A Reflection of My Caseholding

A reflection about my experience of caseloading

For this essay I will be using the John’s (2000) structured model of reflection, as I find it guides me through my thoughts in a clear and structured format. I will be reflecting on a caseloading experience mainly in relation to the labour and birth, as this was a key time in meeting many of the objectives of the module and as a result has been a great benefit to myself not only as a student midwife but for my future career. The particular woman in this case will be referred to as Claire in order to maintain confidentiality. She was a low risk multiparous woman (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence 2008).

It was clear from the booking that Claire had not had a very positive experience with her first delivery and therefore I felt that she would be an ideal candidate to approach about caseloading, as the additional support and continuity could benefit her greatly (Rogers 2009; Van der Kooy 2009). Claire was very keen to be involved and I saw her at almost every scheduled appointment of care.

As the due date approached it became extremely clear to me that Claire’s fears surrounding the birth were increasing, which has been found to be a common theme (Maier 2010). I discussed these fears with her in an attempt to help alleviate them and make this birth a positive experience for her. Her main fears were having another instrumental delivery and an episiotomy as the last healed poorly. Claire was aware herself that there was a higher chance of an episiotomy with an instrumental delivery (Raisanen, Vehvilainen-Julkunen and Heinonen 2008) and I reassured her as much as I could in relation to current research but knew myself that the outcome of this birth could not be predicted. Research has found this to be a common fear for women with a previous instrumental delivery (Goyder, Bahi, Ford and Strachan 2010). As an autonomous midwife I will face many challenges and responsibilities in my role and this

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