Not everyone gets to enjoy Christmas Day away from work, and that includes many dedicated NHS staff.
One Lancashire midwife working has shared her joy at the “nice, festive feel” of the holiday shift. Joanne Connor, a midwife with 23 years of experience, has spent numerous Christmas Days on duty.
The Skelmersdale mum finds it “special” to witness new families celebrating their first Christmas together. Speaking to the ECHO, the 48-year-old said: “I’ve worked in the hospital and have been a community midwife for 18 years, which involves doing the visits in the women’s homes and clinics.
“I quite like working on Christmas Day because it has a nice, festive feel to it. It’s nice to be a part of families’ first Christmas with their babies.”
“When you go out to the houses and see them, the homes are all decorated for Christmas and it could be their first child so the very first family Christmas they’re ever going to have. And if they’ve got little siblings who’ve opened all their presents, then they’re dead excited because they’ve got a new brother or sister.
“You get offered mince pies, chocolates and it’s really nice.”
The Skelmersdale mum says it is “special” seeing new families celebrate their first Christmas
Joanne says she wanted to be a midwife since she was 15, knowing full well that she’d be required to work Christmas Day shifts as part of her role. She continued: “I don’t know why I wanted to do it. It’s a holistic role so you do a bit of everything; supporting people mentally and physically, socially, emotionally.
“It’s demanding and stressful but you get to see families time and time again – from the very start of the pregnancy until the baby is four weeks old. We get to see that entire journey and it’s really lovely.
“You obviously come into the job knowing that it is 365 days a year, 24/7 so you know that that’s something you’re going to be doing. In the hospital, we try to make it as festive as possible for the people who have to stay in over Christmas. Father Christmas will come around all the wards, handing out presents.”
Despite her shift, Joanne says that her family will still be celebrating Christmas on December 25, adding: “Whenever I’m working, my family adjusts our Christmas Day to fit around my schedule, such as having our dinner a bit later.
“When my children were little, they’d get up at about 7am and then we’d do presents before I left but, now that they’re teenagers, they’ll probably be a little bit annoyed this year because I’ve told them I’ll be dragging them out of bed at 7am to get their presents.
“They don’t want to get up that early but I’ve told them I’ll put their presents in my car and they won’t be able to open them if they don’t get up!”
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