Midwife's friends book Sanne

Click on the questions to see the answers.

1. What is your nickname and why? +

Sannegie, but that's actually only what my father calls me. I got this nickname as a child and despite the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, my father still calls me that sometimes.

2. What is your superpower (besides delivering babies) +

I often hear that I can empathize well with others, especially when things aren't going so well for someone. Because I have worked in many places and have also regularly seen and experienced less pleasant things, I take this experience with me in my work as a midwife. For example, I think it is important to take a long time to consider what you need to be able to process things, in your own way. Sometimes you don't need many words to understand someone, but the power lies in offering a truly listening ear.

3. What was your childhood dream? +

As a child I dreamed of becoming a surgeon so I could make people better. I also always dreamed of having my own horse, but no matter how many times I said it…it didn’t seem to work.. 😉

4. What is a fact about you that you don't usually tell but secretly want to reveal? +

In my sleep I sometimes tell whole stories. If you are lucky, you can even ask me questions and I will answer. Fortunately not every night, otherwise my partner would wake up very often (even when the phone is not ringing haha!)

5. Are there things that you secretly find difficult and for which you admire others? +

I sometimes find it difficult to let go of the fact that I cannot help someone, for example when a situation is the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it. It is in my nature to want to be able to do something for someone else and when I can only watch someone grieve, I sometimes find this quite difficult. I sometimes admire someone who very rationally reasons that this could be life.

6. What do you like to eat when you have time to sit quietly after a busy shift? +

I have to admit that this is a chip. But I don't always do this! I also regularly grab a meal salad or a baguette from the oven.

7. What does your ideal day off look like? +

That depends on when I am free. If I have not slept much because there were many deliveries, an ideal day off is soon when I can sleep in. But as an activity I do choose a day at the sauna. Turn off the phone and completely relax, then I can really unwind.

8. Are you a morning person or a night owl (or both because of your job)? +

I am a real night owl and get the most 'out of my hands' from 22:00. Why? Because then there are fewer external stimuli such as WhatsApp messages and phone calls from companies. Furthermore, I can get up very well in the middle of the night when the phone rings. I have to admit that I then also fall asleep easily when I come home during the day after a night of work, so I don't really have a rhythm.

9. What does your ideal holiday look like? +

During my ideal holiday, nothing has to be done, but I look at what I feel like doing each day. I prefer a holiday to the sun and the sea, because the beach really makes me happy. I like everything, so where the trip goes doesn't really matter to me. I'm not the type to do really scary things like bungee jumping or hiking from a high mountain.

10. What is a moment in your life that you always look back on with a smile? +

That I bought my first house together with my partner and we sat together by the fireplace for the first time and realized that this was our new home.

11. What's the best spontaneous decision you've ever made? +

The first date with my partner haha! I remember well that I had never been on a date before and was quite nervous, but when I saw him for the first time, the nerves were gone immediately. We talked for hours and the time flew by. We have been together for years now and I am very happy that I decided that day to take the plunge and meet him!

12. When and how was your first contact with maternity care? +

I was 12 years old when I first went to college to study midwifery. I was orienting myself on the study I wanted to do after finishing high school. I had one foot over the threshold and immediately shouted: I want to be a midwife! My parents took me to several other schools, but in the end it was the first choice.

13. What's the most hilarious thing you've ever experienced during childbirth? +

One of the funny moments during a delivery that I can still remember well, was a woman who asked for a patatje oorlog in the middle of her contractions. Now it is not so strange that someone feels like eating something, but at that moment we were about to leave for the hospital. She had to eat her patatje oorlog first, otherwise it would have been a waste of the order that they had placed. So there she went: in a bathrobe and slippers, with a patatje oorlog in her hand towards the car. The moment that the father looked at me in amazement, I will never forget.

14. What would you do if you had to wait in a delivery room for an hour? +

If I have to wait an hour in the delivery room, there are always enough things to keep me busy. For example, there is always the birth report that we write, in which we record how the birth is going. If the birth is going well and we can therefore wait a while, there is always administration to process during the service. Think for example of lab results, ultrasound reports. Of course, this is only possible if we can really sit quietly in a separate room, we do not do this if you need our support while catching the contractions.

15. What is your “midwifery life motto”? +

“If it doesn’t go the way it should, it should go the way it goes.” By this I mean that you can’t control everything in obstetrics and that a birth in particular can sometimes go differently than you had planned when you were pregnant. It is good to remember that when things don’t go the way they should, we will find a way through this too. Ultimately, I believe very much in surrender and letting yourself be guided by what happens within a situation.

16. If you had to choose: always a water birth or always a stormy home birth? +

People who know me well, know that I really like to assist with water births. I am a great advocate of the peace that a water birth brings. Because of the edge of the bath, you as a woman have the feeling of your own 'space' and you can really turn inward, you see that so beautifully! Sometimes it even works to have the baby picked up by the mother under water and for the mother to pick the baby up herself. This discovery in all peace is so beautiful, that I would prefer to do every birth under water.

Of course a stormy home birth also a challenge, because you have to have all the stuff ready in time and the maternity care is not always there in time for the birth. If you manage to keep all the balls in the air by yourself in such a situation and peace has returned, that is also a good feeling.

17. What's your favorite baby name of late? +

I thought Juna was a very beautiful name,

18. What music do you have playing in the car when you're on duty? +

I listen to all kinds of music, but mainly hip hop and Afro/Dancehall.

19. What is your favorite snack during a long shift (or during labor)? +

A Snickers bar! This is often in my service bag haha. And if a woman is going to give birth and wants sugar but doesn't have any in the house, I often hand out my bar. Afterwards I go home and make a baguette or eat a salad. Because sleeping with a feeling of hunger is something I absolutely cannot do.

20. If people were to describe you, how would you want people to remember you? +

As someone who was there for them in good times and bad, a support and confidant.

21. If you were to give birth yourself, what would your ideal birth look like? And who would be there? +

I would prefer a water birth of course! Furthermore, I would like my birth to proceed normally in terms of duration, so that my body has time to get used to the contractions. A quick birth sometimes seems ideal, but you also need time to produce your own pain relief (endorphins). My partner will be present at my birth, as well as the midwife and possibly a birth photographer!

22. If you had a time machine and could relive one moment in history, what would it be? +

I would love to go back to the time when my deceased family members were still alive and they all came to my birthday. It is something that is often said, but as you get older you realize more and more that you would have liked to talk to certain family members and you also have questions that you can no longer ask them.

23. If you could give one last piece of advice to all pregnant women, what would it be? +

Trust yourself and that you have taken such good care of your child all this time, that the delivery and the time after that will be successful for you! You have so much power in you, that you may not know about yet. You can do this, no matter what!