Tales of two midwives: medical conditions of pregnancy that changed our midwifery practice

The outbreak of COVID-19 has meant that midwifery around the world is currently set against an ever-present backdrop of disease. Although pregnancy and childbirth are most often a healthy and normal part of a woman's life, medical conditions and disease can also feature in the midwifery care that is needed. Throughout the pandemic, the world's midwives have continued to care for women becoming mothers and continue, in turn, to be shaped by their midwifery experiences. In a midwifery career, COVID-19 and other medical complications in a pregnancy can present steep learning curves for midwives and even sometimes refocus or change practice entirely. This narrative article explores two midwives' recollections of medical conditions in pregnancy that changed their practice and considers the conditions that played a role. These are their stories.

In the Spring of 2019, I was running my usual weekly antenatal midwife clinic based in a community children's centre. A ‘low-risk’ woman and her partner attended whom I had met before. She was 28 weeks pregnant with her first child. She was an otherwise fit and healthy woman with no pre-existing medical conditions. Her pregnancy had so far been straightforward and under the sole care of the community midwives and her local GP.