It Takes Heart
It Takes Heart is an unmissable podcast where healthcare workers share their honest and unique experiences from Australia’s frontline.
Discover real-life stories of passion and purpose, insight and inspiration from people on the inside and tales that are equal parts heart-warming, heart-wrenching and hilarious. It Takes Heart is co-hosted by cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment CEO Samantha Miklos and Head of Talent and Employer Branding Kate Coomber.
It Takes Heart
Escaping Burnout: How Midwives Jess & Millie Found Freedom and Friendship
Ever felt like your career was running on empty? Travelling Midwives Jess and Millie did and they chose the open road over burnout.
In this episode, we sit down with Jess and Millie, two Dual-Registered Midwives who turned burnout in healthcare into a journey of rediscovery, purpose, and friendship. They open up about the emotional toll of permanent roles and what finally pushed them to make bold moves into rural and remote contract work. From quitting multiple jobs to buying a caravan on a whim, their decisions may have been daring, but they were exactly what they needed to fall back in love with midwifery.
Introduced by their cmr consultant who knew they'd click, the pair met in Ceduna on an agency contract and quickly realised they’d found something special - in their careers, and in each other. Together, they reflect on the emotional highs and lows of midwifery, the importance of strong support systems, and the joy that comes from feeling truly valued again.
For healthcare professionals feeling stuck or burnt out, Jess and Millie offer an honest and hopeful perspective, proof that it’s possible to fall back in love with your work, and your life.
It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr CEO Sam Miklos, alongside Head of Talent and Employer Branding, Kate Coomber.
We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso
More about Jess & Millie's Organisations of Choice, Rednose & MND Australia.
Red Nose is Australia’s leading authority on safe sleep and safer pregnancy advice, and bereavement support for anyone affected by the loss of a pregnancy, stillbirth, the death of a baby or child.
MND Australia is the national peak body of state organisations that support those living with and impacted by motor neurone disease (MND). Their national and international networks help increase understanding of the disease and advocate for the needs of those affected, funding world-class research for better treatments, improved care, and ultimately a cure.
Get to know cmr better!
Follow @ittakesheartpodcast on Instagram, @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment on Linked In, @cornerstonemedicalrec on TikTok and @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment on Facebook.
Have you ever dreamed of packing up your life, hitting the road and taking your career with you? That's exactly what Jess and Millie did Two midwives, two incredible stories. Travelling across Australia delivering babies in regional and rural towns, building an unbreakable friendship along the way, I don't know how to explain it.
Emelia Lansdell:It's like it's not just the job and it's not just being a midwife, but it's also kind of adventure and it's giving me. Because of what it's giving me, I put more into my work now because I'm not burnt out.
Kate Coomber:Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe if you want to hear more stories from inspiring healthcare professionals.
Sam Miklos:So today we're sitting down with Jess and Millie, two adventurous, passionate midwives who've swapped permanent jobs for contracts, caravans and the freedom to write their own stories. Welcome to it Takes Hard, ladies, thank you. So let's be honest. You came in to visit the office yesterday and I think it was you, millie, who said to me I'm the happiest I've ever been.
Emelia Lansdell:In 31 years. That's what I thought it was in 31 years and it literally stopped me in my tracks.
Sam Miklos:And I accosted you in the lift and was like Want to do a podcast.
Kate Coomber:And you said yes, yes of course, are you both okay?
Emelia Lansdell:Well, we kind of like to be accosted by sam in reception and this is a different. This is a different agency, though this is a different recruitment company. You guys care so much about us that for us it's easy to come back to you and say, absolutely, we're on board very easy, easy.
Sam Miklos:I appreciate that because I know it was a lot. I was giving you hugs and you were just like who are you, what are you doing?
Kate Coomber:She ran out of her meeting and was like, oh my God, I know, I was working from home yesterday and my team gave me a little heads up. It's like, just so you know, I think you're doing another one tomorrow.
Sam Miklos:I was like what. We're good, let's do it. So let's start there. Yeah, the friendship, absolutely. How did you two meet? Where, tell us, seduna it was Seduna last year. On contract, on contract.
Jessica Plater:So we both have the same recruiter, sarah, and she told both of us that listen, for me it was like Millie's coming to start. You're going to love her, you're going to look really, really great. And just we went from there. We got each other's numbers. We met up the day before Millie started her contract. We had dinner.
Emelia Lansdell:We had a Sunday roast the day before I started. I didn't know anybody in town.
Sam Miklos:And how did that make you feel?
Emelia Lansdell:It means a lot when somebody goes out of their way to not only meet you but sort of say, hey, welcome. I'm agency two. You're going to love it here and I'm here to kind of walk by your side.
Kate Coomber:How long had you been in Ceduna?
Jessica Plater:Six weeks. I was halfway through my contract, yeah, and so then, yeah, like we met for dinner, and then the next day I was like, listen, meet me at the entrance to the hospital in the morning at this time. I'll walk you in, we'll go in together. It's scary starting a new place when I'm small um, and was that your first ever contract?
Emelia Lansdell:no, no, that was contract number four.
Sam Miklos:So how did that compare to your other starts?
Emelia Lansdell:oh, completely different. The um. I'm just thinking I hadn't had anyone in my other contracts, I hadn't had anyone who had reached out beforehand. But then I mean, helps that you're cornerstone, that we've got the same recruiter. So that was quite seamless, um. But that also that that first day you kind of took me under your wing and you gave me orientation. You gave me all, like you know, low down of what was what?
Jessica Plater:Because agency knows what agency needs to know. Yeah so like, you'll get orientated by the permanent staff and they do a wonderful job, but then sometimes as agency, because you're so used to going to a new environment. Oh, this is the little 411 that you need to know about this facility that, agency to agency, doesn't always kind of get told yeah.
Sam Miklos:Is it normal to make these kinds of friendships?
Kate Coomber:on placement.
Jessica Plater:Is this one of many? Yeah, Well, I haven't. There was a third nurse that we met in Sedona that we've got our own little trio, but outside of that probably not Like. There's nurses and midwives I'm really good friends with. But the connection that Millie and I have, I feel, is just a bit more than what I've made previously and the fact that we're so like.
Emelia Lansdell:I've made good friends along the way, but most of these people that I've met are like permanent residents of the places that I've been.
Emelia Lansdell:So in order to see them, I sort of have to go back and or, like you know, keep in touch with social media and stuff. I think the thing with Jess is that she's traveling too and I'm traveling, so although now we're really ever in the same place at the same time but our lives are so incredibly similar. Our lives are so incredibly similar. It's so easy to relate to each other and that, yeah, just when you go somewhere new, you have a hard day, Maybe you don't feel like you're fitting in. You get it, and it's very comforting to have a friend who gets it.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, yeah.
Kate Coomber:So let's understand first why you both became midwives, like if we we take it back, like, did you both always want to be midwives first? Yeah, how did how did it go.
Sam Miklos:Do you want to start Jess?
Jessica Plater:um well, I did to get to originally getting into nursing.
Jessica Plater:I did a like a student placement through high school like a work placement in a NICICU at my local hospital back in Newcastle and just fell in love with the nurses. Just the amazing job they did caring for these tiny little humans. So I went and did my nursing degree and then I was working as a nurse for two years and saw the advertisement for the midwifery program and I kind of went up to the unit and just sussed it out a little bit. I was like, oh this, oh something I could see myself doing, committed to it.
Kate Coomber:Did it was a bit impulsive, um, but then I haven't looked back. Yeah, and it's just found my, found my calling. So do you do nursing and?
Jessica Plater:midwifery contracts or purely midwifery. Um, I've just done purely midwifery but um some of the midwifery contracts, because we're in smaller hospitals. You will do a bit of nursing yeah, it's good.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, what about?
Emelia Lansdell:you up to date. I came out of high school, I started psychology, which was not the best decision I've ever made. I was sitting having frozen yogurt with an old friend of mine and she noticed. So a pregnant woman walked past the window and I kind of took my breath away and she was like, have you ever thought about being a midwife? And at that point I'd not thought about it. And then it was something I was like, ooh, am I smart enough, am I capable enough? You know, it's not like this decision to go into healthcare is not one that you just make spontaneously. And then signed up, I did a double degree, so for four years I did both my nursing and my mid, smashed it out. It was hard but it was actually incredibly easy to get done because I loved it so much. And then, yeah, started working and then gave it probably about four years, had just an incredible passion for breastfeeding and supporting mamas in feeding their babies however they want to feed them and supporting them.
Sam Miklos:That's so stressful. Yes and no one ever.
Kate Coomber:I didn't know about that until I had children. Yes, what yeah?
Emelia Lansdell:So did my studies and became a lactation consultant. Yeah, so, now that's on the cards too, yeah, which is really exciting and it's something I'm really really passionate about.
Kate Coomber:Yeah so when did you both? Were you in permanent jobs initially and then moved to agency? How and when and why did that happen?
Emelia Lansdell:Although I was, I had three jobs before I took the first agency gig because I was trying to manage my own burnout, which I hadn't recognised. I was doing a midwife role, I was doing a nursing role and I was teaching in primary schools as well. What were you teaching? Teaching what Like puberty sex? Ed that kind of stuff, like child school nurse, which was actually the most refreshing change from working inside healthcare, but all of the stuff that you know and you love and you love teaching and you know, kids get really excited about it.
Emelia Lansdell:Very topical in my house isn't it yeah? Yeah, I've been given as an auntie, I've been given the the honorary role of doing that education when the time comes.
Sam Miklos:Maybe we can talk about this remember why, but I got an email about maybe it was to do with LinkedIn and it led me to Cornerstone.
Emelia Lansdell:And then the first job it was in Mildura and it was for a community midwife role, which felt like something is pulling me in that kind of direction. It just felt right. So I was like, yep, let's do it. It all happened I got there and that was it. I haven't looked back.
Sam Miklos:What you talked about burnout there. Like what were the signs? Like you didn't even realise you were burnt out and did you then leave your permanent job and go straight into that. I quit all three jobs. You quit all three. Yeah, Like what were the signs you missed?
Emelia Lansdell:Yeah, it happened all within kind of two weeks and we were at a picnic and I told my family, I gave them all letters and made them spell out the word Mildura and I said look, I'm moving, thank you, but it was.
Sam Miklos:How did they respond? I was just going to say that we're going to have a picnic.
Emelia Lansdell:Like I'm not a stranger to mental health issues and I think sort of 2021, 22, I was rollercoastering and then I thought that I was sort of getting back on track, but I was still feeling internally. I was feeling quite hollow. I was feeling my career like my work life with three jobs, but I still felt really depleted and really empty. I was not loving being a midwife, which initially was the thing that was like getting me out of bed in the morning. I was getting frustrated. There's something called like compassion fatigue.
Jessica Plater:And.
Emelia Lansdell:I was frustrated at everybody. I was frustrated at patients, at staff, at colleagues, at friends, at family, and I just thought something needs to change. But I didn't know what it was until that email from Cornerstone came through and I called and I spoke to my recruiter, who's still my recruiter now. Sarah, she's great and it was like like I'm really interested in this role. Community midwifery, a little bit different from hospital-based midwifery, how so?
Emelia Lansdell:um, it was a little bit more continuity, which for us midwives, we love, when you get to see a mama, a family, a baby again and again yes it is the like creme de la creme of midwifery and um was working at a clinic where I would get to be a bit more autonomous, um, I would not have the stress of shift work, um, and it was, it was good. And then when I got into it, settled, found my feet, the clinic became. They were very, very welcoming and made some very, very good friends. I started within myself, I started to feel a lot better and I started to um like my mood was lifting and I just was feeling really, really, I was falling in love, back in love with Mildura Free and it was, yeah, it was amazing. I think that then gave me the confidence. When Mildura wrapped up, I bought a caravan.
Kate Coomber:That's a whole nother story how long did you go into that contract for, like when you took that opportunity and moved your life, like, how long were you sort of going for it?
Emelia Lansdell:was two. I mean it was two contracts but over the span of eight months and that kind of gave me this confidence in being a midwife and I was like I think I can keep doing this. This agency stuff can be a little scary when you think I'm going to move from place to place. Do I have it in me to do that? But I think I'd picked up enough of what I needed from that first contract to then go into the second, third, fourth, fifth and now sixth it just, you just roll with it.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, it's so beautiful to hear that from such a place of struggle. Yeah, that so many people might be in that position and think this isn't for me, yeah, like I've got to leave. I can't be a midwife to reignite that joy.
Emelia Lansdell:I can't do anything, especially after covid yeah it's, that's wiped the slate for a lot of people in terms of their passion, yeah, and their ability to be compassionate with themselves and with patients and families and that kind of thing, to then find it again, yeah, yeah.
Sam Miklos:How long did it take at Mildura till you found that passion? Not long, not long, a month or two, like it's amazing to think that, to go from that in a month and then to feel that and then get that confidence and that joy back. Like imagine if you had enough you might not be in the profession now you know.
Emelia Lansdell:Part of it, I think, was also moving out of the city. Melbourne metropolitan life for me was feeling too heavy, too stressful, crazy chaotic. I wanted not a sea change, but I just wanted to get out and see if life could feel simpler, and it was. And now that I've been out of Melbourne for a year and a half, if not more, when I do go back to Melbourne, it's a bit heavy.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, I bet it's a bit heavy, it's like, okay, there's traffic.
Emelia Lansdell:There's like, all of these people, all of these shops, all of these, everything's of these shops, all of these, everything's happening all the time, all of the time, everything's on um and then you go and live in, you know seduna. Seduna has zero traffic lights. Yeah, and it is the best thing ever. Yeah, it is roundabouts and it is easy parking everywhere and it is walking distance everywhere and it is walking into the hospital and you see the same people every day. There's something beautiful and fulfilling about that kind of life.
Kate Coomber:And so you're now sold. You've bought a caravan, you just said why, Jess, did you step into more agency contract work?
Jessica Plater:I'd been working my last permanent role. I'd been there for six years and I'd rotate. So I was on an antenatal ward and I'd rotate to the clinic for four weeks because we had to rotate to keep our skills up and I'd gone from doing shift work, overtime, flogging myself, working 50-hour weeks, 60-hour weeks, to going to doing nine to 5, monday to Friday, had my weekends back, had my nights back, and I was only there for a month. But I walked up to my boss halfway through and the gist of the conversation was I hate my life, I hate my job and I hate being here. I need to go do something about it. And I was lucky enough that I didn't have any dependence, aside from my dog, that I could just pack up my life.
Sam Miklos:Because you both travel with your animals. Yes, billy. Rosie yes, I thought they would have come in, did Billy and Rosie?
Jessica Plater:get on. Billy is in.
Emelia Lansdell:Melbourne and Rosie is.
Jessica Plater:In Bansdale. Yeah, so that was about the May and I had the lease of my rental until October. So I took a bit of time and I said to my workplace I'd like 12 months leave without pay and that had to go to the executive, of course and they were like we might want to negotiate. I said I understand that because we're still in a staffing crisis, but anything less than six months, I'm resigning. You say no, I'm resigning, and they luckily said yes. So I packed up, went my leases up, started my first contract in Canberra and then just loved the work so much that I last year resigned permanently. Wow, so this is the new life. This is the new life.
Sam Miklos:It is and did you have that same? You know, Millie talked about the same feelings like burnout and falling out of love a little bit, and you were like I hate, I'm doing yeah, how long till you fell back in love. Was there a moment when you fell back in love with?
Jessica Plater:Oh, I felt that being in a new place, surrounded by people that were my colleagues, were supportive, but we're all really burnt out. But then, yeah, I think, just going somewhere new and just not having to worry about the politics of a place, just being able to go in and concentrate on the job that I love, do your job, yeah.
Jessica Plater:And being able to go in and concentrate on the job that I love, do your job, yeah, and being able to go home and not worry about it. Within weeks I was like, oh yes, like I just needed to change because I got really condescending to my colleagues in my permanent job, like I got really miserable. I just you could tell in my attitude that I didn't want to be there.
Kate Coomber:And I guess if you're all burnt out together, you can't even support each other exactly yeah, it would create it just.
Jessica Plater:Everybody was fatigued. We're all doing massive amounts of overtime because of the short staffing, and so you want to support everybody. I can't even support myself. How can I?
Jessica Plater:support somebody else and so I thought about it for a while, doing agency work, but kind of never really think oh no, it's all right, I'll get through, you know she'll be right. But then being a single person wanting to buy a home in my hometown was impossible to begin with. And then it was like but why do I wanna buy a house when I don't like my job? So it was, yeah, packed up me and my dog in the car, off, we've gone and we haven't looked back since.
Sam Miklos:Do you guys have breaks where you go home, or do you?
Jessica Plater:I took a break after my first one because it's Christmas time, so I went home for Christmas. But I tend to just if I get four days off, I'll fly home and see the family. Otherwise I just tend to go contract to contract because I'm just exploring at the same time.
Kate Coomber:Was it difficult from a financial perspective? Like did it feel like a really big risk?
Sam Miklos:Oh yeah, Was that a real? To step away from the comfort of permanent employment and knowing?
Jessica Plater:Well, that's why I took 12 months leave without pay. Yeah. Because, I was like, if this doesn't work, if I don't like this, I need to have something secure to come back to. But then I also then wasn't having to worry about paying rent and utilities and all that kind of stuff. It was just I just got my car and the fuel that I need and some spending money, so you drive.
Kate Coomber:I drive yeah.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, so you drive, I drive, yeah, drive everywhere. It was scary not having that security in a job, but then I was like, well, I work in healthcare there's always going to be a need for nurses in midwives. So I'm kind of like if I don't like it, I can go somewhere else.
Emelia Lansdell:I've grown up with my dad always saying, well, no, like with this career is that you'll never be out of a job 100%.
Emelia Lansdell:He loves the fact that I'm doing contract work because it's sort of like close to what he's been doing for the majority of his life and he's like you're in high demand, you'll never be out of a job, I think. For me I'm lucky in that I went from Mildura to Bairnsdale and then I went to Wayala Sojuna. I had pretty good consistency. So for me now I know that I can trust that there's going to be jobs especially if you're willing to travel a little bit, you're willing to go off the beaten track.
Emelia Lansdell:We both started at the same time October 2023. And I think when you work, you do a number of contracts, you begin to really feel like you're not just an agency worker, but you're part of the family and you're part of the company and you know that the recruiter consultant that you've got is going to look after you and is going to do their best to find the next job for you. So it's easy to feel reassured and to trust the process.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, is the dream to travel together and maybe travel in your caravan and go on contract and keep going together.
Sam Miklos:She's not a camper, but the dream is to go on contract together.
Jessica Plater:No, no, I love a caravan. My dog is too big for a caravan.
Sam Miklos:Right, what's a?
Jessica Plater:dog. She's a Kelby Cross Black Labrador.
Sam Miklos:She's gorgeous.
Jessica Plater:She's gorgeous, but she's too big for a caravan, so I would happily travel in a caravan but my dog will not be able to travel in a caravan.
Sam Miklos:We do, really want to that. Can I ask, though, were you a camper and used to caravans before you bought one? Like is that? Because I've just come back from a caravanning experience where we hired an RV for two weeks with our three kids. When you've never camped in Queensland never camped Like we went from zero to 200.
Jessica Plater:It felt like yeah, I was like with three kids in a caravan that's a lot With three kids in a caravan shared amenity blocks taking like a five-year-old, a six-year-old and eight-year-olds.
Sam Miklos:So I don't have amenity blocks because I've got everything. So has you done this before, or were you just like out there? I just want to get a caravan now.
Emelia Lansdell:So I can be a little bit impulsive and spontaneous. I had never caravanned before caravan before um, I'd never towed anything before um, I had the car for it. Amazing, perfect. Um, there was a beautiful nurse that I worked with in Mildura and she, her and her partner, were in a caravan and I'd sort of been thinking about it a little bit before that, but then that made things like whoa, okay, I really think I want to do. This also means that I can then have my cat with me all the time, which is my life goal. Um, so did like. Honestly, I did a little bit of research but I came across like snowy river caravans and I found the one I wanted, and then I put a deposit down and then I bought it and all happened. Here we are and here we are and I learnt to tow on my own and I learnt to hitch and unhitch and I learnt to do it all and it's fun and I love it. So can you. It's fabulous.
Kate Coomber:It's so difficult to find accommodation for a lot of healthcare workers. Sometimes they have the budget. They can hire people, but there's no way to house them and we've come across that Also means that I'm not packing up.
Emelia Lansdell:I'm not unpacking, packing, unpacking, packing. It means that I've got everything I want with me. I'm also in my own space, which I have lots of. It's like a little jungle. I have lots of.
Jessica Plater:She keeps adding plants.
Emelia Lansdell:Yeah. I've got lots of fake plants.
Sam Miklos:Well, having been on this caravan too, like, yeah, the proper caravan. People like it's a set up it.
Emelia Lansdell:It's a set up it's decked out.
Kate Coomber:It's got lights. It is. It's my safe space. I think yours was very temporary, ours was cold and clinical it was.
Sam Miklos:there was more in this than there is Are you going to keep carrying?
Emelia Lansdell:I'll show you photos. I think you'll appreciate the decor inside. But it's like a safe space for me. So you know you're away from home and you're starting a new job and then you're starting another new job, but my caravan for me is like my little. Yeah, it's just my little. It's like your safe haven, your sanctuary. Yeah, it is, yeah.
Sam Miklos:Like you've learnt how to hitch and tow, what else have you two learnt about yourselves on these contracts? I mean even going into new places all the time, having to meet new people, be the new person all the time having to meet new people, be the new person.
Jessica Plater:It's really weird because I am the person that has my core group of friends from high school and then uni and me. Well, I haven't gotten to you yet.
Sam Miklos:You're not in there yet You're not in there yet.
Emelia Lansdell:You have your own chapter, I have my own book.
Jessica Plater:You know, I'm the person that's got my core group of friends from high school and uni and, despite how confident that I come across, I'm actually quite shy meeting new people. So being able to then do agency and having to come out of my comfort zone to be able to be like, oh, we're having dinner tonight and I only know one person being like, oh, do I really want to go Because I don't know anybody, that would be really awkward. Then having to be able to integrate myself into that has been a big lesson for me and I think a lot of people will be surprised because I'm very confident. I'm the planner and I'm the. I know what we're doing and it's all good. Meeting new people still causes me a bit of anxiety when I'm the outsider in this situation. But and I'm the outsider in this situation, yeah so. But then I do adopt people under my wing, like Millie, because I've been there, like I've been there before, and I know what the vibe is like.
Jessica Plater:So I will bring this person into the fold, if I can, to make it easier for them. But having to, yeah, make friends outside of what I've known for, you know, 34 years, has been a good thing.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, yeah, shows people that it can be done though. Yeah, totally, I think that's the one thing holding you back from maybe this sort of chapter. Oh you've got two.
Emelia Lansdell:I think you've got two perfect examples here of people who would you would not expect them to be the ones who are travelling, doing contracts, getting out there and now actually kind of okay with it. Yeah, I love it.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, it's a whole new life. Yeah, it is let's talk about midwifery, because we were having this conversation before Like it's got to be a tough gig. You know, if you think about it, a lot of people would think it's just cuddling babies and beautiful moments.
Kate Coomber:It's what a lot of people say I always say, we see the highest of highs, but we see the lowest of lows yeah, like I had a fairly traumatic experience first time around and I just remember the midwife in the room and how special they were to me, but really realizing it's not about cuddling.
Jessica Plater:Maybe there are outcomes that aren't so cuddling babies is like the smallest part of our job. Yeah, um, you know, assist, we like just the range that we see in. Just one specialty is, yeah, we see the people in the lowest of lows of their days. Then we do the highest of highs and you know everything goes well.
Sam Miklos:And that could be going from one birthing suite to the next.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, you know, an eight-hour shift.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, an eight-hour shift.
Jessica Plater:You can deliver a baby, go back onto the postnatal ward, help somebody breastfeed. Somebody comes in. You know you're doing an assessment to make sure they're well and healthy. Taking phone calls.
Sam Miklos:How do you manage the highs and lows, like when you both talked about burnout. Is that burnout in midwifery? Is that burnout? There's so much burnout in healthcare, so much. How do you manage?
Jessica Plater:Leaning on the village you've got, yeah. So that's something Millie and I have worked at really well in our friendship.
Emelia Lansdell:It's probably one of the reasons why we bonded so well.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, and why our?
Emelia Lansdell:friendship is so strong is because we.
Jessica Plater:Lean on each other.
Kate Coomber:I guess to be open. Yeah, yeah, and it's just we allow one another to really.
Jessica Plater:Have our space. Yeah, the heartbreak is to really like melt into the heartbreak and talk about it I walked out of work one day one of my contracts and just sent her a message being like I've had a really shit day when are you?
Emelia Lansdell:free to talk.
Jessica Plater:She's like I'll be free at this time and then we spoke for like two hours on the phone and it wasn't all about the crappy day, it was just. We then deviated like we do to everything else? That we haven't talked about, but it's leaning on your village, whether it's calling your mum, your dad, a friend, just being able to debrief about it all, because it's really tough some days. And the important thing is we know the job. We're both midwives. We know what the lows can be.
Jessica Plater:And so having someone that understands and just supports you in all. That is just really good.
Kate Coomber:And I guess when you talked about back in the more metro-y jobs that you weren't happy in, you couldn't give that compassion to your patients.
Emelia Lansdell:by the sounds of it, no, and then you can't give it to yourself. Yeah, that's tough. I think something I've learnt over the past six, seven years is the first place that you need to be kind and gentle starts with you. You can call upon your village. You can, you know, like you call it a village, I call it a support team. You know it's much of a muchness. It's the people that you feel safe with and that you can call upon when you need. But it's taking that time to be be if you've had a really hard shift, or maybe a couple of shifts. You've, you know, followed a family, maybe if they've lost a pregnancy, or I mean there's numerous things in in maternity that can be very, very difficult to not only for the women and the families to go through, but also for the healthcare providers to care for, is almost saying to yourself like it's okay to be feeling like this right now. It is okay to be feeling completely heartbroken.
Jessica Plater:Almost like you're validating your own feelings. I always say to my women be kind to yourself after you've had a baby, your hormones are out of whack for weeks, possibly months, and I'm always saying to them be kind to yourself and to your family. But then it's about. Well, I gotta be kind to myself yeah, and I'm not always kind to myself, yeah because we're the worst judgments of character on ourselves.
Emelia Lansdell:And then when you've got good friends and good support systems, you can remind each other Are there stories that stick with you Absolutely.
Sam Miklos:Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.
Jessica Plater:Can you share some? Do you want a high or a low, do you want?
Sam Miklos:to do one of each.
Jessica Plater:A bit of both. So a low well, I mean this one it's a low end and then it ends in a high. So I was a student midwife back in 2017 and we'd had a lady come in who thought she'd felt her baby move. She was about 38 weeks pregnant and, in fact, had lost her baby, and so I worked a double shift to stay caring for her through the entire labour and deliver the baby, and she delivered at 1am. You know we're all completely upset. It's an absolutely devastating experience to be part of, especially as a student.
Jessica Plater:But then, for two and a half years later, I was at my next job and I get a message from one of my colleagues and she'd come in and had another baby and they wanted me to know because they still thought of me and the support I gave them during the most horrendous time of their life, and so they sent me a photo. They got to send me a photo of their new little family and they said we just still want to thank you, um, because we still think of you, but we've now had this beautiful new baby and that's why we do our jobs. Oh, that's so.
Jessica Plater:You've got us all I was like I promise I was gonna cry if I told this story um you could not cry, I know, but it's things like that when they still think of you years down the track and you're like, oh, just you actually had an impact in that moment? Yeah, and it was the worst time of their life and they still think of you years later when they have a positive experience and it's just you made a difference.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, you have this ability and a profession to yeah, and that's why we do what we do and it's why we love what we love, because of those experiences that you don't get out of the good and the bad. And I got a. It was my birthday yesterday.
Sam Miklos:Oh my God, I didn't even know it was your birthday, I was like me, me, me, me.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, the podcast. But I got a message from a girl I looked after last year one of my contracts and she thanked me for bringing her baby into the world on my birthday.
Emelia Lansdell:That was a big one because you looked after her for six days. That was a big one because you looked after her for six days, six days straight.
Jessica Plater:I looked after her and you advocated for her and yeah, so I got a message. Yes, I'm a birth mother. Thank you so much to the best midwife who brought our baby into the world. We still think of you and I was just like it's what we do, what we do that's so special? And we don't go into it looking for validation. But then when we do, it's just like oh yes.
Kate Coomber:And do you think, if you're going on contract into smaller towns, that you have even bigger impact and you really can connect with patients more and have more of that continuity? I guess long-term care.
Jessica Plater:If they're in a longer contract, yes, because women will get to know you and stuff. But I think also sometimes, if they're used to a high turnover in midwives, they don't allow themselves to because they're like, oh, you're only going to be here for six weeks and then I'll have to meet somebody else.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, they need somebody else.
Jessica Plater:So it all just depends on what stage you come into their lives, if they're pregnancy, and what you're there for. Because when we were on Sedona we were doing MGP, which is group practice, so we have an allocation of women, and so you know we had some lovely births with our women and that we were there for personally, so we got to do that, the end part. So then you know that was really beautiful. But then someone we're just there for the beginning.
Jessica Plater:We've seen them twice then they get somebody else so some of them are just like oh yeah, you're just another one in a string of people, so I also think from their perspective it's hard that would be really difficult, yeah and how about for you, millie, any really?
Emelia Lansdell:I would say maybe part of the reason why, like I said, said to you, sam, I said I'm the happiest that I've been in 31 years is because in the past year and a half I've gotten the most feedback from patients and families, mamas, about the care that I've given them, about the care that I've given them Very, very, very sweet bunches of flowers and cards and chocolates that just Take your breath away because at some point it's hard to believe that you're able to make them feel like that. I think when you remove yourself from being a permanent staff member where you can get a little bit caught up in the politics, the management side of things, and this almost becomes I don't know how to explain it it's like it's not just the job and it's not just being a midwife, but it's also kind of adventure and it's giving me. Because of what it's giving me, I put more into my work now because I'm not burnt out and I'm not, yeah, the more your cup is full, the more you can, more you can give.
Sam Miklos:It's almost like an undiluted, whereas when you're permanent and you've got all the other stuff in the work, it kind of dilutes it, whereas it's a really concentrated more experience, absolutely.
Emelia Lansdell:I've had like the breastfeeding support that I've been able to give in the past 6-12 months and the oh, just the mamas and when they look at me and they say thank you and it's the simplest stuff but it means the most. Midwifery is definitely not all high, it's definitely lows.
Sam Miklos:And probably a lot of high stress in some of those situations too. Oh yeah, there is so much stress Moments where you think like okay, I need more hands on deck.
Emelia Lansdell:Who can I call? What am I doing? Oh, my goodness.
Jessica Plater:Babies like to be tricky.
Sam Miklos:Yes, I was going to say that they like to be tricky. They really like to trick us and we go and we go.
Jessica Plater:Can you please just like just take a moment, mate, Just settle, it's all good.
Emelia Lansdell:Like all of it. Yeah, I think like I'm not discrediting anybody else out there, but I think midwives are an incredible bunch of people.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Emelia Lansdell:I don't know. I've just watched midwives do magical things and be incredibly resilient and strong and compassionate, even when the cup's full.
Sam Miklos:And they have to be empty. I was going to say, how you said earlier about you know if you think about having a surgery. The patient's asleep, yeah.
Kate Coomber:Whereas you've got the patient, the partner there's so many things like going on.
Emelia Lansdell:To support everyone. Patient therapy yeah, Mood lighting Husband's latest. What's the? Are we allowed to ask the?
Sam Miklos:craziest thing that you know that you've seen where someone's needed like a playlist request, or is there anything where you're like that was like off the chart?
Jessica Plater:I mean some of the women love, I mean some women have some crazy things. They have some wonderful, wonderful things they wish that they want to do Not always the best options.
Emelia Lansdell:I just always think the best thing is just to be open-minded. I think when you write a very, very, very structured birth plan, you're setting expectations up and you know there's room for being disappointed. Home births, water births I like toilet births toilet births.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, I love it. It's really great. Yeah, is that is just a?
Sam Miklos:mama on the toilet being like.
Emelia Lansdell:Is that what you do? Is that what you?
Sam Miklos:would do in the hospitals to go, or is that?
Jessica Plater:anywhere, it just happens in the car park. Yeah, shower yeah.
Emelia Lansdell:Toilet.
Jessica Plater:I mean, they'll both anyway Anywhere.
Sam Miklos:Floor, anywhere Bed.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, when it's coming, it's coming. You can't. Yeah. I was like well, I was a C-section, so no, I didn't have it so. I don't know Nothing spontaneous. Yes, what? Yeah, what do you mean?
Jessica Plater:you just gotta hope that we can get a pair of gloves on. Yeah, and a towel, if need be, yeah to just catch the baby.
Emelia Lansdell:Yeah, I had the other day. I was like walking into the room I can't remember. It was night shift, I think and I had a student with me. She was absolutely gorgeous and we were going into the room of someone. It was like baby number four and she was niggling. So you don't really know what she's doing and I pull out on the wall.
Jessica Plater:I just pull out two pairs of gloves and I stuck one in her pocket and I stuck one in mine and I just look at her and I'm like you never trust a multi no, because you don't you never know what they're gonna do um, so some of the time, more than one baby yeah um they go because normally it's like each pregnancy gets quicker. Your labor gets quicker with each pregnancy so by the time you're to baby three or four. You're like you're going to birth a baby in like two hours.
Emelia Lansdell:But then you can't rely on that, because, no, mine wasn't awful.
Jessica Plater:No, and it's not the case for everybody. I love it Never trust a multi.
Sam Miklos:No, never trust a multi.
Emelia Lansdell:They'll be fine. They'll'll think okay, all right, we're going.
Sam Miklos:God, have they ever had a playlist where you're like oh, I can't work under?
Jessica Plater:this condition. I had somebody play heavy metal. Oh, that would have been a very like yeah it was just very screaming heavy metal and it was just like I need to leave because my brain is going to just Explode.
Emelia Lansdell:Explode.
Sam Miklos:And you probably can't Go on.
Emelia Lansdell:One of explode and you probably can't go on one of my girls in sejunah she birthed to van morrison uh, brown-eyed girl. No, I, I can't remember it was just a van morrison playlist um but and then um, she, so when I like, finished up, um and she, I can remember maybe when he was like a month or two old and she like sent like a photo and then sent like a link to the song to play Van Morrison again and I was like ooh, she's pulling on heartstrings.
Kate Coomber:I love the feels. That's nice. I guess, if you had a little bit of advice for people who might be thinking maybe they're in the same position, they're either at a crossroads maybe I can't do it, or is it for me, or any of those sorts of moments what would you say to them?
Emelia Lansdell:You can do it.
Kate Coomber:What's hard, though, because you guys, everything's been.
Sam Miklos:I know it's not all been roses.
Emelia Lansdell:It's not. I know it's not A tough, but it's not been all yeah what's hard, that someone should know about being away from like being away from home.
Jessica Plater:Away from the family, losing that permanency. A lot of my friends that I speak to want to do it, but they're afraid to lose the permanency of what they've got. And it's just being able to have the courage to take that leap, to be like you know what. There's so many jobs everywhere. You can always go back, um, and I think it's you've got nothing to lose really, um, but again, it's being away from your family can be tough. Being away from what you know can be tough, and if you're not, and if you are a bit more introverted or you don't make friends easily, it can be then hard being the person, the new person, going into a new workplace when you haven't been there before. But but it's so worth it.
Emelia Lansdell:You can do hard things.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, you can definitely do the hard things. We're able to do hard things.
Emelia Lansdell:When you think about it and I had someone very, very special say this to me is that when you look back on your life and all of the hard things that you've come across and navigatedated through, what is your track record?
Jessica Plater:yeah, you say, well, like a hundred percent because I've gotten, I've gotten through all of them, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so knowing that I love that actually you are really, really good at getting through hard things.
Emelia Lansdell:Yeah, because you've gotten through all of them. Yeah, they might have completely, oh, bewildered you and broken you down, but you still got through them.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, so you can you can get through other things.
Kate Coomber:You were just asking about dating well, you know, I think it's two single girls, that would be a realistic thing if you're going into smaller towns or you're moving all the time and it's not always going to be on people's radar, but for people who it might be really important and that's a concern for them of can I go travelling?
Jessica Plater:I mean, yeah, you can still go travelling and meet people, and if you're in a small town like Sedona, don't go on the dating apps there's a gorgeous.
Emelia Lansdell:There's a gorgeous midwife that I worked in, wayla. She's from Melbourne. She came over. She found out that she was pregnant not long before she came over and then did a contract and then went back to her partner. She's either or she's like very, very close to due or she's had a baby already, very, not long ago. But it doesn't have to be something that breaks up a relationship. Yeah, we've met lots of people who have.
Jessica Plater:Yeah, oh yeah, Plenty of people are traveling with their partners.
Sam Miklos:Take a little break, yeah.
Jessica Plater:Partners are traveling with them you know, there's midwives that. I've worked with that Gorgeous New Zealand friend and her fiance that you know their partner might be a tradie so they just message tradie, you know come along and be like I'm going to be in town for six weeks.
Sam Miklos:Do you need an extra set of?
Jessica Plater:hands. But yeah, if you go to the tiny town, stay off the dating apps.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, stay off those. It's a great tip. I feel like the caravan parks are full of life, no.
Jessica Plater:No, no, we're not going there, we're not going there, that's part two, sam we're not talking about this, all right, all right, all right, let's go.
Sam Miklos:All right, that's good. All right, do you think you'll want to stop Like is there going to be a point where you'll be like all right, I've done?
Emelia Lansdell:it now.
Jessica Plater:Is there a?
Emelia Lansdell:At the moment, it's fine At the moment. No, I think in a couple of years.
Jessica Plater:It'll probably get a bit tiresome just living out of my car and having to pack up and repack and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, she was just going to say Well, my dog is too big for a caravan.
Sam Miklos:That's right, we've gone through the dog.
Kate Coomber:So I think eventually it might get a bit more of a oh, I'm just sick of packing up my shit all over somewhere permanent to stay where I go casual and I can still do contracts from a home base rather than just traveling permanently see how that goes.
Jessica Plater:So, with every episode, cmr are donating to a charity of your choice. Who can we talk about? Uh, red Nose for me, um, they support, they do the education for SIDS and safe sleeping, and then provide grievance and bereavement, support for those that have lost babies, pregnancies, children. Um, so that's given my experiences experiences in my personal life as well that's who I'd like to, yeah, bring awareness to.
Sam Miklos:Beautiful.
Emelia Lansdell:What about for you, mnd? Yeah, the beautiful family friend that we lost quite a few years ago, who was, yeah, very, very special to my mum. So that's, yeah, that's who I choose.
Sam Miklos:Beautiful Thanks. Thank you both so much, and not just for today.
Emelia Lansdell:You skimmed the surface.
Sam Miklos:Oh, I know, I was like I don't even know that we've got like the anxiety of like a time limit today, but you know just what you've done, not just for us but the communities that you've worked with. Like just seeing you both have such a glow up now right like you've gone from being so burnt out and potentially not staying in a profession that you're actually both profoundly clearly so very good at what you do.
Kate Coomber:Huge impact, yeah, every family that you're obviously connecting with it's it goes both ways.
Emelia Lansdell:So I think you know we make impacts on the people that we look after um, as do all health care professionals, but they look after us when they give us their feedback and their you know their kind words it keeps our cups full and it keeps us going well, thank you.
Sam Miklos:We hope we get you going for many, many more years, I'm sure we will we'll be we'll be around.
Jessica Plater:We'll be around. We're not going anywhere.
Emelia Lansdell:Yeah.
Sam Miklos:Thanks, girls, thank you.
Emelia Lansdell:Of course Thanks.
Kate Coomber:We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which we meet who, for centuries, have shared ancient methods of healing and cared for their communities. We pay our respects to elders, past and present.
