"You stop counting when you get to a thousand," says midwife Irene Namugere with a chuckle. After nearly 20 years working in the role in east London, she says her passion remains as strong as ever. "I think delivering a baby and bringing a child in, helping mum to bring a life into the world, I think that's the best thing when you see the joy on their faces, and you are a part of that - it's beautiful."
Irene is a midwife team manager at Pontoon Dock Health Centre in Newham, an area with some of the highest birth rates in London. She's one of the "Real Midwives of Poplar"... most of the 11,000 babies here and in Tower Hamlets are born in hospital, much of the care is delivered by a team of community midwives.
Homebirth midwife Hannah Shukla has worked in the area for the last three years. Hannah is also a fan of her fictional colleagues from the BBC drama. "I love to watch Call the Midwife," she says. "It's one of the only birth shows on TV that is a bit more accurate and realistic..."
...I really do feel like I do their jobs, I cover the area that they worked and they were very much in the community, kind of going around seeing these women and families in their homes and I get to do that too."
Collection
[
|
...
]