Midwifery: A blessed experience

HORROR stories abound about mothers who have had bad experiences while giving birth. Many of these stories often speak to the impatience and hostility meted out to pregnant women by those who are delivering their bundles of joy. But, Palen Simpson Codling, a midwife who has been performing home deliveries in Trelawny for several years, told the Jamaica Observer that delivering babies is a “great joy”.

“I have no horror stories. Sometimes mothers are afraid when they go into hospitals, maybe because they don’t have the one-to-one (attention as with homebirths),” Simpson Codling said.

Simpson Codling is one of 13 midwives honoured by the Jamaica Midwives Association (JMA) on Thursday, October 30, during their 52nd annual symposium at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. The symposium was held under the theme: “Midwives: Changing the World One Family at a Time”.

The midwives honured are said to be “outstanding midwives” from each parish and were celebrated for their dedication and service. JMA President Aseta Edwards Hamilton outlined the criteria for selection to the Sunday Observer.

The president said the midwives: must be licensed with the Nursing Council of Jamaica; must be a paid up member of the association; must display professionalism; must have leadership qualities; must command respect; must be involved in the community; must be practicing for more than five years; among other things.

Simpson Codling apparently fit the bill because she received the award for the parish of Trelawny.

“From training I just love midwifery, I never changed,” said an obviously satisfied Simpson Codling. “My passion is just midwifery.

“See when you do a delivery you experience a blessing when you see a baby is born,” she declared. “And as you grow they also grow, and you watch them do exams and they grow up, and even some of the babies that you delivered, you end up delivering their babies.”

Besides home deliveries, Simpson Codling told the Sunday Observer that she also does deliveries at health centres. She is so vested in the assisting women in childbirth that she now mentors three midwives, who are also in Trelawny. So when she decides to leave the service, they will still be there.

One of her mentees, Carlene Campbell-Clarke told the Sunday Observer that she decided to become a midwife after delivering her first child and since then, Simpson Codling has been an encouragement to her.

“Having her to encourage me has helped me a lot… I had to do three months to do (on-the-job training) and I came back to the community to work with Palen. She did not withhold her knowledge and I felt really comfortable,” shared Campbell-Clarke.

Midwifery, according to the World Health Organisation, encompasses care of women during pregnancy, labour, and the postpartum period, as well as care of the newborn.

“It includes measures aimed at preventing health problems in pregnancy, the detection of abnormal conditions, the procurement of medical assistance when necessary, and the execution of emergency measures in the absence of medical help,” WHO says.

The other awardees include: Iris Vassel Murray for St Mary; Grace Reid for Westmoreland; Dorothy Carty for St Catherine; Noreen Roper for St James; Maxine Gayle Morgan for Manchetser; Carmelita Wheeler for St Thomas; Edna Palmer Miller for Kingston and St Andrew; Fay Reid for St Ann; Cislin Hall for St Elizabeth; Dehon Newman Taylor for Clarendon; Esmine McFarlane for Portland; and Eurette Wallace McIntosh for Hanover.