It’s International Day of the Midwife and we’re paying homage to all midwives around the world for their selflessness and care. Our authors share their touching, enlightening and even funny experiences of midwives!

• My favourite birth story is the day our beautiful daughter was born. My husband had taken me to the hospital for a routine check close to my due date, parking in a one-hour car space. Fully expecting to return home after the examination he pulled out the Sunday paper only to be told by our cheerful midwife that he should move the car if he didn’t want to get a ticket. I was eight centimetres dilated and our baby was coming! An hour later we were shocked to have our precious bundle safely in our arms! – Michelle Condor

• Midwives live in diverse countries with a spectrum of birth settings and birth attendants so all our stories are different. Midwives Day is a celebration of the miracles we see every day when we go to work, and for medical romance author midwives we can bring that joy to our books.  There are thousands of amazing midwives out there. Women and men who are passionate about their role of protecting the birthing space of a woman from risk, whether it’s to the birthing mother’s world of calm, concentration and childbirth, or nurturing the less healthy mother or baby to their full potential. On midwives day we celebrate midwives and the women they serve – Fiona McArthur

• One of the natal nurses who assisted at the birth of my son, which was 36 hours long and ended in an unplanned C-section, was a former student of mine at the college, and she was so sweet. She said, “You took care of me when I was in your class, a class I was scared to take, and now I will take care of you. Don’t worry about anything.” That meant a lot because this was my first baby and I was entirely uncharted waters and nothing had gone as planned at the last minute after a perfect pregnancy – Bronwyn Scott

• My father caught a glimpse of the midwife’s notes about my mother when she was giving birth to me. It had two lines:
  Highly excitable (read ‘swears a lot’)
  A lawyer (read ‘don’t mess with her’)
  It was perhaps a fitting way to see me into the world – Pippa Roscoe

• I love midwives! I campaign with various charities for better maternity care, and for most women that means the support of a known midwife during pregnancy, birth, and afterwards. Having read the evidence, I chose home births for my second and third babies. It’s a safer option than hospital for healthy women having straightforward pregnancies – I know, surprising! My last baby was 12lb weight at birth. I birthed her in my living room on gas and air, and with the support of two wonderful midwives and a gobsmacked midwifery student – Catherine Tinley

• Near the end of my marathon labour with my youngest (a VBAC)  on a sultry July day, the consultant entered,  spied the midwife dressed in scrubs, and  turned pale. ‘I thought this lady was coping admirably.’ ‘She’s fine,’ came the reply ,‘But it is far too hot for my uniform.’ – Michelle Styles

• We had the loveliest midwife – she came to our home on several occasions to check on our son’s growth and feeding habits. When he was around twelve weeks I asked her when it was safe to stop riding in the backseat of our car with him. She laughed and told me, ‘About three months ago, dear!’. First time parents are nothing if not over-cautious (at least, we were!) – Clare Connelly

• When I was young I always wanted to be a midwife, like my mother.  Sadly I had to give up nursing when my back gave out, so my only experience of midwifery at the ‘business’ end was when (totally unplanned) I was there for the birth of my daughter’s third baby. The speed caught us all by surprise, but it was a wonderful surprise, a calm and beautiful experience, and I felt so privileged to witness it. Her boys slept through it and woke up to meet their little sister. Squeals of delight!  Her fourth was an elective home birth and we didn’t even know she was in labour till she rang and said, ‘We’ve had the baby.’ Cool as a cucumber! It helps that’s she’s a vet and thinks birth is utterly natural. One day I might put it in a book! – Caroline Anderson

By Sanjana Cunniah