Intro to Mindful Midwifery Presents: The Labor Behind Labor

What's this podcast about? Midwives, of course!  Find out more in this introduction to the series. 

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Hello and welcome to my podcast, mindful Midwifery Presents, the Labor Behind Labor. My name is Katie O'Brien and I've been a nurse midwife since 2007. I have delivered over a thousand babies, worked in several practice settings and seen the many ways midwives can midwife. In 2021, I was at a crossroads in my midwifery career. Either pivot from a full scope, full time, high volume midwifery practice, or leave the midwifery profession altogether. The years leading up to 2021 had slowly and then rapidly contributed to compassion fatigue and burnout. I was still young with many potential years left of practice, but the idea of practicing longer than another couple left me feeling panicked. I decided to pivot and opened a business called Mindful Midwifery. My business journey has been on a twisty road trying to discover the best way I can impact the culture. Birthing in my local community and perhaps even the country. Despite my initial anxieties over podcasting, I have found myself compelled to share stories about the field of midwifery with you. I want to give you an insider's view into midwifery. Midwifery is both one of the most rewarding professions, and also simultaneously one of the most challenging midwives leave the profession at high rates and entry into midwifery can be fraught with challenges. The United States needs midwives, but we are doing a poor job of keeping our midwives practicing and encouraging and supporting new midwives. Why is it that US midwives leave the field? How can we be supported to stay resilient and in the field? How do we come back from burnout? How do we train future midwives to handle the challenges they will face after school? These are questions I address in the podcast series. During this biweekly podcast series, with the help of my midwife guests, I am sharing with you the Joys challenges in politics behind midwifery. From there, we attempt to answer some of those mentioned questions because this is an insider's guide to midwifery. This podcast is not sugarcoated, it's provocative. There are topics that we'll discuss that are sad or controversial, but we discuss them in the hopes that you can appreciate a new perspective. The midwives that I am interviewing are not podcasters. They're also not famous. They're every day working midwives that have inspired me to stay in the field, pivot when I needed to been a shoulder to cry on and given me great advice. They're midwives that are changing the birthing and women's health culture in their communities. One birth, one office visit, one family at a time. Most of them had to be convinced to be on my podcast. It takes bravery to share your stories with others, and I'm honored and grateful to each one of them for the hard conversations they're willing to share publicly, whether you agree fully with what they have to say. I hope you give them grace because they're coming to the table to be open and share things that are hard to talk about in order to convince my midwife guests to agree to be on my podcast. In many cases, I've gone to their house to record their episode. I have found that going to their houses is helpful for two reasons. One, it's easier to get people to be on the show if I go to them, but two, it does create a vibe of warmth and intimacy in these episodes that might not be accomplished in a studio. My midwife guests have welcomed me into their home and they've opened their hearts to you. And while I have good software and good editing. Please know that there might be some guests along for the ride in these episodes such as small children, babies, or dogs. So if you hear the remnants of a dog barking or a baby in the background, please understand that this helps keep an authenticity intact that couldn't be accomplished otherwise. Meeting with my fellow midwives and recording these conversations to share has given me new hope in my life's calling. As a midwife, one of my favorite things about being a midwife is getting to interact regularly with other midwives. Each midwife I meet leaves me with a new life mantra, a new perspective, and often a new lifelong friend. I'm excited to share these amazing people with you. They're working in a broken system to change the world, one life at a time. This podcast series is my love letter to midwifery. Thank you for letting me share it with you.