Desert Storks

Secret Midwives Business

Welcome to Desert Storks, a web site for Eastern Goldfields women and their families from the midwives of the Australia College of Midwives Kalgoorlie Sub Branch. We want to share with you ‘Secret Midwives Business’.

The midwives of the maternity unit are a magical group of individuals who bring so much experience, fun, laughter and passion to their midwifery and to the unit of the Goldfields. We believe that if women are to have safe birth options and trust in their own abilities, then the empowerment of the midwife is crucial in the delivery of care. This is our goal. Empowerment begins as we nurture our student midwives while they learn. We also need to help in the growth and development of all other midwives that come our way.

So, it is through the teaching and support provided by the midwives and the knowlegde and direction provided by the doctors that together we nurture the women to learn and to trust in their innate abilties. We are all team players and it is this team effort the makes Kalgoorlie so special and opens the way for what really makes our SECRET MIDWIVES BUSINESS.

ACM Philosophy Statement for Midwifery

Midwife means ‘with woman’. This meaning shapes midwifery’s philosophy, work and relationships.

Midwifery is founded on respect for women and on a strong belief in the value of women’s work of bearing and rearing each generation.

Midwifery considers women in pregnancy, during childbirth and early parenting to be undertaking healthy processes that are profound and precious events in each woman’s life. These events are also seen as inherently important to society as a whole.

Midwifery is emancipatory because it protects and enhances the health and social status of women, which in turn protects and enhances the health and wellbeing of society.

Midwifery is a woman centred, political, primary health care discipline founded on the relationships between women and their midwives.

Midwifery:

focuses on a woman’s health needs, her expectations and aspirations

encompasses the needs of the woman’s baby, and includes the woman’s family, her other important relationships and community, as identified and negotiated by the woman herself

is holistic in its approach and recognises each woman’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs, expectations and context as defined by the woman herself

recognises every woman’s right to self-determination in attaining choice, control and continuity of care from one or more known caregivers

recognises every woman’s responsibility to make informed decisions for herself, her baby and her family with assistance, when requested, from health professionals

is informed by scientific evidence, by collective and individual experience and by intuition

aims to follow each woman across the interface between institutions and the community, through pregnancy, labour and birth and the postnatal period so all women remain connected to their social support systems; the focus is on the woman, not on the institutions or the professionals involved

includes collaboration and consultation between health professionals.

The International Day of the Midwife

International Midwives Day is an occassion to celebrate and promote the profession of midwifery. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises midwives as the health professionals best able to deliver safe, cost effective maternity services to the majority of families.
A midwife is educated to give all necessary care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the newborn period.
Midwives believe that childbirth is a normal and significant life event for women and their families.

Midwives around the world celebrate on May 5 each year

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) launched the ‘International Day of the Midwife’ initiative in 1992.

The aim of the day is to celebrate midwifery and to bring awareness of the importance of midwives’ work to as many people as possible. This is achieved in many different ways according to what works best in each country.