Deb Metcalfe is retiring from her post as a community midwife after 18 years of bringing babies into the world in the Yorkshire Dales. She spoke to the D&S Times about her career.

I TRAINED as a general nurse in Harrogate starting in 1983 and then had a short post as a staff nurse on a medical ward there. I then trained as a midwife in Pontefract qualifying in November 1988 and got married a week later.

As a new qualified midwife, I then worked for six months at Bradford Royal on the labour ward, which as you can imagine with about 5,000 deliveries a year was very busy. Some days I could be involved in up to four new arrivals a shift. It was a great place for gaining experience, but was a long travel from Grantley, where we lived at the time, to Bradford.

We moved to a farm in Aberdeenshire in summer 1989 and I got a wonderful job at the local hospital in Fraserburgh, a fishing community. This small hospital had about 200 new babies a year and a lovely team of midwives and nurse auxiliaries. It was normal to be in hospital for four to five days after having a baby (or up to ten days after a caesarean!) so the unit was always full and as each shift was only “manned” by one midwife and one auxiliary we were busy. We also looked after high-risk ladies who were going to Aberdeen to deliver. Sometimes these ladies would call in on us at Fraserburgh on their way in which meant we needed to organise ambulance transfers or occasionally deliver the babies as the mums had left it too late.

I went on a transfer with one lady at 32 weeks pregnant and she delivered beautiful twin girls only 15 minutes into the journey. We made the front page of the local paper!

I also delivered two other sets of twins and four breech babies, all who should have been in the consultant unit.

I was lucky enough to have our first two boys in this lovely unit with my friends as birth attendants in 1992 and 1994. Unfortunately, it has now closed.

We returned to Yorkshire in 1996 when we moved to a farm in Bransdale on the North York Moors. My next post was at Scarborough Hospital where I worked in rotation between the antenatal/postnatal ward and labour ward. This was a hospital which was halfway between the previous units I'd worked on in size with about 1,200 babies a year. Our third son was born at home in 1997 and due to having a young family I worked part time and opted to work mainly nights. I did seven on and 14 off, which fitted home life well. Nights, whilst antisocial, are lovely quiet times to have a baby and bond with colleagues.

Following a difficult year for farming in 2001 we moved to a farm near Masham in October 2002 and I interviewed for a job at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton which I was lucky enough to get, and soon after a job came up as a community midwife in the Dales. I started this post in January 2003.

During the next 18 years I have got to know the Dales and the Dales families very well covering Wensleydale, Swaledale, Coverdale and Bishopdale to mention a few. I have looked after ladies who attend Masham, Leyburn, Hawes, Aysgarth and Reeth surgeries and covered many, many miles to visit these families.

The community job is a perfect mix. It allows a midwife who thrives in normality and natural birth (bodies are very clever!) to meet the whole family and give care and advice as they progress into a new stage. However, it is also a privilege to provide care for the high-risk ladies for the same reasons and to provide continuity to help them through a sometimes more challenging pregnancy. Every day something tests the brain cells! The saying “every day is a school day” is very true. Of course, the lovely home births we attend are the cherry on top of the cake and there will never be another feeling like being with a couple as their new baby is born.

The challenges of the job? Geography, distance, weather, farm tracks, lack of house name signs, no mobile phone signal, long shifts, and IT!

But these are outweighed hugely by the reasons I have done this job for more than 34 years – job satisfaction, family inclusive, getting to know many wonderful families, working in a great, supportive team, the privilege of being at a birth, looking after families having one, two and three – or more – babies, and much, much more.

I am glad I became a midwife and now have completed my journey and will retire next month. Thank you to all the families I have looked after and been involved with over this time, you all have a very special place in my heart. Also, thanks to all the midwives I have worked alongside over the years, particularly Karen Long.

  • For anyone who wishes to contact the midwives please phone Bedale health clinic on 01677 455394 or the midwifery led unit at the Friarage on 01609 763093.