DOCTORS might make the worst patients, but midwives make the best mothers.
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Ask Tamworth midwife Sophie Symonds, who gave birth to her son Jack at nine pounds, two ounces and 56cm long just before International Midwives Day on Sunday.
At a rough estimate, Mrs Symonds has delivered more than 150 babies in her three-year career.
"My first one I was terrified, I knew how important it was for the parents and obviously the child so you put this huge amount of pressure on yourself, but it's amazing what the human body can do," she said.
"The literal meaning of 'midwife' is 'to be with woman', that's what your job is, to be there and support women and their choices.
"I had a concrete idea of what makes a great one but this journey has only reinforced that."
Midwives aren't just there for the birth of a child, they will follow the mother right through her pregnancy from initial consultations to birth plans.
Usually a midwife knows the family intimately and advocates for the mother's wishes when it comes to her birth.
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Mrs Symonds and her husband James live in Quirindi, as the weeks went on in her pregnancy she had to try to take her own professional advice when it came to her plans.
"I've never really thought about the fact that the first person you see in a birth suite is a midwife until you're standing at the front door having a huge contraction," Mrs Symonds said.
"I think because I've seen so many variations on normal births you think about how your own story will look.
"The fact that it's gone so perfectly healthy so far is shocking me, not to mention that everyone thinks nurses and midwives make the worst patients because we know everything."
Just an hour after her birth she was already up folding the blood pressure cuffs and tidying up.
Tamworth hospital midwives celebrated International Midwives Day with a morning tea on Friday.