The Secret Midwife cover art

The Secret Midwife

Life, Death and the Truth About Birth

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The Secret Midwife

By: The Secret Midwife
Narrated by: Gloria Sanders
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About this listen

Strongest advocate, best friend, expert, cheerleader and chief photographer. Before, during and after labour the role of a midwife is second to none.

The Secret Midwife reveals the highs and lows on the frontline of the maternity unit, from the mother that tries to give herself a DIY caesarean to the baby born into witness protection, and from surprise infants that arrive down toilets to ones that turn up in the lift.

But there is a problem; the system which is supposed to support the midwives and the women they care for is starting to crumble. Short-staffed, over worked and underappreciated - these crippling conditions are taking their toll on the dedicated staff doing their utmost to uphold our National Health Service, and the consequences are very serious indeed.

©2019 The Secret Midwife (P)2019 Bonnier Books UK Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Midwife Professionals & Academics Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
Honest, sad and funny. Loved this book, it was breathtakingly honest about the highs and lows of midwifery and the truth about how not everything goes to plan.

Amazing!!

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Exactly how we are all feeling in the service right now, thank you for your honesty

As a midwife myself, I feel this is a must read

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I work in the midwifry sector and this is a huge imprint into the life of a NHS midwife.
its truly moving I've now bought the paperback for my sister in law as I know she will love this as much as I do great read!

loved it

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I work in maternity myself and felt like I related to every story she told. The narrator is fantastic with her upbeat read and the ability to use different voices and tones, kept me entertained and hooked all the way through.
Would highly recommend for anyone wanting to get into the midwifery field as this is our reality, it’s not all positives and her writing was potentially quite negative towards the end of the book with main focus about the staff crisis and no support but sadly it’s been going for years and won’t change anytime soon.. Really inspiring woman though.

Great listen

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Looking into midwifery as a profession, the birthing stories happy and sad only validated my need to take on this role. However, it is frightening to think that this is probably only going to get worse due to the struggles within the NHS I agree totally on the amount of management and the wages they are on, also think 3 shifts per day would be better and help with the staff shortage, 12 hours is too long. Could really feel the passion in the writing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Eye opening and frightening

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The epilogue encapsulates the story and says it all!
A profession that needs more support for all those wonderful people that do such an important job, day in, day out!

An enjoyable, truthful read. Well written.

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This is totally believable. As other reviews have noted the narrator got some words wrong.

I am not an NHS worker or midwife but I am a mum of 4 healthy children and sadly an angel baby.

After having my 1st baby in 1999, I was wiped out, totally exhausted as I had no sleep and my waters broke at home with meconium in them.I had a traumatic Labour and birth but my daughter was happy and healthy.

Whilst my husband was with me, I got stitched up as I had to ensure an episiotomy, the student didn't know she had to wait til a contraction to cut me. Also the person who sutured me up forgot to freeze the area.
Whilst still in CDS me & my husband's parents popped in as they knew I was seconds away from an emergency C-section.I

I asked the midwife if I could please have a cuppa tea and she snapped "No, we have 40 women in labour and only 4 midwives on duty so your cup of tea will have to wait!!"
We were all shocked by the way she spoke to me.

I went to another hospital to have my other children which was better but when I miscarried my Angel baby we went into the specialist 's office and she said "your baby is gone, it's all done and dusted so happy New year"

I have seen a lot the times I have been in hospital and I am glad Pippa write this book. Not all midwives are as nice and should not have the job. There needs to be a lot more midwives on each shift.

Well Done Pippa for Speaking out!

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Amazing book I would highly recommend. A definite 5 star for me. Written well and narrated well

Brilliant from start to finish

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Amazing. So touching, I loved it so much and would recommend to any healthcare worker

Amazing

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As I student midwife I wondered how true to life this would be, it was spot on! Even a good few home truths about working in our under-funded, over-stretched NHS. Great read all round

loved it,!

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