Tis now Christmas morning and the sun is just rising in eastern Australia while the local birds are singing in Sydney NSW (I can even hear a duck in someone’s backyard that so far has escaped the oven) I have had my “early Chrissie” celebrations with my children and grandchildren (all currently interstate) and have just made a cup of tea to start the day well with my mother before we get ready to celebrate with the rest of our family here in Sydney.
Like Jackie I can’t resist the early morning contact with my Apple Mac (also pre-Christmas dusted) to see what the wide world of ozmidwifery tells me and to send greetings to those I have not seen this year.
To Jackie and all others like her who work tirelessly on behalf of pregnant women with special needs I wish peace and happiness and public recognition for what they have achieved in assisting Australian maternity services adopt a more sensitive approach.
To my colleagues at the ACMI who have put in so many hours trying to get the PI insurance issue sorted out I wish a restful break before returning to the challenge of having a fully insured membership in the New Year.
To all ASIM members please hang on in there, the homebirth community needs you. I hope and pray every year that the first baby born in Australia will be one born into the loving hands of it’s family at home. Although we get close we always seem to miss those one or two seconds after midnight. Perhaps homebirth babies prefer to be born under Christmas trees late on Christmas eve? After the Christmas break I hope you have the strength to keep on lobbying your local politicians for insurance solutions at state level and keep working with the Maternity Coalition campaign at Federal level.
I wish for IPMs and ALL Australian midwives to have a happily funded, accredited and insured New Year.... so that all may know the pleasure and satisfaction passed on to women through continuous care with their own midwife.
And now I’m off to enjoy that cooled-down Christmas cuppa with my mother, get the prawns and lobster ready to transport to my brother and sister-in-law for lots of family togetherness and happiness. Tomorrow we will be sitting on the cliff-tops wishing the sailors well as they start their journey to Hobart.
To Jackie and all those in WA on whom the sun will shortly be rising, have a great day and let’s all wish for Peace on Earth for the New Year.
Jan Robinson
Too many Gods;
so many creeds,
Too many paths
that wind and
wind,
When just the art
of being kind
Is all the sad
world needs...
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