Oh Baby! Being kind is important

But what the award-winning consultant midwife always strives for is to put every woman at ease with a simple smile.

Kindness is one of the most important qualities in a midwife according to Kathryn, who has worked in maternity for more than 30 years and, in March, was named the best in the country.

"It's the kindness people remember. It's amazing the difference you can make by being kind and it's the same for any caring profession.

"Women expect you to know what you are doing - that's a given. But what they will be worried about is whether you are going to smile at them, whether you are going to be kind and whether you are going to listen.

"Doing all this is easy to do but it's the one thing people sometimes forget. Being kind can make such a difference to the women we are supporting," says Kathryn, who has been working at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust since 2006.

Her midwifery journey first began in 1974 when she started her nursing training. "I knew when I left school that I wanted to be a midwife. In those days you had to train to be a nurse before you could become a midwife so I had a few years of general nursing.

"In the late 70s and early 80s, I was working with premature babies so I got a bit nearer my dream but I knew I still wanted to be a midwife.

"By the time I had the opportunity I'd had a daughter myself. I found it a very difficult experience and didn't understand some of things women were being put through like appointments with the consultant that didn't have any value to them. But my midwife and GP were very good and gave me a lot of sensible care. I knew midwifery was still where my heart was.

"I completed my training and I was successful in entering community midwifery in the 1980s. These jobs were like gold dust and it was considered the pinnacle of your career to get one of these jobs.

"I felt very privileged and determined to do the best job I could. I absolutely adored the job. Most of the women I cared for decided to have the babies at home or in the unit which was like a birth centre today. I was fascinated by the way they put their trust in me and in themselves, many didn't have any pain relief.

"I would get the call when they were in labour, I would go meet them and we would have a baby together," explains Kathryn, who spent 12 years working as a community midwife in Tamworth and the surrounding area.

The moment when a baby finally arrives is still the most precious for Kathryn and one she never takes for granted, even after helping to deliver more than 5,000 newborns during her career.

"I can never quite believe how we go from hearing a heartbeat minutes before to the head coming out and then baby comes into the world and their little eyes open.

"It's magnificent and I can never understand fully how it happens, I obviously know physically how it happens, but it always seems like a miracle.

"It's one of those out of body experiences and it's one thing I will never underestimate," Kathryn, who lives on the Leicestershire-Derbyshire border, tells us.

Showing kindness to others will always be important to grandmother Kathryn who lost her own daughter Rebecca, who was 32, two years ago.

"She spent a lot of time in hospital over years and so I saw how important a smile or a show of kindness was to her, that's all she wanted.

"It's just the same with a woman having a baby. They want someone who cares about them, someone they can trust and is authentic," she added.

In 2002, Kathryn became a consultant midwife and started working at University Hospitals of Leicester. - a position brought in by Tony Blair's government to provide clinical career progression and keep clinical expertise ‘at the bedside’ -

At the time there were 12 consultant midwives across the UK but now there are more than 50.

Kathryn says the main part of their job is to ensure that every woman's experience of giving birth is positive however different their individual circumstances might be.

Since being at the forefront of maternity care at City and Sandwell Hospitals, she has worked to bring warmth to the delivery suite, shift the focus to natural births and provide enhanced facilities, effectively creating a ‘home from home’ environment.

She has founded Sanctum Midwives; an organisation that educates, represents and challenges stigma around sexual abuse and its impact during motherhood.

An expert in the effects of sexual abuse on pregnant women, Kathryn, a survivor of sexual abuse herself, also set up the Hope Clinic to take referrals for women who have been traumatised and need special help during their pregnancy.

"I see women, who may have mental health problems, on a one-to-one basis to provide them with regular support and help them to have a better birth experience," explains Kathryn who met former Tory leader David Cameron who visited Sandwell Hospital three years before becoming Prime Minister.

Kathryn has also given keynote speeches at conferences around the world where she has held master classes for people looking to get into, or already in, midwifery and rubbed shoulders royalty when she hosted Her Royal Highness Princess Anne at a Royal College of Midwives (RCM) event in 2013.

In March this year, the 60-year-old was named Midwife of the Year by the British Journal of Midwifery and she is also in the running to become president of the RCM, which is voted for by fellow midwives.

"It's very humbling. I love my job and it's an honour and a privilege to be able to help women at this important time in their lives," said Kathryn.