Sensitive Midwifery - Issue 44 - October 2019

Speech is silver; silence is golden, claims an ancient idiom. A midwife’s silence is golden A s part of the successfully pioneered Certified Sensitive Midwife Course in the Eastern Cape in 2019, students were tasked with reflecting on silence as an attribute of midwifery practice. Their thoughts, summarised here by Sister Lilian, were insightful and profound. Beautiful prose came easily to inspired student and Port Elizabeth independent midwife Juanita Mackenzie, who jumped right in with the compelling thought that ‘a good midwife is comfortable with silence; she doesn’t have the need to fill the silence with chatter but instead is adept at reading women and their partners, and providing specialised, bespoke support to each one’. Yes, there will always be a time for words, but Juanita finds that extraneous words make labour, which is often long and tiring, more so for both the mother and the midwife. In contrast, ‘There is power and freedom in comfortable silence ... and the woman will feel a confidence that enables her to labour freely,’ claims Juanita. It’s about mindfulness Key to being a mindful person in any sphere of life is the attribute of quiet introspection, serene contemplation of inspiring forces outside of oneself, and regular silent meditation. Also on the course was Nondi Gaba, manager within Maternal, Newborn, Child and Women's Health, (MNCWH) and in the Integrated Nutrition Programme (INP) of the Eastern Cape Department of Health, where she is responsible for Maternal, Neonatal, Reproductive, and Adolescent and Youth programmes. ‘Midwives need to be quiet-natured and not abuse their Dimensions Continued on page 39 38 eSensitive Midwifery Magazine Issue 44