March 14, 2025 • 39 mins
Trigger warning Baby Loss
This episode is part of the podcasthon global charity podcast event 15th-21st March 2025. Join me as I chat with Heidi Eldridge, founder of the Mama Academy, a charity dedicated to reducing stillbirths and improving maternal health. Heidi's personal story, marked by the tragic loss of her son Aidan, propelled her into action, grounding her journey in the need to provide essential resources and support for expectant parents. Discover how Mama Academy's innovative initiatives, like Wellbeing Wallets and memory kits, are making a tangible difference in combating the silent epidemic of pregnancy loss.
In our conversation, Heidi shares insights into pivotal strategies employed to enhance awareness around pregnancy complications while supporting emotional well-being in a compassionate manner. With a focus on inclusivity and community engagement, the Mama Academy ensures that essential information is accessible to all, empowering parents in their pregnancy journeys. As we dissect important themes of grief, resilience, and transformation, listeners will find inspiration in how one woman turned her heartbreak into a beacon of hope for countless others.
This episode is not just a story of loss; it's a call to action for parents and healthcare professionals alike to prioritize awareness and knowledge in pregnancy care. Listen in, explore the myriad ways you can engage with this vital mission, and help make an impact in maternal health. Share your thoughts, leave us a review, and consider supporting the Mama Academy. Together, we can make a difference for expectant families everywhere.
To find out more or support the charity please visit:
https://www.mamaacademy.org.uk/
Thank you all for listening, My name is Florence Wilcock I am an NHS doctor working as an obstetrician, specialising in the care of both mother and baby during pregnancy and birth. If you have enjoyed my podcast please do continue to subscribe, rate, review and recommend my podcast on your podcast provider.
If you have found my ideas helpful whilst expecting your baby or working in maternity care please spread the word & help theobspod reach other parents or staff who may be interested in exploring all things pregnancy and birth.
Keeping my podcast running without ads or sponsorship is important to me. I want to keep it free and accessible to all but it costs me a small amount each month to maintain and keep the episodes live, if you wish to contribute anything to support theobspod please head over to my buy me a coffee page https://bmc.link/theobspodV any donation very gratefully received however small.
Its easy to explore my back catalogue of episodes here https://padlet.com/WhoseShoes/TheObsPod I have a wide range of topics that may help you make decisions for yourself and your baby during pregnancy as well as some more reflective episodes on life as a doctor.
If you want to get in touch to suggest topics, I love to hear your thoughts and ideas. You can find out more about me on Twitter @FWmaternity & @TheObsPod as well as Instagram @TheObsPod and e...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Florence (00:00):
Hello, my name's Florence.
Welcome to the OBSpod.
I'm an NHS obstetrician hopingto share some thoughts and
experiences about my workinglife.
Perhaps you enjoy Call theMidwife.
Maybe birth fascinates you, oryou're simply curious about what
exactly an obstetrician is.
You might be pregnant andpreparing for birth.
(00:21):
Perhaps you work in maternityand want to know what makes your
obstetric colleagues tick, oryou want some fresh ideas and
inspiration.
Whichever of these is the caseand, for that matter, anyone
else that's interested, the OBSpod is for you.
Episode 180, mama Academy achat with Heidi.
(00:55):
So I'm very excited today towelcome Heidi Eldridge, who's
the Chief Exec and Founder ofthe Mama Academy, and it's
fantastic to have her on thepodcast today and we're
releasing this episode for thePodcastathon, which is an
(01:15):
international event celebratingpodcasts and trying to raise
awareness about differentcharities.
So, heidi, thank you so muchfor saying you'd come on the OBS
pod with me and talk a bitabout yourself and your
wonderful charity, the MamaAcademy.
Heidi (01:33):
Thank you for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere.
I'm always sort of dipping inand out of the OBS pod, so it's
amazing that I actually finallyget to get to be a guest, so
thank you so much for having me.
Florence (01:43):
It's an absolute pleasure.
So, heidi, do you want to startby telling people a little bit
about yourself and your story?
Heidi (01:54):
Yes, of course.
So we need to go back to 2009,which seems such a long time ago
now.
I was pregnant with my firstson and I had a reasonably
straightforward pregnancy.
I had gestational diabetes, soI would take myself off to the
(02:15):
diabetic clinics of every monthand they'd check my blood sugar
levels and I monitored that athome and they would seem to be
very happy with how that wasgoing.
And then each evening, once I'dhad my evening meal, I'd go for
quite a long walk to bring mysugar levels down.
That was a bit of a habit and aroutine I'd got into.
And then this particular evening, I was just over 36 weeks
(02:40):
pregnant and I had a reallysharp pain in my ribs as I was
walking.
It sort of took my breath away,um, so I stopped walking for a
bit and recovered, um, butrather than thinking anything of
it and thought of reporting itand going to be assessed and be
checked out, I just carried onwith my evening.
And then the next day was mylast day at work, so I was
(03:05):
focused on that.
We were having a bit of alittle leavers do that evening
and I had a routine midwifeappointment that afternoon, so I
popped out to see the midwifeand she did her usual checks and
she couldn't find the baby'sheartbeat when she was listening
in.
And she said to me you knowwhen was the last time that you
felt him kick?
(03:25):
And I was like, oh, I don'treally know.
You know, was it last nightbefore I went to bed?
Was it this morning?
So, yeah, I couldn't reallytell, I wasn't sure.
And that's because I was nevertold to monitor his movements.
I never thought anything of it,I just thought when he was
moving it was just nice, youknow, it's a nice bonding,
bonding feeling, um, soobviously, she told me to go up
(03:46):
to the hospital.
She rang ahead, um, I rang myhusband.
I wasn't too concerned at thispoint.
He was, he was in a flap, um,and I just kept talking about
the works due.
You know, I was like, oh, butlater, but later, well, let's
see, let's see the thesonographer first.
So, yeah, I got to the hospital.
They were waiting for me.
(04:08):
Uh, the sonographer came andscanned me and, yeah, our world
just completely shattered, um,and since that point, when they
said I'm really sorry he's gone,life has been completely
transformative.
It was never, it was never thesame again.
So you know that shock anddevastation you never quite get
(04:32):
over.
I remember stretching myeyelids out just thinking I'm
gonna wake up from thisnightmare in a minute.
This isn't happening, right.
So yeah, so obviously we had totell our friends and family.
And it was just a real processof life without your child.
(04:54):
Yeah, all the um, ifs andmaybes and all the dreams that
you had that you thought youwere going to bring the baby
home and put him in his nurseryand take him to toddler group
with all your other friends.
That never happened.
So I was told at the time itwas just one of those things.
Nothing could have been done toprevent his death.
(05:18):
But once I started to do someresearch, that's when I was
shocked at the UK statistics.
You know, back then they werereally high.
They were really high over 5,000babies a year were dying and I
thought he can't be the only one.
And once I started going to umbereavement support groups and
(05:40):
meeting other parents that havebeen through something similar,
there was a real similar themeand a real sort of similar
pattern that was happening, um,and parents felt, oh, what if
I'd been told this and what ifI'd been told that?
And then I would have gone into be checked sooner and they
might have been able to deliverthe baby sooner, yeah, and so,
(06:02):
yeah, I just didn't want Aidento be another statistic.
I suppose I just thought, right, what can I, what can I do
about this?
So that's when I started to dosome work in my local hospital,
which was St Peter's in Surrey,and, um, we decided that, you
know, maybe we could get someinformation out to pregnant
(06:22):
women sacred pregnancy messagesand it kind of spiraled from
there really.
So that's, that was the.
That's obviously the reason whyI started up the charity,
because I wanted to make adifference.
Florence (06:38):
I didn't want to see other families going through
what I had unnecessarily it'ssuch a kind of deeply personal
reason but motivates you to dosuch tremendously important work
.
So I'm sure, like you know,aidan's name really lives on
(07:01):
through through the work you'vedone subsequently.
That must be a really nice sortof legacy feeling, do you think
?
Heidi (07:11):
yeah, it is, it is.
I think, to begin with, it wasmy way of being a mother, it was
my way of doing something,because I couldn't feed him, I
couldn't change his nappy, um,and so this, this kept me active
and my real sort of goal at thetime when he died was to have
(07:32):
another baby.
You know, I wanted to, to havethat family that I'd desired, um
, and so I really focused ontrying to have another baby.
I, after Aidan, I had amiscarriage at nine weeks, um,
and then I had my son, tobiah,and then, after him, I had an
(07:54):
ectopic pregnancy and then I wasfortunate enough to have my
daughter.
So so that was it.
After that it was like, okay, um, that's it.
Now we've got one of each.
I was very, very fortunate tohave her after the ectopic.
So when I was pregnant with her, that's when I had the strength
(08:17):
, I suppose, to actually start anational charity.
Yes, so that's when it reallyreally started.
I suppose all the research waswhilst I was sort of bringing up
my son and as soon as I waswith my daughter.
I was like, right, ok, now isthe time to start something.
So, yeah, so when I started toraise some funds and I started
(08:41):
up a website to raise awarenessof different conditions in
pregnancy, it was that time thatthe perinatal institute had
just started their gap programto detect growth restricted
babies.
And, um, it had a real impactin birmingham where they piloted
it, and statistics werephenomenal.
So I spoke to professor gardosi.
(09:03):
I found out lots moreinformation.
Um, he showed me how growthrestricted Aidan was, because he
plotted his measurements on mychart, and that really got me
going.
I was like, right, let's get onthe back of this.
You know I want to tell all thetrusts in the country about GAP
.
You know they should all berunning this because it's
(09:25):
amazing.
And so, yeah, I devised acampaign.
I called it Made to Measure andGood Morning Britain got hold
of it and invited me onto theshow, and that was very nerve
wracking, let me tell you Wow.
Florence (09:40):
What a way to start.
Heidi (09:43):
I know I was thrown completely into the deep end
straight away, but yeah, it wasjust a real learning curve and I
just learned so many thingsalong the way.
I then gained the most amazingrelationships with midwives and
other healthcare professionals,lots of consultants and GPs, and
(10:03):
they all wanted to support thiscampaign.
You know, they wanted to getbehind me and they wanted to
help, and the statistics speakfor themselves.
You know, um, I was invited toa department of health safer
pregnancy steering group andthere was lots of people there,
lots of charities, and so we allagreed on what the safer
pregnancy messages should be.
(10:24):
And then it was a case of well,how are we going to disseminate
these messages?
And I thought, well, aleaflet's not going to do it.
You get given so many leafletswhen you're pregnant.
Only really take note of theones that are relevant to you,
such as a particular condition.
And so that's when I had theidea of the well-being wallets.
Yes, my person consultant at myhospital said that women were
(10:47):
just bringing in plastic foldersall the time anyway to protect
their notes.
Yes, so, yes, we launched theWellbeing Wallets.
And then NHS England did alittle analysis for me and
showed that you know, the trustwith the wallets had a faster
declining stillbirth rate thanthe ones without.
And that's when the numbers,the stillbirth numbers, in the
(11:09):
UK started to decline for thefirst time that's just
incredible.
Florence (11:15):
Yeah, I mean, I think what, what I love about Mama
Academy and why it caught myattention is I'm quite a visual
person and the well-beingwallets.
They're so kind of colorful,they're attractive, but they're
giving that really keyinformation to mums and parents
about when to contact thehospital.
(11:37):
You know, if you've got thissymptom, get in touch.
If you've got that symptom, getin touch, don't ignore it.
But it's such a practical wayof raising awareness, like you
say, because every womancertainly was carrying around a
paper set of notes.
(11:58):
It's obviously slightlychanging now with digital notes,
but you know, in my hospitalpeople are still carrying around
their scans and so on.
So that wallet Brilliantthinking.
Heidi (12:13):
But it's such a simple initiative and everything is
written from a positiveperspective.
You know it's all aboutinformed choice, isn't it?
You've got to.
You've got to look at the prosas well as the cons and have a
balanced view.
You've got to look at the prosas well as the cons and have a
balanced view.
I like to think that it's.
It's very well balanced and andwritten in.
(12:34):
It's written from a parent,it's from a, from a mom to a mom
.
Yeah, and they have evolved somuch since they began, as you
can imagine.
Yes, so much more informationis is now on there.
Qr codes are linked to manydifferent pages, um, and we're
so inclusive.
You know we've got a pagespecifically for black and south
(12:56):
asian women, because they're athigher risk.
Yes, and the colors are forneurodivergent parents as well,
and we've been told that ithelps to read the writing when
they're on those colouredbackgrounds.
And just last year, we've madeour website translatable in 100
languages now, so anyinformation that is on the
(13:19):
website you can get in over 100languages, which is obviously
really helpful so to me when youdid that.
Florence (13:26):
That's just groundbreaking.
I tried a few years ago to getan organisation to put their in
inverted commas patientinformation leaflet into
different languages, and it wasalmost.
They were paralysed in terms ofhow to start.
(13:49):
Which leaflets do you startwith, which languages do you
start with, and how do you makesure that the translations are
of an appropriate standard, andall this stuff.
They put in place so manybarriers.
Yeah, I couldn't get it off theground.
And then your website bang.
(14:13):
It's all there in so manylanguages and we use that.
You know a lot at work now whenwe've got women whose first
language isn't English, we cansignpost them to your website.
They're in their own language.
The right information that weknow is that good quality
(14:34):
information, but translated.
So I don't know how you achievethat.
You make it look easy.
Heidi (14:43):
Certainly wasn't easy, but I always say you know, rome
wasn't built in a day and youcan't help absolutely everybody
in an instant.
We don't have a magic wand,yeah, um so, but we want to
start somewhere, and soobviously, we started with our
information in English, um, andthat helps us know what the
(15:07):
information is, because I canonly read english, yeah, and
then you start with one languageat a time, basically, so, okay,
yes, we're not appealing toeverybody, we were only helping,
um, you know, women that speakromanian, for example, or women
that speak ukrainian, forexample, but at least we are
helping them and then you moveon to the next one, and then you
(15:28):
move on to the next one and youbuild it up, and I think
technology these days is movingat the rate of not you know all
this AI now.
Okay, so the standard might notbe 100% accurate, but even if
it's 90% accurate, you're stillgoing to help 90% of people and
(15:50):
so you've got to start somewhere.
And it's constantly improvingand as it improves, we just
update, we update and we update.
Yes, um, I couldn't havestarted the website with what it
is now.
There's so much information on.
Yes, I had to start it off with, you know, one, one piece of
information.
(16:11):
Then, yeah, you add more andyou add more, and that's that's
how it works.
And we're constantly workingwith the healthcare
professionals and midwives.
You know they're the ones thatdrive our work.
So when they say, oh, you know,we've got a really high
population of, I mean, at themoment we're um, focusing on
migrants and asylum seekers, forexample so we're going to set
(16:31):
up a focus group, we're going towork with the organizations
that specialize in thosecommunities and we're going to
do a big piece of work and, youknow, make some resources for
them.
Yeah, um.
So yeah, if people come to usand say, oh, really need this
particular resource, in Urdu,for example, then we'll work on
it.
Florence (16:51):
Yeah, that's, no problem.
Heidi (16:53):
So, yeah, I don't want people looking at our work and
our website thinking, oh, butthat's missing.
Just tell us, yeah, and we'llwork on it.
You know we've got an awarenessvideo with British Sign
Language on, because werecognise that's a need, yeah,
so whatever people need and whatthey want, please just get in
touch and let us know and we'llwork with you on something
(17:15):
that's suitable.
Florence (17:16):
That's such a brilliant offer, I think that
kind of reminds me of so.
One of the things I became awareof is I'm the link consultant
for our home birth team and Iknow that you did an absolutely
transformational piece of workin terms of the ambulance
(17:39):
calling card and that'ssomething that possibly parents
don't see or understand but hasincredible impact.
So and I can imagine that thatcame about from midwives saying
to you you know, we're at a homebirth, we ring for an ambulance
(17:59):
and the ambulance control havea very specific algorithm to go
through and it's aimed at notpregnancy, so it's obviously abc
, airway breathing circulationin kind of normal resuscitation
measures and therefore if awoman is, I know she can breathe
(18:22):
, she can talk and her heart isgoing and she's got a blood
pressure, she's going to be lowdown.
The algorithmer exactly whatthose words mean and therefore
what category, what urgency ofambulance to send to that
(18:57):
situation is again verypractical but unbelievably sort
of important in in enablingthose two groups to actually
communicate effectively in a waythat hopefully saves lives
that's exactly what happenedthat's exactly what happened.
Heidi (19:19):
Um, and obviously, yeah, they told us the need, they told
us the problem that someambulances weren't getting there
between four and eight hours.
Yeah, they needed a categoryone response.
So we worked with the ambulanceservice to say, okay, what are
the key trigger words that youneed?
Yeah, what situations that thiswould be required in?
And then we produce thoseambulance cards so they go in
(19:41):
the home birth packs for thecommunity.
Florence (19:43):
Yeah, and it's made such a difference because when
we're talking to women who areconsidering home birth, we're
able to say to them we have thisway of calling the ambulance
and we know that the standard isthat the ambulance will be with
you within seven or eightminutes.
And you know, obviouslysometimes it takes slightly
(20:05):
longer or sometimes it'sslightly faster.
Sometimes it takes slightlylonger or sometimes it's
slightly faster, but we can tellthem that that's the standard.
We're expecting, not, you know,five hours.
Heidi (20:16):
We're actually doing another piece of work at the
moment about home births.
Yes, because the ambulanceservice have done like a proper
checklist for for the healthcareprofessionals to discuss with
the parents yes that they can um, you know, make adequate
adjustments to their homes, etc.
In case the ambulance crew doneed to come in um, because that
(20:39):
can cause a huge delay,especially if you live, I don't
know, on the top of a skyrisebuilding or in the middle of
nowhere.
Florence (20:47):
So, again, we're going to put that on our website, but
it will also be available forthe parents, so the parents can
look at that checklist whenthey're making those decisions,
and then it'll be translatableas well so everyone has access
to it, so that's the piece ofwork we're working on that
sounds fantastic and, yeah, thethe translation of that is
(21:07):
really important because I knowum one my colleagues Francis,
our consultant midwife has donesome work about different
minority groups and differentethnicities not being aware of
some of the choices about placeof birth, or or not being
familiar with the idea of homebirth or even birth center birth
(21:31):
, and so to have those theinformation they need to make
those decisions in their ownlanguage.
Hopefully, again, that thatimproves equity, doesn't it?
Heidi (21:44):
okay, definitely that would be a huge help and so many
people that are here pregnantthat haven't got English as
their first language, so it's soimportant to try and help them
as much as possible.
Florence (22:01):
So what's your advice?
I was going to say what's yourproudest achievement with Mama
Academy, but maybe you can'tpick one because maybe there's
so many good things.
Heidi (22:13):
There has been so many and I've been doing this for
over 10 years now, which is justcrazy there has been so many.
I mean going back, I remember,like recruiting our first member
of staff.
You know so, I wasn't on my ownrecruiting our first member of
staff.
You know so, I wasn't on my ownanymore.
(22:34):
Yes, that was amazing.
I won the women of the yearaward.
Um, it was fabulous to actuallygo to an award ceremony and be
acknowledged.
For all the ridiculous hoursthat, yeah, I did and the work
that you do for someone toacknowledge that, that was just.
That was just incredible.
Launching our podcast last year.
I've really, really enjoyed thepodcast.
We've had so many incredibleguests, one of which was
(22:56):
yourself, florence, but that hasjust been um, so much fun and
I've learned so much throughthose podcasts.
It has added to my to-do list.
Yeah, I guess nothing beats,you know, walking into a
hospital and seeing the womencarrying your wallets around.
That really gives me shivers.
(23:18):
Um, and then the testimonies weget off the back of that you
know to say this has saved mybaby's life.
It's just incredible.
Florence (23:26):
It makes it all worthwhile yeah, I had a little
look on your, your website, inpreparation for today and, yes,
kind of baby's lives saved andthose little stories that that
always does it for me.
So you know, when I get afamily saying thank you to me or
(23:46):
a card or something like thatthat just acknowledges you made
a small difference or played atiny role in that, it's
fantastic, isn't it?
So I can imagine the feelingfor you walking in and seeing
those wallets or having someoneget in touch and saying this is
what your wallet or what yourwork made me do and this is the
(24:08):
impact.
That must be, that must be kindof spine tingling.
I would imagine it really is,cause you think oh, you know,
you don't know the history.
Yes.
Heidi (24:19):
The reason behind this, and, and even sometimes, my dad.
He has to go to the hospitalevery now and then for whatever,
and he'll walk past theantenatal department, yeah, and
he'll walk past the antenataldepartment, yeah, and he'll see
the women walking out with theboulders.
He always texts me, oh and yeah.
It's just so lovely to knowthat you are.
You're helping people, you'remaking a difference.
You know they're using theresources that you've created.
Florence (24:43):
Yes.
Heidi (24:43):
So, yeah, I am really proud of the work we're doing.
Florence (24:54):
So for yeah, I am, I am really proud of the work
we're doing.
Heidi (24:55):
So for parents.
You mentioned you've got ahelpline.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Yes, so our helpline isavailable for anyone that's
feeling anxious during pregnancy.
So, again, you could be amidwife and you're pregnant.
You could be pregnant againafter previous loss, or you
might just be feeling generallyfearful about giving birth.
We have a midwife on handthat's there to give counselling
(25:16):
for you and to help you getthrough the gap between your
next appointment.
Basically, it's not to givemedical advice, but it's to give
counselling.
Um, so all the information forour helpline is on our is on our
website, and we also have themama podcast, which is for
parents as well as healthcareprofessionals.
Um, so that's on any podcastplatform.
(25:40):
You just search the mamapodcast and look up all the
different topics and guests thatwe've had.
Um, we do that every two weeks.
A new one arrives on a friday.
Um, so you can sign up and, asyou're doing the washing up, you
can.
You can find out lots ofinteresting pregnancy facts
brilliant.
Florence (25:59):
I think the gap between appointments is that's
what parents tell me is thereally challenging bit yeah,
because they're so few and far.
Heidi (26:11):
Well, they can be few and far between.
Florence (26:12):
Yes yeah, and even if we put in extra ones, they tell
me, yeah, that that wait forthat appointment and then the
build up to the appointment,particularly in the time before
you're confident in the baby'smovements in that middle section
, the build-up, and is thebaby's heartbeat going to be
(26:33):
there, is everything going to beall right at the appointment,
and then relief, and then it allkind of starts over.
Heidi (26:39):
So I can, yeah, I can see how that helpline could be so
valuable yeah, it's just, it'sgrounding techniques really, and
it's just you know more logicto say, right, what happened
last time?
Oh so last time was okay, lasttime was good, last time was so,
why would next time?
Florence (26:58):
yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all, yeah, isn't it.
Heidi (27:01):
So yeah, yeah, that's really good.
Florence (27:04):
Yeah, and you've just launched, I think, your
bereavement wallets.
Do you want to tell us a littlebit about them?
Heidi (27:13):
Yes, so as well as our standard wallets, we've just
launched our rainbow wallets,which are for parents that are
pregnant again after a previousloss, and they contain a
mindfulness toolkit inside,mindfulness activities et cetera
.
But yes, we've also launchedthe memory wallet as well.
(27:33):
So the memory wallets are forany gestational loss, so they're
to be given to the parents assoon as they find out they've
had a loss.
So that could be in any setting.
You know, it could be thesonographer department, it could
be labor ward, it could be theEPU department, it could be
labor ward, it could be the epu.
But there's lots of helpfulinformation on there and we've
worked.
We had a really big steeringgroup of lots of groups and
(27:57):
midwives and bereaved parentsthat helped put that together.
Off the back of that you've gota maternity directory on our
website under the resourcessection so you can find your
local maternal health department.
There's bereavement midwives onthere as well as sort of
breastfeeding support, stopsmoking services, all of that
(28:21):
sort of things in the in thedirectory.
Florence (28:23):
So that links to the memory wallets on how you can
get support the memory walletson how you can get support
fantastic, and have those goneout to all the hospitals that
already have your wallets, orhow are you kind of getting them
out there, um?
Heidi (28:39):
so we launched, we had a webinar and there was over 200
professionals that that came tothe webinar, which is absolutely
fantastic, and we've had ordersfrom 15 hospitals so far.
Um, they first started goingout last week, so it's all very
very new yeah, very, very new.
So they went out last week tothose hospitals and, yes,
(29:01):
obviously they're available.
We package them up inquantities of 100.
They're in smaller boxes, um,but they're available for any
trusts that want them.
So if they just get in touch wecan send you the artwork and
then you'll find out all the allthe information associated with
them.
But, yeah, we're really excitedfor them because you know,
parents sort of walk out withnothing, they leave the hospital
(29:24):
with nothing and you need thatlifeline of where to start.
Yeah, and so the memory, whatit really helps to guide you
where to start, how to tellothers, is on there.
Yeah, and then all theinformation about memory, making
, funeral options if you're atthat stage, even how to return
(29:44):
to work, there's a link to thatas well.
So, um, hopefully they'll.
Florence (29:49):
They'll act as a lifeline for those parents yeah,
and obviously a lot of the workyou have done is kind of based
on nhs maternity care becauseyou're you're uk based.
I know some of my listeners ofthe podcast are in other
(30:09):
countries.
Do you have resources going offto other countries at all or
are you mainly UK at the moment?
Heidi (30:19):
we're mainly UK at the moment, but, that said, we are
very, very to suggestions.
I've just come back from Dubai,for instance, and I've left
some wallets out there, ofcourse, of course, because,
again, I've got the ability totranslate into any language.
(30:42):
Dubai is multicultural.
There are so many languagesspoken there.
It's primarily English, but,yes, we're looking at helping
America because America has gota really high stillbirth rate,
just like the UK has.
So we're happy to go out intoAmerica, we're happy to go
anywhere in Europe, um.
(31:03):
So, yes, if people get in touch, um, we can look into that and
see how we would make thathappen logistically yeah, I know
I've definitely got listenersin australia as well.
Florence (31:14):
Yeah, um, as well as a few across europe and other
places we can go down on irelandas well.
Marvelous why not?
Why not?
Yeah uh, you're so inspiring,heidi, it's, it's incredible.
So we've talked a lot aboutwallets For women with digital
(31:39):
notes.
Parents with digital notes,tell us what the alternative to
the pregnancy wallet is.
Heidi (31:46):
So that is called a pregnancy passport and the
passport is for digital trust.
It's a lot smaller than thewallet because you don't have to
put the big handheld notesinside.
Lot smaller than the walletbecause you don't have to put
the big handheld notes inside,and in the inside cover is where
you would write essentialmedical information.
And this is in case the parenthas to transfer to another trust
(32:08):
at any time.
They might be on holiday, theymight have to access care
elsewhere and usually theirnotes can't be accessed because
that trust is a different systemor hasn't gone digital yet.
So by writing the details inthere, you know, you know the
essential information for them.
So that's the main aim of theof the pregnancy passports.
(32:29):
So again, they're availablenationwide.
I think we're doing 300,000wellbeing wallets at the moment
and 75,000 pregnancy passports.
That's the ratio of notes todigital.
Florence (32:46):
That's mind blowing.
Those numbers, that's fantastic.
What's your kind of nextproject?
Heidi (32:55):
Next project.
So the next thing we're workingon is improving access to
maternity services.
We've just written a new pageon the website about how to
access um midwifery services,because, um, it's actually quite
complicated.
Yeah, so we're doing that.
And then, obviously, we'redoing this big piece of work for
(33:16):
migrants, asylum seekers,seekers, but also the traveling
Roma community as well.
Yeah, so we're doing a bigpiece of work on that.
So I'm going to be busyattending focus groups, finding
out what their needs, what theirchallenges are, what resources
that they would like and how,how they would like them, and
then we're going to work on that.
(33:37):
So, yes, it's going to beanother busy year, but hopefully
we'll be helping many morepeople in the process.
Florence (33:46):
Fantastic.
And how do you fund thisincredible work?
Because you're talking aboutfocus groups and steering
committees and staff and allthese different.
You're juggling multipledifferent things.
So how do you get your funding?
Heidi (34:05):
that's a very good question.
Um, so it's through umsupporters.
So if anyone's feeling inspiredto do any challenge at all, it
doesn't have to be running um,it could be any, it could be any
challenge it all.
It doesn't have to be runningum, it could be any could be any
challenge.
It could be um getting peopleto dress up at work, a cake sale
, anything like that.
Um, it's community fundraising,um, and we also are very blessed
(34:29):
at the moment to be having agrant from the national lottery
uh communities fund rightthey've been very generous and
they're helping us with a lot ofour work, so, and that's how
we're funding some of theseprojects and focus groups etc.
But that's that's kind ofthat's our primary funders and
donors at present.
(34:50):
So, yeah, anyone that is ableto give anything to us and
support us in any way it's it'struly appreciated support us in
any way it's, it's trulyappreciated, wonderful.
Florence (35:03):
So I normally end with a zesty bit, a kind of bit that
we want people to take awayfrom this conversation.
Whether that's well, it mightbe one thing, one message, or it
might be one message forprospective parents and one
message for maternity staff wellfor parents I would say uh,
we've got our helpline, ourpregnancy helpline.
Heidi (35:24):
So if anyone's struggling with anxiety, then we have a
midwife on hand to givecounselling.
So there's, there's thehelpline.
We've also got the mama podcastthat they can tune into,
because there's lots ofdifferent information via the
mama podcast that they can tuneinto, because there's lots of
different information via themama podcast and I think for
healthcare professionals it'smainly if you don't have our
(35:46):
resources.
So the mama well-being wallets,mama memory wallets, please get
in touch to, um, you know, tobe part of this movement.
Um, they're in two-thirds oftrusts.
Why aren't they in yours?
Florence (36:03):
I was literally gonna say yes.
If you haven't got the mamaacademy wallets, why not?
Heidi (36:11):
yeah, yeah, exactly.
We've also got the pregnancypassports for the digital trusts
as well, yes if they aredigital.
It's worth saying that if theyare digital, they should have a
pregnancy passport, because it'sthe same as a wallet, so if
anyone hasn't got one, why not?
Absolutely join in the movement.
(36:31):
Please, um contact me and andwe can get you um to be part, to
be part of this, this um thisgoal, this mission to reduce
stillbirths excellent wonderful.
Florence (36:44):
Well, thank you so so much oh, it's been a pleasure.
It's been a pleasure, I'vereally enjoyed it it's been
really lovely to talk to you andhear more detail about
everything you're getting up to,so that was a fabulous
conversation with heidi.
And if you're getting up to sothat was a fabulous conversation
with Heidi.
And if you're listening to thisat any point, but especially if
(37:04):
you're listening as part of thepodcast-thon, I'd really love
you to spread the word bothabout the Mummer Academy such a
wonderful charity but also aboutthe OBSpod podcast and, better
still, perhaps support thecharity with a donation.
I will put a link to theirwebsite in the show notes.
(37:27):
I very much hope you found thisepisode of the OBSpod
interesting.
If you have, it'd be fantasticif you could subscribe, rate and
review, on whatever platformyou find, your podcasts, as well
as recommending the obs pod toanyone you think might find it
(37:49):
interesting.
There's also tons of episodes toexplore in my back catalogue
from clinical topics, my careerand journey as an obstetrician
and life in the NHS moregenerally.
I'd like to assure women I carefor that I take confidentiality
very seriously and take greatcare not to use any patient
(38:14):
identifiable information unlessI have expressly asked the
permission of the personinvolved on that rare occasion
when it's been absolutelynecessary.
If you found this episodeinteresting and want to explore
the subject a little more deeply, don't forget to take a look at
(38:38):
the programme notes, where I'veattached some links.
If you want to get in touch tosuggest topics for future
episodes, you can find me attheobspod, on Twitter and
Instagram, and you can email metheobspod at gmailcom.
(38:58):
Finally, it's very important tome to keep the OBS pod free and
accessible to as many people aspossible, but it does cost me a
very small amount to keep itgoing and keep it live on the
internet.
So if you've enjoyed myepisodes and, by chance, you do
(39:20):
have a tiny bit to spare, youcan now contribute to keep the
podcast going and keep it freevia my link to buy me a coffee.
Don't feel under any obligation, but if you'd like to
contribute, you now can.
Thank you for listening.
Hello, my name's Florence.
Welcome to the OBSpod.
I'm an NHS obstetrician hopingto share some thoughts and
experiences about my workinglife.
Perhaps you enjoy Call theMidwife.
Maybe birth fascinates you, oryou're simply curious about what
exactly an obstetrician is.
You might be pregnant andpreparing for birth.
(00:21):
Perhaps you work in maternityand want to know what makes your
obstetric colleagues tick, oryou want some fresh ideas and
inspiration.
Whichever of these is the caseand, for that matter, anyone
else that's interested, the OBSpod is for you.
Episode 180, mama Academy achat with Heidi.
(00:55):
So I'm very excited today towelcome Heidi Eldridge, who's
the Chief Exec and Founder ofthe Mama Academy, and it's
fantastic to have her on thepodcast today and we're
releasing this episode for thePodcastathon, which is an
(01:15):
international event celebratingpodcasts and trying to raise
awareness about differentcharities.
So, heidi, thank you so muchfor saying you'd come on the OBS
pod with me and talk a bitabout yourself and your
wonderful charity, the MamaAcademy.
Heidi (01:33):
Thank you for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere.
I'm always sort of dipping inand out of the OBS pod, so it's
amazing that I actually finallyget to get to be a guest, so
thank you so much for having me.
Florence (01:43):
It's an absolute pleasure.
So, heidi, do you want to startby telling people a little bit
about yourself and your story?
Heidi (01:54):
Yes, of course.
So we need to go back to 2009,which seems such a long time ago
now.
I was pregnant with my firstson and I had a reasonably
straightforward pregnancy.
I had gestational diabetes, soI would take myself off to the
(02:15):
diabetic clinics of every monthand they'd check my blood sugar
levels and I monitored that athome and they would seem to be
very happy with how that wasgoing.
And then each evening, once I'dhad my evening meal, I'd go for
quite a long walk to bring mysugar levels down.
That was a bit of a habit and aroutine I'd got into.
And then this particular evening, I was just over 36 weeks
(02:40):
pregnant and I had a reallysharp pain in my ribs as I was
walking.
It sort of took my breath away,um, so I stopped walking for a
bit and recovered, um, butrather than thinking anything of
it and thought of reporting itand going to be assessed and be
checked out, I just carried onwith my evening.
And then the next day was mylast day at work, so I was
(03:05):
focused on that.
We were having a bit of alittle leavers do that evening
and I had a routine midwifeappointment that afternoon, so I
popped out to see the midwifeand she did her usual checks and
she couldn't find the baby'sheartbeat when she was listening
in.
And she said to me you knowwhen was the last time that you
felt him kick?
(03:25):
And I was like, oh, I don'treally know.
You know, was it last nightbefore I went to bed?
Was it this morning?
So, yeah, I couldn't reallytell, I wasn't sure.
And that's because I was nevertold to monitor his movements.
I never thought anything of it,I just thought when he was
moving it was just nice, youknow, it's a nice bonding,
bonding feeling, um, soobviously, she told me to go up
(03:46):
to the hospital.
She rang ahead, um, I rang myhusband.
I wasn't too concerned at thispoint.
He was, he was in a flap, um,and I just kept talking about
the works due.
You know, I was like, oh, butlater, but later, well, let's
see, let's see the thesonographer first.
So, yeah, I got to the hospital.
They were waiting for me.
(04:08):
Uh, the sonographer came andscanned me and, yeah, our world
just completely shattered, um,and since that point, when they
said I'm really sorry he's gone,life has been completely
transformative.
It was never, it was never thesame again.
So you know that shock anddevastation you never quite get
(04:32):
over.
I remember stretching myeyelids out just thinking I'm
gonna wake up from thisnightmare in a minute.
This isn't happening, right.
So yeah, so obviously we had totell our friends and family.
And it was just a real processof life without your child.
(04:54):
Yeah, all the um, ifs andmaybes and all the dreams that
you had that you thought youwere going to bring the baby
home and put him in his nurseryand take him to toddler group
with all your other friends.
That never happened.
So I was told at the time itwas just one of those things.
Nothing could have been done toprevent his death.
(05:18):
But once I started to do someresearch, that's when I was
shocked at the UK statistics.
You know, back then they werereally high.
They were really high over 5,000babies a year were dying and I
thought he can't be the only one.
And once I started going to umbereavement support groups and
(05:40):
meeting other parents that havebeen through something similar,
there was a real similar themeand a real sort of similar
pattern that was happening, um,and parents felt, oh, what if
I'd been told this and what ifI'd been told that?
And then I would have gone into be checked sooner and they
might have been able to deliverthe baby sooner, yeah, and so,
(06:02):
yeah, I just didn't want Aidento be another statistic.
I suppose I just thought, right, what can I, what can I do
about this?
So that's when I started to dosome work in my local hospital,
which was St Peter's in Surrey,and, um, we decided that, you
know, maybe we could get someinformation out to pregnant
(06:22):
women sacred pregnancy messagesand it kind of spiraled from
there really.
So that's, that was the.
That's obviously the reason whyI started up the charity,
because I wanted to make adifference.
Florence (06:38):
I didn't want to see other families going through
what I had unnecessarily it'ssuch a kind of deeply personal
reason but motivates you to dosuch tremendously important work
.
So I'm sure, like you know,aidan's name really lives on
(07:01):
through through the work you'vedone subsequently.
That must be a really nice sortof legacy feeling, do you think
?
Heidi (07:11):
yeah, it is, it is.
I think, to begin with, it wasmy way of being a mother, it was
my way of doing something,because I couldn't feed him, I
couldn't change his nappy, um,and so this, this kept me active
and my real sort of goal at thetime when he died was to have
(07:32):
another baby.
You know, I wanted to, to havethat family that I'd desired, um
, and so I really focused ontrying to have another baby.
I, after Aidan, I had amiscarriage at nine weeks, um,
and then I had my son, tobiah,and then, after him, I had an
(07:54):
ectopic pregnancy and then I wasfortunate enough to have my
daughter.
So so that was it.
After that it was like, okay, um, that's it.
Now we've got one of each.
I was very, very fortunate tohave her after the ectopic.
So when I was pregnant with her, that's when I had the strength
(08:17):
, I suppose, to actually start anational charity.
Yes, so that's when it reallyreally started.
I suppose all the research waswhilst I was sort of bringing up
my son and as soon as I waswith my daughter.
I was like, right, ok, now isthe time to start something.
So, yeah, so when I started toraise some funds and I started
(08:41):
up a website to raise awarenessof different conditions in
pregnancy, it was that time thatthe perinatal institute had
just started their gap programto detect growth restricted
babies.
And, um, it had a real impactin birmingham where they piloted
it, and statistics werephenomenal.
So I spoke to professor gardosi.
(09:03):
I found out lots moreinformation.
Um, he showed me how growthrestricted Aidan was, because he
plotted his measurements on mychart, and that really got me
going.
I was like, right, let's get onthe back of this.
You know I want to tell all thetrusts in the country about GAP
.
You know they should all berunning this because it's
(09:25):
amazing.
And so, yeah, I devised acampaign.
I called it Made to Measure andGood Morning Britain got hold
of it and invited me onto theshow, and that was very nerve
wracking, let me tell you Wow.
Florence (09:40):
What a way to start.
Heidi (09:43):
I know I was thrown completely into the deep end
straight away, but yeah, it wasjust a real learning curve and I
just learned so many thingsalong the way.
I then gained the most amazingrelationships with midwives and
other healthcare professionals,lots of consultants and GPs, and
(10:03):
they all wanted to support thiscampaign.
You know, they wanted to getbehind me and they wanted to
help, and the statistics speakfor themselves.
You know, um, I was invited toa department of health safer
pregnancy steering group andthere was lots of people there,
lots of charities, and so we allagreed on what the safer
pregnancy messages should be.
(10:24):
And then it was a case of well,how are we going to disseminate
these messages?
And I thought, well, aleaflet's not going to do it.
You get given so many leafletswhen you're pregnant.
Only really take note of theones that are relevant to you,
such as a particular condition.
And so that's when I had theidea of the well-being wallets.
Yes, my person consultant at myhospital said that women were
(10:47):
just bringing in plastic foldersall the time anyway to protect
their notes.
Yes, so, yes, we launched theWellbeing Wallets.
And then NHS England did alittle analysis for me and
showed that you know, the trustwith the wallets had a faster
declining stillbirth rate thanthe ones without.
And that's when the numbers,the stillbirth numbers, in the
(11:09):
UK started to decline for thefirst time that's just
incredible.
Florence (11:15):
Yeah, I mean, I think what, what I love about Mama
Academy and why it caught myattention is I'm quite a visual
person and the well-beingwallets.
They're so kind of colorful,they're attractive, but they're
giving that really keyinformation to mums and parents
about when to contact thehospital.
(11:37):
You know, if you've got thissymptom, get in touch.
If you've got that symptom, getin touch, don't ignore it.
But it's such a practical wayof raising awareness, like you
say, because every womancertainly was carrying around a
paper set of notes.
(11:58):
It's obviously slightlychanging now with digital notes,
but you know, in my hospitalpeople are still carrying around
their scans and so on.
So that wallet Brilliantthinking.
Heidi (12:13):
But it's such a simple initiative and everything is
written from a positiveperspective.
You know it's all aboutinformed choice, isn't it?
You've got to.
You've got to look at the prosas well as the cons and have a
balanced view.
You've got to look at the prosas well as the cons and have a
balanced view.
I like to think that it's.
It's very well balanced and andwritten in.
(12:34):
It's written from a parent,it's from a, from a mom to a mom
.
Yeah, and they have evolved somuch since they began, as you
can imagine.
Yes, so much more informationis is now on there.
Qr codes are linked to manydifferent pages, um, and we're
so inclusive.
You know we've got a pagespecifically for black and south
(12:56):
asian women, because they're athigher risk.
Yes, and the colors are forneurodivergent parents as well,
and we've been told that ithelps to read the writing when
they're on those colouredbackgrounds.
And just last year, we've madeour website translatable in 100
languages now, so anyinformation that is on the
(13:19):
website you can get in over 100languages, which is obviously
really helpful so to me when youdid that.
Florence (13:26):
That's just groundbreaking.
I tried a few years ago to getan organisation to put their in
inverted commas patientinformation leaflet into
different languages, and it wasalmost.
They were paralysed in terms ofhow to start.
(13:49):
Which leaflets do you startwith, which languages do you
start with, and how do you makesure that the translations are
of an appropriate standard, andall this stuff.
They put in place so manybarriers.
Yeah, I couldn't get it off theground.
And then your website bang.
(14:13):
It's all there in so manylanguages and we use that.
You know a lot at work now whenwe've got women whose first
language isn't English, we cansignpost them to your website.
They're in their own language.
The right information that weknow is that good quality
(14:34):
information, but translated.
So I don't know how you achievethat.
You make it look easy.
Heidi (14:43):
Certainly wasn't easy, but I always say you know, rome
wasn't built in a day and youcan't help absolutely everybody
in an instant.
We don't have a magic wand,yeah, um so, but we want to
start somewhere, and soobviously, we started with our
information in English, um, andthat helps us know what the
(15:07):
information is, because I canonly read english, yeah, and
then you start with one languageat a time, basically, so, okay,
yes, we're not appealing toeverybody, we were only helping,
um, you know, women that speakromanian, for example, or women
that speak ukrainian, forexample, but at least we are
helping them and then you moveon to the next one, and then you
(15:28):
move on to the next one and youbuild it up, and I think
technology these days is movingat the rate of not you know all
this AI now.
Okay, so the standard might notbe 100% accurate, but even if
it's 90% accurate, you're stillgoing to help 90% of people and
(15:50):
so you've got to start somewhere.
And it's constantly improvingand as it improves, we just
update, we update and we update.
Yes, um, I couldn't havestarted the website with what it
is now.
There's so much information on.
Yes, I had to start it off with, you know, one, one piece of
information.
(16:11):
Then, yeah, you add more andyou add more, and that's that's
how it works.
And we're constantly workingwith the healthcare
professionals and midwives.
You know they're the ones thatdrive our work.
So when they say, oh, you know,we've got a really high
population of, I mean, at themoment we're um, focusing on
migrants and asylum seekers, forexample so we're going to set
(16:31):
up a focus group, we're going towork with the organizations
that specialize in thosecommunities and we're going to
do a big piece of work and, youknow, make some resources for
them.
Yeah, um.
So yeah, if people come to usand say, oh, really need this
particular resource, in Urdu,for example, then we'll work on
it.
Florence (16:51):
Yeah, that's, no problem.
Heidi (16:53):
So, yeah, I don't want people looking at our work and
our website thinking, oh, butthat's missing.
Just tell us, yeah, and we'llwork on it.
You know we've got an awarenessvideo with British Sign
Language on, because werecognise that's a need, yeah,
so whatever people need and whatthey want, please just get in
touch and let us know and we'llwork with you on something
(17:15):
that's suitable.
Florence (17:16):
That's such a brilliant offer, I think that
kind of reminds me of so.
One of the things I became awareof is I'm the link consultant
for our home birth team and Iknow that you did an absolutely
transformational piece of workin terms of the ambulance
(17:39):
calling card and that'ssomething that possibly parents
don't see or understand but hasincredible impact.
So and I can imagine that thatcame about from midwives saying
to you you know, we're at a homebirth, we ring for an ambulance
(17:59):
and the ambulance control havea very specific algorithm to go
through and it's aimed at notpregnancy, so it's obviously abc
, airway breathing circulationin kind of normal resuscitation
measures and therefore if awoman is, I know she can breathe
(18:22):
, she can talk and her heart isgoing and she's got a blood
pressure, she's going to be lowdown.
The algorithmer exactly whatthose words mean and therefore
what category, what urgency ofambulance to send to that
(18:57):
situation is again verypractical but unbelievably sort
of important in in enablingthose two groups to actually
communicate effectively in a waythat hopefully saves lives
that's exactly what happenedthat's exactly what happened.
Heidi (19:19):
Um, and obviously, yeah, they told us the need, they told
us the problem that someambulances weren't getting there
between four and eight hours.
Yeah, they needed a categoryone response.
So we worked with the ambulanceservice to say, okay, what are
the key trigger words that youneed?
Yeah, what situations that thiswould be required in?
And then we produce thoseambulance cards so they go in
(19:41):
the home birth packs for thecommunity.
Florence (19:43):
Yeah, and it's made such a difference because when
we're talking to women who areconsidering home birth, we're
able to say to them we have thisway of calling the ambulance
and we know that the standard isthat the ambulance will be with
you within seven or eightminutes.
And you know, obviouslysometimes it takes slightly
(20:05):
longer or sometimes it'sslightly faster.
Sometimes it takes slightlylonger or sometimes it's
slightly faster, but we can tellthem that that's the standard.
We're expecting, not, you know,five hours.
Heidi (20:16):
We're actually doing another piece of work at the
moment about home births.
Yes, because the ambulanceservice have done like a proper
checklist for for the healthcareprofessionals to discuss with
the parents yes that they can um, you know, make adequate
adjustments to their homes, etc.
In case the ambulance crew doneed to come in um, because that
(20:39):
can cause a huge delay,especially if you live, I don't
know, on the top of a skyrisebuilding or in the middle of
nowhere.
Florence (20:47):
So, again, we're going to put that on our website, but
it will also be available forthe parents, so the parents can
look at that checklist whenthey're making those decisions,
and then it'll be translatableas well so everyone has access
to it, so that's the piece ofwork we're working on that
sounds fantastic and, yeah, thethe translation of that is
(21:07):
really important because I knowum one my colleagues Francis,
our consultant midwife has donesome work about different
minority groups and differentethnicities not being aware of
some of the choices about placeof birth, or or not being
familiar with the idea of homebirth or even birth center birth
(21:31):
, and so to have those theinformation they need to make
those decisions in their ownlanguage.
Hopefully, again, that thatimproves equity, doesn't it?
Heidi (21:44):
okay, definitely that would be a huge help and so many
people that are here pregnantthat haven't got English as
their first language, so it's soimportant to try and help them
as much as possible.
Florence (22:01):
So what's your advice?
I was going to say what's yourproudest achievement with Mama
Academy, but maybe you can'tpick one because maybe there's
so many good things.
Heidi (22:13):
There has been so many and I've been doing this for
over 10 years now, which is justcrazy there has been so many.
I mean going back, I remember,like recruiting our first member
of staff.
You know so, I wasn't on my ownrecruiting our first member of
staff.
You know so, I wasn't on my ownanymore.
(22:34):
Yes, that was amazing.
I won the women of the yearaward.
Um, it was fabulous to actuallygo to an award ceremony and be
acknowledged.
For all the ridiculous hoursthat, yeah, I did and the work
that you do for someone toacknowledge that, that was just.
That was just incredible.
Launching our podcast last year.
I've really, really enjoyed thepodcast.
We've had so many incredibleguests, one of which was
(22:56):
yourself, florence, but that hasjust been um, so much fun and
I've learned so much throughthose podcasts.
It has added to my to-do list.
Yeah, I guess nothing beats,you know, walking into a
hospital and seeing the womencarrying your wallets around.
That really gives me shivers.
(23:18):
Um, and then the testimonies weget off the back of that you
know to say this has saved mybaby's life.
It's just incredible.
Florence (23:26):
It makes it all worthwhile yeah, I had a little
look on your, your website, inpreparation for today and, yes,
kind of baby's lives saved andthose little stories that that
always does it for me.
So you know, when I get afamily saying thank you to me or
(23:46):
a card or something like thatthat just acknowledges you made
a small difference or played atiny role in that, it's
fantastic, isn't it?
So I can imagine the feelingfor you walking in and seeing
those wallets or having someoneget in touch and saying this is
what your wallet or what yourwork made me do and this is the
(24:08):
impact.
That must be, that must be kindof spine tingling.
I would imagine it really is,cause you think oh, you know,
you don't know the history.
Yes.
Heidi (24:19):
The reason behind this, and, and even sometimes, my dad.
He has to go to the hospitalevery now and then for whatever,
and he'll walk past theantenatal department, yeah, and
he'll walk past the antenataldepartment, yeah, and he'll see
the women walking out with theboulders.
He always texts me, oh and yeah.
It's just so lovely to knowthat you are.
You're helping people, you'remaking a difference.
You know they're using theresources that you've created.
Florence (24:43):
Yes.
Heidi (24:43):
So, yeah, I am really proud of the work we're doing.
Florence (24:54):
So for yeah, I am, I am really proud of the work
we're doing.
Heidi (24:55):
So for parents.
You mentioned you've got ahelpline.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Yes, so our helpline isavailable for anyone that's
feeling anxious during pregnancy.
So, again, you could be amidwife and you're pregnant.
You could be pregnant againafter previous loss, or you
might just be feeling generallyfearful about giving birth.
We have a midwife on handthat's there to give counselling
(25:16):
for you and to help you getthrough the gap between your
next appointment.
Basically, it's not to givemedical advice, but it's to give
counselling.
Um, so all the information forour helpline is on our is on our
website, and we also have themama podcast, which is for
parents as well as healthcareprofessionals.
Um, so that's on any podcastplatform.
(25:40):
You just search the mamapodcast and look up all the
different topics and guests thatwe've had.
Um, we do that every two weeks.
A new one arrives on a friday.
Um, so you can sign up and, asyou're doing the washing up, you
can.
You can find out lots ofinteresting pregnancy facts
brilliant.
Florence (25:59):
I think the gap between appointments is that's
what parents tell me is thereally challenging bit yeah,
because they're so few and far.
Heidi (26:11):
Well, they can be few and far between.
Florence (26:12):
Yes yeah, and even if we put in extra ones, they tell
me, yeah, that that wait forthat appointment and then the
build up to the appointment,particularly in the time before
you're confident in the baby'smovements in that middle section
, the build-up, and is thebaby's heartbeat going to be
(26:33):
there, is everything going to beall right at the appointment,
and then relief, and then it allkind of starts over.
Heidi (26:39):
So I can, yeah, I can see how that helpline could be so
valuable yeah, it's just, it'sgrounding techniques really, and
it's just you know more logicto say, right, what happened
last time?
Oh so last time was okay, lasttime was good, last time was so,
why would next time?
Florence (26:58):
yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all, yeah, isn't it.
Heidi (27:01):
So yeah, yeah, that's really good.
Florence (27:04):
Yeah, and you've just launched, I think, your
bereavement wallets.
Do you want to tell us a littlebit about them?
Heidi (27:13):
Yes, so as well as our standard wallets, we've just
launched our rainbow wallets,which are for parents that are
pregnant again after a previousloss, and they contain a
mindfulness toolkit inside,mindfulness activities et cetera
.
But yes, we've also launchedthe memory wallet as well.
(27:33):
So the memory wallets are forany gestational loss, so they're
to be given to the parents assoon as they find out they've
had a loss.
So that could be in any setting.
You know, it could be thesonographer department, it could
be labor ward, it could be theEPU department, it could be
labor ward, it could be the epu.
But there's lots of helpfulinformation on there and we've
worked.
We had a really big steeringgroup of lots of groups and
(27:57):
midwives and bereaved parentsthat helped put that together.
Off the back of that you've gota maternity directory on our
website under the resourcessection so you can find your
local maternal health department.
There's bereavement midwives onthere as well as sort of
breastfeeding support, stopsmoking services, all of that
(28:21):
sort of things in the in thedirectory.
Florence (28:23):
So that links to the memory wallets on how you can
get support the memory walletson how you can get support
fantastic, and have those goneout to all the hospitals that
already have your wallets, orhow are you kind of getting them
out there, um?
Heidi (28:39):
so we launched, we had a webinar and there was over 200
professionals that that came tothe webinar, which is absolutely
fantastic, and we've had ordersfrom 15 hospitals so far.
Um, they first started goingout last week, so it's all very
very new yeah, very, very new.
So they went out last week tothose hospitals and, yes,
(29:01):
obviously they're available.
We package them up inquantities of 100.
They're in smaller boxes, um,but they're available for any
trusts that want them.
So if they just get in touch wecan send you the artwork and
then you'll find out all the allthe information associated with
them.
But, yeah, we're really excitedfor them because you know,
parents sort of walk out withnothing, they leave the hospital
(29:24):
with nothing and you need thatlifeline of where to start.
Yeah, and so the memory, whatit really helps to guide you
where to start, how to tellothers, is on there.
Yeah, and then all theinformation about memory, making
, funeral options if you're atthat stage, even how to return
(29:44):
to work, there's a link to thatas well.
So, um, hopefully they'll.
Florence (29:49):
They'll act as a lifeline for those parents yeah,
and obviously a lot of the workyou have done is kind of based
on nhs maternity care becauseyou're you're uk based.
I know some of my listeners ofthe podcast are in other
(30:09):
countries.
Do you have resources going offto other countries at all or
are you mainly UK at the moment?
Heidi (30:19):
we're mainly UK at the moment, but, that said, we are
very, very to suggestions.
I've just come back from Dubai,for instance, and I've left
some wallets out there, ofcourse, of course, because,
again, I've got the ability totranslate into any language.
(30:42):
Dubai is multicultural.
There are so many languagesspoken there.
It's primarily English, but,yes, we're looking at helping
America because America has gota really high stillbirth rate,
just like the UK has.
So we're happy to go out intoAmerica, we're happy to go
anywhere in Europe, um.
(31:03):
So, yes, if people get in touch, um, we can look into that and
see how we would make thathappen logistically yeah, I know
I've definitely got listenersin australia as well.
Florence (31:14):
Yeah, um, as well as a few across europe and other
places we can go down on irelandas well.
Marvelous why not?
Why not?
Yeah uh, you're so inspiring,heidi, it's, it's incredible.
So we've talked a lot aboutwallets For women with digital
(31:39):
notes.
Parents with digital notes,tell us what the alternative to
the pregnancy wallet is.
Heidi (31:46):
So that is called a pregnancy passport and the
passport is for digital trust.
It's a lot smaller than thewallet because you don't have to
put the big handheld notesinside.
Lot smaller than the walletbecause you don't have to put
the big handheld notes inside,and in the inside cover is where
you would write essentialmedical information.
And this is in case the parenthas to transfer to another trust
(32:08):
at any time.
They might be on holiday, theymight have to access care
elsewhere and usually theirnotes can't be accessed because
that trust is a different systemor hasn't gone digital yet.
So by writing the details inthere, you know, you know the
essential information for them.
So that's the main aim of theof the pregnancy passports.
(32:29):
So again, they're availablenationwide.
I think we're doing 300,000wellbeing wallets at the moment
and 75,000 pregnancy passports.
That's the ratio of notes todigital.
Florence (32:46):
That's mind blowing.
Those numbers, that's fantastic.
What's your kind of nextproject?
Heidi (32:55):
Next project.
So the next thing we're workingon is improving access to
maternity services.
We've just written a new pageon the website about how to
access um midwifery services,because, um, it's actually quite
complicated.
Yeah, so we're doing that.
And then, obviously, we'redoing this big piece of work for
(33:16):
migrants, asylum seekers,seekers, but also the traveling
Roma community as well.
Yeah, so we're doing a bigpiece of work on that.
So I'm going to be busyattending focus groups, finding
out what their needs, what theirchallenges are, what resources
that they would like and how,how they would like them, and
then we're going to work on that.
(33:37):
So, yes, it's going to beanother busy year, but hopefully
we'll be helping many morepeople in the process.
Florence (33:46):
Fantastic.
And how do you fund thisincredible work?
Because you're talking aboutfocus groups and steering
committees and staff and allthese different.
You're juggling multipledifferent things.
So how do you get your funding?
Heidi (34:05):
that's a very good question.
Um, so it's through umsupporters.
So if anyone's feeling inspiredto do any challenge at all, it
doesn't have to be running um,it could be any, it could be any
challenge it all.
It doesn't have to be runningum, it could be any could be any
challenge.
It could be um getting peopleto dress up at work, a cake sale
, anything like that.
Um, it's community fundraising,um, and we also are very blessed
(34:29):
at the moment to be having agrant from the national lottery
uh communities fund rightthey've been very generous and
they're helping us with a lot ofour work, so, and that's how
we're funding some of theseprojects and focus groups etc.
But that's that's kind ofthat's our primary funders and
donors at present.
(34:50):
So, yeah, anyone that is ableto give anything to us and
support us in any way it's it'struly appreciated support us in
any way it's, it's trulyappreciated, wonderful.
Florence (35:03):
So I normally end with a zesty bit, a kind of bit that
we want people to take awayfrom this conversation.
Whether that's well, it mightbe one thing, one message, or it
might be one message forprospective parents and one
message for maternity staff wellfor parents I would say uh,
we've got our helpline, ourpregnancy helpline.
Heidi (35:24):
So if anyone's struggling with anxiety, then we have a
midwife on hand to givecounselling.
So there's, there's thehelpline.
We've also got the mama podcastthat they can tune into,
because there's lots ofdifferent information via the
mama podcast that they can tuneinto, because there's lots of
different information via themama podcast and I think for
healthcare professionals it'smainly if you don't have our
(35:46):
resources.
So the mama well-being wallets,mama memory wallets, please get
in touch to, um, you know, tobe part of this movement.
Um, they're in two-thirds oftrusts.
Why aren't they in yours?
Florence (36:03):
I was literally gonna say yes.
If you haven't got the mamaacademy wallets, why not?
Heidi (36:11):
yeah, yeah, exactly.
We've also got the pregnancypassports for the digital trusts
as well, yes if they aredigital.
It's worth saying that if theyare digital, they should have a
pregnancy passport, because it'sthe same as a wallet, so if
anyone hasn't got one, why not?
Absolutely join in the movement.
(36:31):
Please, um contact me and andwe can get you um to be part, to
be part of this, this um thisgoal, this mission to reduce
stillbirths excellent wonderful.
Florence (36:44):
Well, thank you so so much oh, it's been a pleasure.
It's been a pleasure, I'vereally enjoyed it it's been
really lovely to talk to you andhear more detail about
everything you're getting up to,so that was a fabulous
conversation with heidi.
And if you're getting up to sothat was a fabulous conversation
with Heidi.
And if you're listening to thisat any point, but especially if
(37:04):
you're listening as part of thepodcast-thon, I'd really love
you to spread the word bothabout the Mummer Academy such a
wonderful charity but also aboutthe OBSpod podcast and, better
still, perhaps support thecharity with a donation.
I will put a link to theirwebsite in the show notes.
(37:27):
I very much hope you found thisepisode of the OBSpod
interesting.
If you have, it'd be fantasticif you could subscribe, rate and
review, on whatever platformyou find, your podcasts, as well
as recommending the obs pod toanyone you think might find it
(37:49):
interesting.
There's also tons of episodes toexplore in my back catalogue
from clinical topics, my careerand journey as an obstetrician
and life in the NHS moregenerally.
I'd like to assure women I carefor that I take confidentiality
very seriously and take greatcare not to use any patient
(38:14):
identifiable information unlessI have expressly asked the
permission of the personinvolved on that rare occasion
when it's been absolutelynecessary.
If you found this episodeinteresting and want to explore
the subject a little more deeply, don't forget to take a look at
(38:38):
the programme notes, where I'veattached some links.
If you want to get in touch tosuggest topics for future
episodes, you can find me attheobspod, on Twitter and
Instagram, and you can email metheobspod at gmailcom.
(38:58):
Finally, it's very important tome to keep the OBS pod free and
accessible to as many people aspossible, but it does cost me a
very small amount to keep itgoing and keep it live on the
internet.
So if you've enjoyed myepisodes and, by chance, you do
(39:20):
have a tiny bit to spare, youcan now contribute to keep the
podcast going and keep it freevia my link to buy me a coffee.
Don't feel under any obligation, but if you'd like to
contribute, you now can.
Thank you for listening.
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