby at the breast, and did her teaching before examining them. As you can see from the pictures, the baby got very fussy when Gerta tried to examine her, so the baby went back to the breast, and Gerta listened to her breathing and heart rate while the mother kept her happy at the breast.

 These midwives are graduates of our program. It was very gratifying to see how competent and thorough they are, and how much they teach the women, They also treat the women with respect and kindness. They listen carefully to the women, and answer their questions to reassure them.

Our postnatal midwives have a registry of every woman who had a baby at the hospital, and they try to see the woman and her baby at 6 hours postpartum, 6 days postpartum, and six weeks postpartum. Because we now have three postnatal midwives, there is someone in the hospital every day to see the women before discharge. Most women are discharged about 6 or 7 hours after the delivery if it was a normal vaginal delivery without complications. The midwives make an appointment to see the women at the postnatal outpatient clinic on the hospital grounds.

Two postnatal midwives share the office, and see two mother-baby dyads at a time. The picture shows Gerta and Illa finishing up newborn exams. You can see from the size that one baby is six weeks old, and the other baby is only 6 days old. They weigh the babies, see if they are growing properly, and advise the mother on a healthy diet.