Don't Call Your Midwife, Write To Them
It’s that post-Christmas pit stop; that bit between going back to work and actually feeling like you’ve recovered. The last cracker may have been pulled, the last Bailey’s necked and the last of that damn turkey curry is gone (finally) but there’s still some Christmas housekeeping that needs to be done. I don’t know about your family, but mine are sticklers for the good ol’ fashioned Thank You card or letter. Some of the more liberal amongst them are happy to receive a phone call. Some are even ok with an email and a precious few are grateful for a simple text that says, “Thank you for the lovely gift.” I’d obviously love to be able to say what that gift was but in the crazy, child-coloured crazy that was the Christmas morning present massacre, I have no idea who bought what.The point is, saying thank you is important. Always. Every time. In fact, it's so important they've dedicated a whole day to it and, in case, you didn't know, it's International Thank You Day today.
A little while ago, I wrote a post about the importance of thanking your midwife. While the thought of writing your midwife a thank you card may seem a bit bonkers, when you compare it to writing a card thanking Great Aunt Daphne for her ‘thoughtful’ gift of six pairs of black socks and a steering wheel lock (true story), all of a sudden it doesn’t seem that strange to spend a few minutes penning a heartfelt note of gratitude to the person who kept you and your brand new human safe during their messy entry into this world.
Which is why it’s pretty cool to see that Pampers have gone one step further in their #ThankYouMidwife campaign and now collaborated with Moonpig to create 6 limited edition ‘Thank You Midwife’ cards. Pampers are committed to the long term support of every one of the UK’s midwives because, quite simply, they are critical to every baby’s development. That’s why all proceeds go to supporting the Royal College of Midwives and the Benevolent Fund of the Royal College of Midwives Trust – an organisation that works to support midwives in need.
It still blows my mind (and shines a bright light on my own guilt!) that we forget to thank our midwife. I get it – the whole ‘giving birth’ thing is emotional and busy and often tense and stressful – but if this campaign reminds just a few of us to thank their midwife then it’s done a good thing. We have 40,000 midwives in this country and one in three of them feel under valued and underappreciated. I’ve not only benefitted from the support and knowledge of a number of midwives, I have friends, close friends, who are midwives keeping babies and mothers safe throughout pregnancy and beyond every single day, and night.
So, if you’re planning on birthing a tiny human soon, take a minute a hop over to Moonpig now. Purchase a card to pop in your hospital bag that won’t just make a midwife feel valued and appreciated, it’ll also support other midwives so that they can continue to keep our babies safe, or if you forget to do that, the beauty of these is that you can order one online straight to the maternity ward- simple!
This blog is a paid collaboration with Pampers.