Special deliveries galore in mother of all careers
Special deliveries galore in mother of all careers
In the first of a new series celebrating key figures in our
rural communities, Tim Relf visits a Kent midwife who
retires today after a long and rewarding career
WINTER 1987 and a snow storm raged. It was 3am and Janet Gwillim was being taken by her husband Geoff – in a tractor – to a village three miles away to help deliver a baby.
"The snow came up to the windscreen – it took us over an hour to get there," recalls Janet. But she arrived in time and, with mother and baby well, Janet was eventually taken back home by helicopter.
This was one of the 1000-plus babies Janet has delivered in a midwifery career dating back to the late 1960s. On average, that means one baby a fortnight, although as she says: "It might be four in one week, then none for a month.
"I still find it so exciting," says Janet. "As soon as the phone rings, the adrenaline starts – it doesnt matter if its 3am. Every hour of every day brings something different."
Janet works in the Ashford and Tenterden Midwifery Group Practice; her patch is a rural area in a seven-mile radius of Charing.
In this small, country community, shes a well-known face. People stop her in the street and declare: "You delivered me". Proud mums and dads tell her, many years after their kids were born: "Your babys gone to University".
"I cant go to the supermarket without being stopped. It can take me twice as long to get round Sainsburys as most people. Mind you, Im honoured to be involved – pregnancy and childbirth are such private things between parents. Its wonderful to see people in later life, too."
Some prospective parents, meanwhile, ask her not to visit their house, because her car will be recognised. "I also stay out of the village shop for a week after the delivery of a baby, too. Its the parents news not mine."
* Thank-you cards
At home, meanwhile, on the familys arable farm Janets got a cupboard-full of thank-you cards from new mums and dads. "Ive kept them all. I never throw them away, theyre absolutely brilliant."
Its all a far cry from midwifery in a big city. "Girls who come down from London whove had babies say how different it all is there. They may not have seen the same midwife twice and they tend to have a lot of their care in hospital – we do a lot in the doctors surgery or at home."
Janet came to Pluckley in 1970 as a nurse-midwife, having trained in London and Canterbury. Her grandmother – also a midwife – was a big factor in her choice of career. "All her stories influenced me. Plus, from when I was six years old, I would wear a uniform and say I wanted to be a nurse. I was also always the one who wasnt squeamish."
The last 30 years have seen her deliver, among those 1000 babies, the children of many friends and neighbours. And more recently, shes begun on the second generation. "Everyone my age has had babies, now its my generations children who are becoming parents."
* Never a right time
Many of them have grown up to be farmers. "If youre a farming dad, theres never a right time of year to have a baby," she laughs. "Summers an awkward time because of combining. Lambings not much better and neither are ploughing or drilling!
"One farmer, shortly after he heard he had just become a dad, asked his older son Do you want to see your new brother or shall we go and check for slugs? The reply was Lets go and check for slugs dad!"
Its a career that Janet has loved. One thats supplied her with a host of happy memories. A few anecdotes, too. Like the expectant mother who insisted on talking, not about her contractions, but about her "contraptions". And how as a boy her son, Andrew, referred to babies being born after the "water pipes burst".
Its a career, however, that hasnt been without sadness. "The awful part, of course, is when you lose babies. Thank God its very infrequent."
After retiring Janet will be as busy as ever. Shell stay involved with the parish council, play tennis, learn bridge properly. "Im going to do all the things Ive never had time to do. Ill carry on doing the farm accounts, too – but Ill be able to do it in daylight now!"
Itll take a bit of getting used to not being "on call" and not working shifts. "Thats never worried me, though, because midwiferys what Ive always wanted to do."
Shell miss the job, though, thats for sure. "Someone said to me recently Ill be bereft for six months and I will, I know I will."