Interview with Kathrin: Insights into the world of a midwife and tips for better intimate hygiene

My pleasure, I'm happy to share my experiences with you.

My day is shaped above all by the needs of the women in my care, whether they're pregnant or in the postpartum period.

Some days I do postpartum home visits, other days are for appointments at the practice, and then there are days that simply follow whatever care the women need. Births, unfortunately, can't be scheduled, and every now and then they throw the whole calendar into disarray.

At the moment I attend 20 births a year, compared to earlier times when I was present at more than 100 births a year. My focus has shifted over time and now lies mainly in prenatal and postpartum care. A large part of the remaining time goes into our online shop "Hebammenkonsum" and looking after our Instagram profile. Since most babies are born at night and I spent 28 straight years as a freelance midwife on constant call for births, it's time to put myself in the spotlight a little more again.

Fewer births, however, mean the same insurance premiums for me. That's why I'll most likely be saying goodbye to obstetrics in the near future. Even with the state subsidy, the costs are a huge challenge for midwives. From a financial point of view, it's difficult to pay around €13,000 for insurance and receive just under €196 gross for a birth in return. If, like me, you only attend 20 births, the math simply doesn't add up. Something urgently needs to change, either on the insurance side or with the flat rates paid per birth.

I've been connected to the midwifery profession for 42 years now, and in that time I've gotten to know a lot of products. Some of them have become very dear to me, and I recommended them to my women again and again. Out of these positive experiences came the idea of opening a shop with exactly those products. The advantage: everything can be ordered together on one platform instead of having to be tracked down laboriously on different sites. My husband took care of the implementation, and the shop has now been around for 12 years. At first we weren't noticed right away, but thanks to our daughter's decision to become active on Instagram, things developed very positively and made our shop more visible. Today we're very happy about that.

The content of my posts follows whatever comes up in my everyday work as a midwife. Whether it's prenatal care, postpartum care or attending a birth – the topics that strike me as important are the ones I want to report on and explain. And if I'm allowed to take photos as well, that's ideal, of course, because then I can show directly what certain things look like, or why particular situations should be taken seriously – or don't need to be.

I think social media plays a big role for this generation in particular. I definitely notice that in my work – many women rely on what's written on social media. That's exactly how I see my job on Instagram: to explain things more precisely, point out important topics and talk about the aspects that are relevant during pregnancy and postpartum care. Women don't always manage to find a midwife and sometimes have to gather information on their own. That's another reason I provide input, so that women can benefit from it. And we as a shop use social media to be seen and found, especially because the younger generation spends a lot of time there and we want to make our products, like the butt shower, better known.

The butt shower is definitely an important must-have for the time after birth. One positive aspect of a butt shower like the Bidetlity during the postpartum period is the gentle, effective cleansing of the sensitive intimate area after giving birth. After a delivery, the intimate area is often irritated and sensitive, and conventional toilet paper can be uncomfortable or even painful. A butt shower allows for pain-free, thorough cleansing and can help prevent infections and support healing. On top of that, it makes it possible to feel clean and comfortable after every trip to the toilet – which matters especially during the recovery phase after birth.