Posts filed under 'Work'
I was today reminded that it has been a long time since I wrote a blog entry, so I thought I would do a quick update for my five readers (yes, I have one more now! LOL!). So, what’s new in the world of the Rowe’s? If you don’t mind I will update on a few things all at once 
Running: I have kept going with my running and have also kept going in the BPTT (Bushy Park Time Trial), which I blogged about a while ago. Since the new BPTT running year began on 7th October 2006, there have been six runs (David has run in them all) and I have run in five of them. The best thing is that in four of them, I have achieved new Personal Bests - the most recent of which being yesterday. I managed the 5kms in 32:55, which I was astounded by (and yes, I know some people do 10kms in that time but they aren’t me!) and David was mightily impressed. He came to the finish line with my drink expecting me to still be a fair way up the final straight but I was almost at the finish line. I put it down to the fly I swallowed near the start - the extra protein must have done me good! Overall in the year I am currently in 18th place (out of 302 women and, more excitingly, am being Sonia O’Sullivan who is is an Olympic Silver medallist you know….and yes, I know she has only run three times and is only six places behind me, but still…!) and David is 4th (!!!!) out of 613 men so far this year. He is doing amazingly well and has entered a half marathon in early December (he is doing 15 mile training runs every weekend). Also in the world of running, we have joined a running club and are now both members of the Ranelagh Harriers, who are based very close to Richmond Park.
Work: Well, besides the fact that the world of mummies and babies is an astoundingly busy one, things are good. I am still loving it - the only bit I don’t love is the fact that due to it being so darned busy I don’t get to always provide the care for the women that I would ideally like, due to time constraints. However, I know that I am doing my best and I am still abiding by my mantra which is to try to do one thing every day which will make a difference to someone I am caring for. I am doing pretty well on that so far. On another work note, I was promoted to band 6 the other day. As far as I can tell there is no great difference except I can no longer say, “but I am only band 5″! I was already doing the job of a Team Midwife as it was - but it is nice to have the extra tuppence ha’penny every month (as much as that, I hear you cry?)…
Jamiroquai: We have been lucky in the last few weeks to see Jamiroquai a few times, not least at the Jazz Cafe as part of the BBC Electric Proms. It was a fabulous gig and took me back to the first time we saw Jamiroquai (1993 I think, in Sheffield). We also were lucky enough to go along to Strictly Come Dancing (BBC television show), where they performed wearing tuxedo’s and looked really cool. However, seeing the band that night was somewhat usurped by the fact that David had his photo with Emma Bunton…he had the same cheesy grin that he wore when he first had his photo taken with her in 1999 at a Jamiroquai after-show party.
Holidays: We have a trip to Prague planned very soon, which we are both really looking forward to. This will make up for the lack of Christmas holidays as I will be working throughout (when oh when will babies realise it is far better to be born Monday to Friday, 9-5?!)…
So I think that’s about all for now. I promise to try to keep this a bit more updated but you know…
November 12th, 2006
Wow, it has been a long time since I wrote anything here. Apologies to my four blog readers 
Anyway, I had some fabulous news today. I returned from work to a letter from my old university. The letter reads:
“I hope you are keeping well and enjoying your practice as a midwife. Each year the Rotary Club of Greenford present a Claude Osborn Award for Excellence in Midwifery Practice and I am delighted to inform you that of our graduates over the past year, you have been chosen to receive this award”.
The blurb that goes with the letter tells me how Claude Osborn was from Guyana and moved to England, qualifying as a doctor in the mid 1940’s. Claude eventually commenced work as a GP in Greenford. He was involved with the Rotary Club and since his death in 1976, there has been a bursary given in his memory. The award is given to the “best student of the year” (about 100 midwives qualified in the last year through my university, some like me were direct entrants to midwifery and some were nurses first), with the intention of emulating Dr Osborn’s vocational example of the Rotary Club motto, “Service Above Self”.
As far as I can tell, I will receive £300, a framed certifcate and a shield (which I keep for one year). Unfortunately I shall not be able to attend the dinner as we will be away on our holidays but I hope that I will be able to go to the Rotary Club to collect my certificate and shield in the not too distant future. Oh and the cheque too! LOL! I have emailed my joy at being selected and included the comment, “I hope that being unable to attend the dinner does not mean the award will no longer be mine”. I couldn’t bear to contemplate that thought.
**updated to add that the Claude Osborn Award Board have changed the date of the presentation, so that I am able to attend. Apparently they like to present the award to the winner in person, so on August 31st I shall be attending my first Rotary Club dinner where I wasn’t serving the food as a waitress!
I am very pleased indeed. After achieving a First Class Honours degree, I have topped off my student midwife-dom by being recognised not just academically but also in the clinical and practical sense, which is of course vital to midwifery! It is the first thing I have ever “won” and I am looking forward to including it on my CV. One of the best things is that the letter was copied to the Head of Midwifery and the second in command midwife at my hospital, so they will be able to read about it too
June 20th, 2006
So, to all of my American friends I make the same plea I made to my British friends earlier in the year. Help save the life of a mother to be in Ethiopia.
It is Mother’s Day soon in the States and the charity Maternity Worldwide is running the same campaign for America as it did for the UK in March. I urge you to donate on your Mom’s behalf to this charity instead of buying her flowers or candy. My Mum was very pleased with her certificate for Mother’s Day and said it was one of the best things I had bought her in a long time.
Help a Mom in Ethiopia live through the experience of childbirth so that she can see her child grow and love her, like your Mom loves you. Help this charity to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Ethiopia, could there be a better Mother’s Day gift than the gift of life? I make no apology for the emotive language but hope that you forgive me.
May 1st, 2006
Well, you may have seen some of the recent stories about job cuts in the NHS. Today more cuts were announced in Birmingham. I have many friends who are still training to become midwives and nurses who have been told that they are unlikely to be successful in getting a job upon qualification later this year. It is disgusting. All that hard work - and for what? To not even be able to get a (not very well paid) job at the end of it all.
What is more disgusting is the fact that the NHS has been totally run into the ground. I am a big fan of the NHS but this government seems to want to waste money (big public sector salaries for those who, IMHO, do very little for the world but get paid the equivalent of two midwives salaries; more managers than you can shake a stick at; wasteful expenditure on things like agency staff rather than permanent). I am a life-long Labour and trade union supporter but right now I am seriously hacked off with Mr Blair and his government, to the point that I am contemplating changing my vote this time around. Of course, the alternative is worse so what do I do? I can’t not vote, women died for me to able to make that little cross in the box…but who to vote for. I shall be reading the election pamphlets with interest as they drop through the door in the run up to the local election on May 4th.
April 13th, 2006
Yes, I know it is early (26th March) but if you are stuck for a Mother’s Day present, why not give the gift of safer motherhood through the charity Maternity Worldwide? For a minimum donation of £15, they will send your Mum a personalised certificate of sponsorship. Love your Mum? Ensure that someone else’s Mum lives through childbirth to be loved by their child. I know that’s emotive language but when one in ten mothers die as a result of pregnancy or birth in the developing world, I think emotive language is needed. Every minute of every day, a woman dies as a result of problems in either pregnancy or childbirth and 99% of these are in the developing world. If you have a spare £15 (or more!) then please consider this instead of the usual box of chocs or bunch of flowers.
So if my Mum or Mum-in-law are reading this, no surprise as to what you will be receiving for Mother’s Day this year!
March 15th, 2006
Just a quick message to say that some of my graduation photos are now online on our photo gallery. Have a look and a laugh at me in my silly outfit.
February 8th, 2006
I have graduated! Here’s the photographic evidence
The ceremony took place at the Barbican Centre in London on Monday 6th February 2006 at 3.00pm. I went with David and Carole and we had a great day. Carole and I went for lunch at Harvey Nichols (the first drink of the day was a glass of pink champagne to match my new pink hair!) and then met David at the tube station. After the ceremony and photos, we went for cocktails at Bar Red and for dinner at a *very* posh Indian restaurant called the Red Fort.
Of course, this is my second graduation ceremony. However, this time is extra special because I achieved a First Class Honours degree in Midwifery - I am immensely proud of myself! I am also eternally grateful to David who helped me through the tough times of being a student midwife (and paid for me to pursue my dream). He seems to think this is the last time I will graduate but I am not so sure…
February 7th, 2006
…is a bloody brilliant one!
This past couple of weeks I have really felt like a midwife. I know I am one, but in the last two weeks I have helped two women give birth to their babies using only “gas and air” (entonox to the initiated amongst us!), which is fabulous. Both had had babies previously - as one of our consultants said, today, “Why can’t we be born with a body which has already given birth”? - which makes things easier. Both had spontaneous labours, pushing when they felt the need. To see them with their babies on their chests following the births is enough to bring a tear to even the hardest of heart.
Of course, things don’t always go “according to plan” but even then, I often feel as though I have made a difference to the women I have cared for. I don’t think there are many jobs where you actually get to make a difference to people on a daily basis. The length of labours often mean that you don’t get to catch the baby as it is born but caring for women in labour is just as important. People get very hung up on the birth itself but it is the whole process I love, not just the actual birth. I know that I am lucky to be doing the job I am doing, I am just glad I realised I had to become a midwife.
Today is a special day as I graduate. Look out for some pictures soon!
February 6th, 2006
