BaBi Wakefield: Online Exhibition

Introduction

How to use

Wakefield Museums & Castles blog

Acknowledgements

The miracle of childbirth

Support for new parents

BaBi's first birthday party

Meet the families

Get involved

Historic photographs

Born & Bred In Wakefield: Online Exhibition

Introduction: page 1 of 3

In 2023, Wakefield Museums & Castles launched a project to collect and share stories of families with new babies. The project complements the Born and Bred in Wakefield (BaBi Wakefield) project, run by Mid Yorkshire NHS Teaching Trust. BaBi Wakefield is a research project that uses data from mothers and babies to create a healthier environment for families in Wakefield.

Introduction

Introduction: page 2 of 3

Transcript

Find out about BaBi Wakefield in this audio clip from Dawn Athorn, Senior Research Midwife at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust. Click Dawn's photo to play the clip (48 seconds).

Introduction

Introduction: page 3 of 3

Our project began at a celebration event for BaBi Wakefield in July 2023. We met and photographed 10 families, and four of these families agreed to be involved on a longer-term basis. We are following these four families through the first years of their babies’ lives. We want to capture their experiences of having and raising a baby, through photographs, oral histories, film, and personal objects. This exhibition showcases our first encounters with our families. We will continue to visit them and document their journeys over the years, sharing how their children are growing up.

Introduction

BaBi's first birthday party: page 1 of 2

In July 2023, the BaBi Wakefield project celebrated its first birthday with a teddy bear’s picnic at Thornes Park in Wakefield. Families who had signed up to the BaBi Wakefield project were invited to the birthday party to enjoy a picnic and meet local services. Wakefield Museums & Castles went along to meet the families and see if they would like to be involved in our project. We photographed 10 families and chatted to them about our project.

BaBi's first birthday party

BaBi's first birthday party: page 2 of 2

BaBi's first birthday party

Enjoy this gallery of photos from the party! Click the photos to make them bigger.

Historic photographs

We shared some of the historic photographs of babies from our museum collection with the BaBi's First Birthday Party attendees. Sadly, we don’t know much about the people in these photographs, which is why we are so keen to capture the personal stories of our families today. Click the photos to make them bigger.

Content notice

Meet the Families

Charlie and Levi: Page 1 of 5

Charlie gave birth to her son, Levi, in November 2022 at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Charlie had wanted a water birth but she needed to be induced at 37 weeks, so she gave birth on the Labour Ward. Charlie describes Levi as cheeky, adventurous, and full of energy. He loves to socialise with other children.

Charlie and Levi

Charlie and Levi: Page 2 of 5

Charlie and Levi

Transcript

Click the photo to listen to Charlie describing her son (51 seconds)

Charlie and Levi: Page 3 of 5

Charlie and Levi live in Wakefield with Charlie’s grandmother. Charlie is raising Levi as a single mum. She feels that this is easier than co-parenting because she doesn’t need to compromise on how she wants to raise her baby. Click the photo to hear Charlie's experiences of being a single mum (1 minute)

Charlie and Levi

Transcript

Charlie and Levi: Page 4 of 5

Families and Babies Wakefield

Storytimes at Wakefield Libraries.

Garden Play at The Hepworth Wakefield

Charlie and Levi enjoy doing cultural activities together in Wakefield, such as Garden Play at The Hepworth Wakefield and They also visit Families and Babies Wakefield, a charity that supports parents with breastfeeding. It was important to Charlie that Levi was breastfed because of the health benefits that breastfeeding has for babies.

Charlie and Levi

Charlie and Levi: Page 5 of 5

Charlie and Levi

Transcript

Charlie hopes to find her and Levi a house with a garden. Longer-term, she wants Levi to be himself, whatever that might be. Click the photo to hear Charlie’s hopes for her son (1 minute 15 seconds).

Isabelle and Marco: Page 1 of 4

Isabelle became pregnant shortly after she married her husband Fran in 2022. She gave birth to their son Marco in March 2023 at Leeds General Infirmary. Isabelle was induced because Marco was two weeks overdue. Isabelle, Fran, and Marco live together in Wakefield, close to Isabelle’s family.

Isabelle and Marco

Isabelle and Marco: Page 2 of 4

Isabelle and Marco

Transcript

Isabelle describes Marco as very mobile and ahead of his age for crawling and standing. He also loves to smile, even at strangers. Click the photo to hear Isabelle describe her son (1 minute 15 seconds)

Isabelle and Marco: Page 3 of 4

Isabelle and Marco

Transcript

Although she had not been an anxious person before, Isabelle experienced anxiety during her pregnancy and when Marco was very young. Click the photo to hear Isabelle talk about the anxiety she felt during her pregnancy and after giving birth (1 minute 52 seconds)

Isabelle and Marco: Page 4 of 4

Isabelle and Marco

Isabelle and Marco enjoy going for walks in Thornes Park and swimming, and they would like to try Baby Yoga. Isabelle hopes that Marco will be clever and kind as he grows up. She also hopes that he will be bilingual because her husband Fran is Spanish. Click the photo to hear Isabelle talk about her hopes for her son (54 seconds)

Transcript

Malvika and Mishka: Page 1 of 4

Malvika and her husband Ramesh welcomed their daughter Mishka in August 2021. Mishka was born in Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Malvika is originally from India and previously worked as a banker in Dubai. Malvika and Ramesh moved to Wakefield in early 2021 because Ramesh started a new job as a radiographer at Pinderfields Hospital.

Malvika and Mishka

Malvika and Mishka: Page 2 of 4

Malvika and Mishka

Transcript

Malvika describes Mishka as a quick learner, often copying words and songs that she sees on television. Her first word was "okay" and she often speaks with a "sassy" English accent! Click the photo to hear Malvika describe her daughter (1 minute 21 seconds)

Malvika and Mishka: Page 3 of 4

Malvika and Mishka

Transcript

When we interviewed Malvika, she was pregnant with twins. The twins are now five months old. Click the photo to hear Malvika talk about the differences between her first and second pregnancies (2 minutes)

Malvika and Mishka: Page 4 of 4

Malvika enjoys taking Mishka to the Sticky Fingers toddler group in Destiny Church, and the family enjoy going to Thornes Park together. Malvika now has three daughters and she hopes that they will all grow up to be independent women. She spoke fondly of the opportunities she had been given by her family growing up in India. Click the photo to hear Malvika talk about her hopes for her daughters (25 seconds)

Transcript

Malvika and Mishka

Bex and Lucy: Page 1 of 5

Bex and her husband Thomas welcomed their daughter Lucy in March 2023. Lucy was born at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Lucy was conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF). IVF is a process where the egg is fertilised by the sperm in a laboratory before the embryo is implanted into the mother’s womb.

Bex and Lucy

Bex and Lucy: Page 2 of 5

Bex and Lucy

Transcript

Bex and Thomas chose to use IVF because Thomas has a hereditary disease in his family. IVF allowed doctors to choose a sperm that did not carry any disease. Click the photo to hear Bex describe their IVF journey (1 minute 45 seconds)

Bex and Lucy: Page 3 of 5

Bex and Lucy

Transcript

Bex describes Lucy as a happy and chilled out baby, who is very chatty. Click the photo to hear Bex describe her daughter (1 minute 18 seconds).

Bex and Lucy: Page 4 of 5

Bex and Lucy

Bex and Lucy go to lots of groups together, including Families and Babies, Jingle Jives at the Methodist Church, and a playgroup in Ossett. Bex hopes that Lucy will grow up healthy, happy, and accepting of herself. Click the photo to hear Bex talk about her hopes for Lucy (56 seconds)

Transcript

Bex and Lucy: Page 5 of 5

Bex and Lucy

Bex has kindly donated these objects from her IVF journey. Click the photos to enlarge them.

The Miracle of Childbirth: Page 1 of 5

Many people in the Wakefield district will give birth to their babies at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Throughout their pregnancy, during birth and when they leave hospital, they will be supported by the Mid Yorkshire Maternity team. Midwives provide antenatal care, identify high-risk pregnancies, and help parents to make informed choices.

The Miracle of Childbirth

The Miracle of Childbirth: Page 2 of 5

Midwives monitor and support women during childbirth and teach new and expectant mothers how to care for their babies. Community midwives provide support out in the community, visiting parents at their homes.

The Miracle of Childbirth

The Miracle of Childbirth: Page 3 of 5

The Miracle of Childbirth

Transcript

Transcript

We interviewed midwives at Pinderfields Hospital about their experiences. Click the photos to hear from Dawn Athorn, Senior Research Midwife.

The Miracle of Childbirth: Page 4 of 5

The Miracle of Childbirth

Transcript

Transcript

Here, Julie Walker, Research Midwife, talks about why she chose this career and how it's changed over time. Click the photos to hear from Julie.

The Miracle of Childbirth: Page 5 of 5

The Miracle of Childbirth

We would like to interview more midwives. Please do get in touch if you would like to tell us your stories! You can email Leah Mellors, Museum Development Manager at lmellors@wakefield.gov.uk

Families and Babies Wakefield.

We asked our families about the support they received after giving birth and many of them spoke about the amazing service provided by Families and Babies Wakefield. Families and Babies is a charity that supports new parents with breastfeeding. They provide antenatal and postnatal support, including one to one support and a 24 hour helpline for families. Click the objects to find out more.

Support for new parents

BaBi Wakefield - Mid Yorks.

We are looking for more families to take part in our BaBi project. We would love to hear from anyone who wants to get involved, but in order to be representative, we are especially keen to hear from fathers, same-sex parents, or parents who have adopted. If you would like to be involved in Wakefield Museums & Castles’ BaBi project, please contact Leah Mellors, Museums Development Manager, on lmellors@wakefield.gov.uk. To find out more about the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust BaBi Wakefield project, visit BaBi Wakefield - Mid Yorks Click Charlie and Levi's photo to read what Charlie said about taking part in the BaBi Wakefield project:

Get involved!

I’ve actually found it quite easy, cause everyone that I know that’s got like - well not everyone - but a lot of people that I know that have partners that are trying - you know, doing it the traditional way - they bicker and argue, they don’t always agree on like the way to raise the child. And then you’ve got just other normal issues that relationships have and I don’t have any of that. So I feel quite lucky in a way to not have to deal with that side of things and not have to compromise on how I’m gonna raise him. Negative would be the obvious one, the financial y’know - you’ve got half the income. Other than that - well and half the hands! But, I’m quite lucky that my grandma lends a hand - and she respects the way that I parent. So, I’d say it’s better than having a proper partner because she just asks how I want things doing and just kind of respects how I want to do it even if it's not the way she would have chose.

Hopes - well I have not thought about it really as of now... But yeah I really want them to be... since I’m having all girls... and I really want them to be independent and you know, a good human being. And... wherever they go and whatever they do - I want them to be you know - standing out in their fields. So that’s what I want, yeah.

Wakefield Museums & Castles would like to thank: Dawn Athorn, Julie Walker, and all of the BaBi Wakefield team. All of the parents we have met, especially Charlie, Isabelle, Malvika and Bex. All of the babies, especially Levi, Marco, Mishka, and Lucy. Nick Singleton: photography, film, and audio. Charlotte McDonnell: oral history transcription.

In the pregnancy I guess the anxiety was about this like, not wanting to be induced and worrying that the date was wrong and then by the time it actually got to the point I was like, “okay I’ll just have the baby” so... that wasn’t too bad. But then - it’s definitely gotten better now, but when he was really tiny - just convinced he was gonna die all the time. And I think it is normal ‘cause it’s like a protective thing that your brain is supposed to do, because you all of a sudden have to not only survive but make another person survive as well so your survival instincts like tripled. But it would just be like - I would sort of plan out what was going to happen, where we were going next and then imagine any scenario and then accidently imagine it with him being killed and then not be able to get out of it until I like did some deep breathing. And I’m not a very stressy person - like I can get stressed but I don’t - I can’t not manage it you know... it’s always an appropriate scenario where... I have to revise him from an exam or... [Marco makes a noise] or if it’s a particularly busy day at work you know. Stress is appropriate in those circumstances, and a faster heart rate probably helps you do your job quicker or whatever. But there would be like - I would just be thinking about... So I used to do springboard diving, the pool was very, very deep. And it was so deep - like sometimes we would just swim in there and it was impossible to reach the bottom because it starts to hurt your ears. But then I just - that popped into my head, that swimming pool and then I just imagined accidentally dropping him in and... I know that I can’t swim to the bottom of that pool... well I probably could if my baby was in there but I know it’s extremely painful. So then I was like, “What if I started to go down and then had to come back up ‘cause I ran out of air and he would still be down there” and then I’d be like, “Whoa! Stop thinking about this, this is not going to happen!”

He’s just - extremely mobile, which is very hard work! [laughs] So he's started crawling and sitting up and pulling up to standing all this last month and he’s just turned six months recently so he’s ahead really. He could already roll from belly to back when he was six weeks - which I think is what I think they do at three months. He stopped doing that for a while and I read that that’s quite normal when they strengthen their stomach muscles they don’t sort of accidentally topple over as much - so he didn’t do that for ages. But yeah he just - like anything movement-wise he seems to be ahead. But my mum said that both me and me brother walked at ten months so... I guess it’s in the genes. He is super smiley - he’s very easy to make smile and he’s got no like - I don’t think he’s old enough for like stranger anxiety yet but he definitely doesn’t have that yet he’ll just smile at anybody. Even when we went to the pharmacy, there was someone with their mask on and I was like, “okay it must be the eyes” but then there was somebody with their sunglasses on and he smiled at them so it’s just like any part of the face then! [Laughs]

So when I first came to start my midwifery training at Pinderfields, it was in the old war huts. I had an interview at Manygates when they were down at Manygates and that was - it wasn’t really a hospital - but that’s where everybody in Wakefield had their baby and they’d just moved Pinderfields to the old war huts when I came. But it was lovely, nothing was stressful - everybody was good at their job, there was no tick boxes or audits or...everybody just got on with their job and loved their job. Yeah... it’s a massive change now. So I’ve been at Pinderfields since the huts were there and then they joined with Pontefract Hospital so they became Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals and then they joined with Dewsbury and that’s when they were amalgamated to The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals. I don’t think how we deliver a baby has changed. I think... some things have changed for the better because obviously there are big audits and things like that, and everybody wants to learn, and research is a big part of that. But when I started it - it were like when you were watching ‘Call the Midwife’... sometimes I wish it could be like that again. I don’t think there are enough midwives, but the midwives that are there working on Labour Wards they’re just doing their best in a really stressful, stretched environment.

Knitted boob

Knitted boobs are used by Families and Babies to teach women about breastfeeding, without needing to touch the woman's body. They are hand-knitted by volunteers.

Boobie Club Mug

Boobie Club mugs are sold in the Families and Babies shop to raise funds for the charity. They also promote and encourage breastfeeding.

I got pregnant via IVF - a combination of IVF which was IVF, Ixer and PGD. So IVF is standard IVF. The Ixer is - instead of putting the sperm in the petri dish with the egg like they do with the IVF - the Ixer they specifically choose the sperm and insert it into the egg, and then the PGD they screen, so they take a bit of the embryo off and they screen it for any diseases. So we went down the IVF route because my husband - partner - whatever you want to call him - has some hereditary disease in his family that we didn’t want to pass onto Lucy. And because I was unwilling to not get the child tested for said disease - and he didn’t want to find out if he had it - this was like, the only way around it. The IVF experience for me was - it was very emotional... so this was our second round that we got successful with Lucy. The first round was unsuccessful which was really heartbreaking... we got six embryos at the end of the last one and none of them were viable to use... and in my brain it told me that I had six babies so - kinda... sent me on a deep spiral of depression and anxiety and all sorts... yeah - it was very hard... [Lucy makes a noise] it was very sad and emotional... hard work. [Bex to Lucy] But you’re worth it - yes you are!

This is an interactive online exhibition. It includes text, photos, videos and audio. Depending on your connection, some pages and features may take a moment to load. Most photos and buttons can be interacted with. Give them a go by clicking them! The video on the front page (with the smiley baby Lucy) can be played by clicking it. You can also bring it full screen.You can click the two outward-facing arrows in the bottom right hand corner to bring the exhibition full screen. Orange rectangles are buttons and will take you to the page described. Use the 'arrow' buttons to move between pages in a section. The 'home' button will bring you back to this home page. The 'return' button will take you back to the page you were previously on (only on Meet the Families).

I would like him to just... be... clever... and sporty - I think we’re probably going to start gymnastics when he’s [Marco makes a noise] old enough to ‘cause he’s - I don’t know, I feel like he could do a cartwheel tomorrow the rate he’s going... And just very kind. I’m gonna try and do the gentle parenting thing as best I can with, not being a pushover but being empathetic with him. And... even if his tantrum is about something ridiculous it’s a genuine emotion that he’s having and I have to say, “I understand that you are angry - you really wanted that piece of dirt on the floor [laughs]" whatever it is... Yeah hopefully that just makes him - that he can deal with his emotions better when he gets older.

I don’t normally feel panic in those situations because they’re planned for. I’m confident in what skills I have and I’m confident in women’s ability to give birth to their baby in most situations without too much intervention. As a midwife we’re trained in emergency resource, emergency procedures you know - what happens if a baby gets stuck, what to do, if the shoulders get stuck, what to do, if a woman is bleeding, that sort of thing. And when you are planning for a birth outside the home it's the conversations you have with women, you know - what’s your feelings if this happens - what’s your feelings if that happens, you know - these are your risk factors - this is what might happen - then this is what will happen - this is what we’re going to do about it.So we always have a plan - we always have support - there’s always a second midwife there unless they happen to birth babies very, very quickly in which case there’s not usually very much of a problem and the midwives normally come in as the baby’s coming out. So yeah, I’ve never really felt a sense of panic within a home birth setting or like a birth centre setting. And if you’re on Labour Ward you’ve got so much support around you - you literally pull a button and you find like half the Labour Ward in there if you need them.

Born and Bred in Wakefield - or BaBi Wakefield for short - is a research project looking at trying to tackle health inequalities by linking data from different organisations. It’s the data that people collect in order to provide the service - so like for example maternity that’s our maternity data; local authority might be stuff around like where the schools are, where the parks are, you know, who is living in deprived areas - that sort of thing. But linking all that data together and making it all anonymous gives us a huge pool of information and we can look at patterns and trends to see if we can pinpoint what might be causing a particular problem. So, it would hopefully help us to see why some people stay well and why some become poorly, and what are particular tipping points for - for those people that develop illness.

My hopes for Lucy is just that she’s healthy and happy... My partner Tom, he wants Lucy to be a multimillionaire so that he can live off of her [laughs] - you know - every parent's dream I think. I just want her to be happy and healthy - be who she wants to be. I’ve struggled a lot in my life with accepting who I am and where I wanted to be and I don’t her to live her life like that I want her to be happy with herself and not always think, “well I’m not worth that” or [Lucy makes a noise] - yeah! I mean we have a little phrase, don’t we? "You are smart, you are beautiful, you are independent, and you are intelligent" - something like that - we say it different every time... but it’s something like that. I tell her it every day when she wakes up - and I just want her - [Bex to Lucy] I just want to love you - don’t we?

Please note - some of the mothers discuss the following themes:

• Anxiety and mental health (Isabelle and Marco)
• Potential pregnancy complications with twins (Malvika and Mishka)
• Difficulties with IVF and conceiving (Bex and Lucy)

Colostrum spoon

This spoon illustrates how much colostrum a newborn baby needs. Sometimes new mothers can worry that they are not producing enough breast milk, and these spoons can provide reassurance. Colostrum, or 'first milk', is the first form of breastmilk that is released by the mammary glands after giving birth. It's nutrient-dense and high in antibodies and antioxidants to build a newborn baby's immune system. It changes to breast milk within two to four days after the baby is born.

Belly beads

Belly beads illustrate the size of a newborn baby's stomach. They are used to teach new parents about breastfeeding and the amount of food a newborn baby needs.

He is just full of beans really. He just doesn’t stop - he’s been quite mobile from about six months and I think that that’s sort of helped him develop a really cheeky side. So he’s ten months now and he’s just always getting into mischief, which I know sounds a bit silly as a ten-month-old but he - he just doesn’t stop really. [Levi makes a noise and Charlie laughs] I kinda- he’s kinda like my little monkey - he loves climbing things, he’s got his own climbing frame that we put up in here and he climbs straight to the top without any help. But he kinda needs that because if he goes too long without lots of [Levi makes a noise] sorta like soft play or climbing frames and that sort of kinda activities he just he goes a bit stir-crazy.

That’s all down to a lady called Pam Skelton who was my midwife when I had my youngest daughter, and who has since sadly passed away. But she was just, amazing really, and gave me such confidence and so much support. And it gave me an understanding of - when I was at school you got a choice of either you did medicine or you did nursing, and didn’t quite get the grades for medicine, didn’t want to be a nurse. And midwifery gave me something in the middle where I had that element of autonomy, I could practise on my own jurisdiction. Even though we work alongside doctors, as a midwife you don’t necessarily need a doctor involved to provide care. Pam was just great at doing that job and it just kinda incentivised me to look further, so by the time my youngest was three I had got into training and it kinda went from there. And then I was lucky enough to work with Pam when I was a qualified midwife and we worked closely on a team - she was my team leader. She was everything I ever wanted to be so... as I say [she's] sadly passed away and [she] had... a real impact on the team.

Charlie said:

"I've loved being a part of the BaBi Wakefield exhibition with my son Levi. It's nice to be able to capture this special moment in our lives and share it with others. I hope Levi will enjoy looking back at this snapshot of our life when he's older. It's been so easy to be a part of and we get the bonus of working with a lovely photographer who has given us some beautiful images to keep."

Lucy and her personality. Lucy is a very chill baby - as you can probably tell by this video - this is literally her state - she is happy, she is chatty.. We do have a few grizzles some days, don’t we? Yeah - very curious aren't you? Yeah - yeah, I know. We like poking things. But she's , she's usually quite happy, quite chill. Easy-going aren't we? Milestones... so she does roll now - she rolls forward and back and she rolls everywhere... She’s sort of crawling - she’s not quite mastered it to a T yet so I’m not calling it crawling - it’s more of an army shuffle. She’s very chatty. I remember when she first starting babbling, properly babbling, and she was like three months old or two. She weren’t very old to start doing it ‘cause I remember that - going to the midwife, coming like the week after she started, “Oh! She’s really good at babbling - they don’t usually start babbling yet.” And I’m like “Yeah she does it all the time - she talks to the cat, dog, carpet, talks to anybody” [Bex to Lucy] I don’t know who you take after.... mummy...

She’s two now and terrible twos have come [Laughs] And you know - she’s screaming sometimes at the top of her voice, she’s sometimes so cranky and... whatever she wants she wants at that particular time only and if you don’t give it she will be like hell... She’s quite - I would say... she’s good in other things... She learns very quickly because you know - I’ve seen that she knows all her colours now, she knows counting from one to fifteen. She sings songs - like whatever she sees on the TV or maybe what we are singing she has started to sing also. So she’s a good learner - yeah. Her first word: “Okay!” And like she just said with so much sass, “Okay! Okay!” [Laughs]. We just used to wonder she has learned it from because - if you see my accent is not that you know - British or... [a] different kind of accent. Because in India [Laughs] - the English like - we have a different accent but she learned that sass and that accent I don’t know where... Whatever it was she’s now also saying in English and it’s very different to what we say [laughs] Maybe because of the children [Mishka calls out for 'Mummy'] she meets or maybe she watches on the TV that’s why.

First pregnancies yeah obviously are different from - you know - the other pregnancies. I was nervous - I was excited - and I was - like more than now as I was excited about having being pregnant for the first time and knowing I’m having a girl. It was smooth - it was kind of smooth pregnancy but it was a low-risk pregnancy for me and I give birth at Pinderfields birth centre - my midwives and the care I was given was good. I was planning to have a water birth at the time but [laughs] at the end I freaked out and I changed my mind. So yeah it was definitely [Mishka calls out for 'Mummy'] - a good experience have the birth and the birth centre... I did not require much of medication so that’s why I could be there, and it was a normal delivery so I was happy... I got recovered very soon. And now the second time I’m pregnant with twins... when we got to know we were pregnant with twins and oh my god we freaked out. Like, it took us few weeks to, you know, come out of the shock and accept it that we’re going to have twins, two more babies... Because we were not prepared for this pregnancy and it’s obviously quite emotional you know, in the beginning. And then when they told me that it’s MCMA twins - they are sharing the same placenta and same sac - there are quite risks attached to it - complications can arise at any point of pregnancy... so, so many horrible things and when you Google these things you are more terrified about it. So yeah, this pregnancy is going okay... I have been having lots of appointments... I’ve been in and out of Pinderfields Hospital because of this pregnancy, they’ve been giving me growth scans every two weeks and consultations.

When I trained to be a midwife you had to train to be a nurse first. A lot of the midwives now are direct ones - what we call ‘direct entry midwives’, so they weren’t nurses before, they just came straight into midwifery. So when you’re training to be a nurse you have to do all specialities and when I did the midwifery part of that nurse training I was just hooked - I thought it was absolutely amazing, mind-blowing, and I thought, “that’s where I want to be”. So when I finished my nurse training you have to work as a nurse for a little bit just to get some experience, so I worked as a nurse at Doncaster and then came to Pinderfields to be a midwife. It’s just an absolute miracle - one minute there’s a woman and then the next minute there’s a woman and a baby. The power that women have got to actually deliver a baby it’s just - I can’t explain it - it’s just miraculous - mind-blowing. It’s just an amazing, amazing feeling - and just to just be involved and share that experience with families is just a privilege really.

Window sticker

Families and Babies promote breastfeeding in public spaces. They invite venues in Wakefield to sign up to their Breastfeeding Friendly scheme. Venues that sign up can display one of these window stickers.

Yeah, so my hopes sort of short-term is just that me and him could be a family in our own place. Long-term, I just want him to be him. I just want him to develop into whoever he wants to be. I’m hoping that he’s going to want to get involved in a lot of stuff - so I want to try him at things like gymnastics and different sports and stuff. I think he’ll enjoy it, ‘cause he likes [Levi makes a noise] - swinging around all the time [laughs]. But - yeah whatever direction he wants to go in I want to just encourage it. I’m actually hoping to homeschool so... it’s not set in stone but it is something that I’d like to do to have more freedom with him, to be able to go, really go, in the sorta like direction he wants go in. He doesn’t strike me as the sort of kid who's going to do well sat in a classroom, staying still so I think just like an alternative learning style for him would work really well. I kinda had this plan when I was pregnant but I just wanted to wait to see who he would be as a person, but it just so happened. I think he is the right sort of person to thrive in a sort of homeschool environment - and we'll go and join sort of like Forest School groups and different activities that way to socialise.