I'm Kylie.
I'm a good jewel woman from the Burdakin down Charlottes Towers region.
I chose to be a midwife because as an Aboriginal health worker, even though that's a valuable role, it you got, you didn't get to see more of the clinical side as what the midwife does.
So I was like, I want to be the midwife, I want to be there birthing the baby, I want to be there caring for the woman antenatally and post natally and making a difference in their life in the community.
I look after women doing antenatal and post Natal.
So I usually start my day in contacting women and then scheduled appointments.
They come and visit me and then I often go out and visit women during the day.
There's also many other aspects of it, talking to the doctors, following up results, following up scans, chasing women to see if they've done their bloods and just generally engaging with them.
I spoke to so many midwives and they're like, oh, you may as well do your midwifery.
I'm like, OK, yeah, no problem.
And it was just that it was flexible enough that I could work and study at the same time.
So as an Aboriginal midwife, I know that it made a difference in these women's lives, but you don't necessarily get told.
But then, then those women will like a couple of years down the track or a couple of months, they'll send you an updated photo of their baby.
And it's like, oh, that's so nice that you thought of me on this occasion, you know, and then you know that you did make a difference in their lives.
We need more Aboriginal and trust right under midwives because the women during research and discussions with community are wanting to have Aboriginal midwives in this space.
They don't want to be seen by a non indigenous midwife that doesn't know the cultural protocols around birthing and they want to know that they're going to be culturally safe in that space after becoming a midwife.
Like so many opportunities, so many opportunities and then when you see you've made the difference to people's lives, it's all worthwhile.
For anyone considering a career as a midwife, I would strongly recommend it.
It's a most rewarding career looking after our mob.