AFTER more than two decades as a midwife, Janene Facey’s wonder at the miracle of birth is undimmed.
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“Even after being a midwife for more than 20 years, to be at a birth is still an amazing experience to have,” she said.
“Sometimes you can’t just turn that emotion off with it, it just stays with you.”
Tuesday was International Midwives’ Day and Ms Facey, associate unit manager at South West Healthcare, joined others in her team to enjoy a day in the spotlight.
She said a midwife’s skill went beyond the birthing suite to helping first-time parents gain confidence in their new role.
“We also have a continuity midwife program that ensures mothers have one point of care,” Ms Facey said.
“The evidence is that women actually have better outcomes with midwifery-led care, so when they know their midwives they have better outcomes.”
Ms Facey said not much had changed in her 22 years in the job.
“There’s a little bit more on the technical side of things in monitoring women than what we used to do even 10 and 15 years ago,” she said. “But babies still come out the same way.”
Director of nursing Julianne Clift said South West Healthcare had 81 registered nurses based in Warrnambool and Camperdown and a heavy focus on training.
“The bulk of our midwives obviously work in the unit here (in Warrnambool) where we do our deliveries and have our special care nursery, but we also have a lot of midwives in the women’s health clinic. So they’re really looking at that whole continuum of pregnancy, not only the physical delivery and care of babies,” she said.
