As a fetal surveillance lead midwife, Karen Cullen facilitates teaching for both midwives and doctors in monitoring the baby’s journey through labour and delivery, something she has been doing at WUTH since 2020. “The role came about from an NHS England initiative and now every hospital has to have a fetal surveillance midwife”, she said. “It’s called Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle, and it ensures we are monitoring the wellbeing of all our babies and identifying those who are at higher risk throughout the pregnancy and during labour. That might include expectant mums who have a medical condition or where there are concerns around babies whose movements have changed.”
The hospital has a 24-hour triage line so that anyone who has noticed changes in their unborn baby’s movements can phone and speak to a midwife to get advice.
Karen added: “We use a cardiotocograph (CTG) as one way to monitor baby’s heartrate. At WUTH we have central surveillance installed and all of the CTGs on our labour wards are available electronically so we have helicopter view of all the monitoring data. It helps us make sure all our babies are being looked after to the highest standard. From the patterns we see on CTG tracing, midwives and doctors can understand how baby is coping with labour. If baby is becoming too stressed, we can help, for example by reducing the number of contractions or considering other modes of birth where appropriate.”
“Being a midwife is extremely rewarding. You get to be a part of such an important moment in someone’s life. It’s lovely to support mums who don’t have any complications but it’s also great to help mums who are having a difficult time and need more support and intensive care. It gives me an amazing, rewarding feeling being able to look after them and deliver their babies into the world.
"I’ve been qualified for 20 years this year. I started midwifery after doing a degree in biomedical science. I’d always wanted to be a midwife from a very early age. When I was young and people asked me what I wanted to do, I would say ‘deliver babies’. At the time I left school midwifery wasn’t a degree, and because I’d been encouraged to do a degree I did biomedical sciences. But I knew I wanted to be a midwife so after my degree I did my diploma in midwifery.
"I feel like I’ve always been destined to be a midwife, I know it sounds corny but it’s true. It’s everything I thought it would be and more. I find it fascinating to see a woman’s body as it changes and grows a baby, and the process of labour itself. I’m totally committed to supporting women to ensure their baby arrives safely. Every day I want to understand it even more so I still love doing the job because every day I’m still learning."