Singapore General Hospital Midwife Shares Professional Experience

Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is highlighting the multifaceted and responsible role of a midwife in a recently published article. Senior midwife Saidah Saini shares her passion for her profession, which spans assisting with normal births to managing complex, high-risk pregnancies.

Saini, who has been with SGH since 2008 and became a certified midwife in 2013, describes a deep connection to the labour ward. She emphasizes that the work involves continuous learning and adaptation, particularly in an acute hospital setting where challenging cases are frequent. She notes that a midwife's job is not just about caring for one life at a time, but sometimes multiple, as in cases of multiple births or when the mother's life is at risk.

Midwives at SGH collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams to ensure the best possible outcomes for mothers and babies. This includes support from the Centre for High Risk Pregnancies (CHiRP) and the neonatal department, which cares for extremely premature infants. Saini also serves as a teaching faculty member for the Singapore Neonatal Resuscitation Course, sharing her expertise with colleagues.

The role has demanded adaptability, even in extraordinary circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when a labour ward was temporarily converted into an isolation ward for COVID-positive mothers. Saini points out that the most difficult aspects of the job involve moments of confronting grief and loss following a baby's death. Despite these challenges, she finds the profession deeply rewarding, especially when empowering and supporting women on their journey to motherhood.