Trainee midwife Denise Ahmed is named Inspirational Student of the Year
33-year-old Glaswegian Denise Ahmed claims she was left speechless after finding out she won Inspirational Student of the Year in the ThinkMoney awards.
“It was a real shock”, the mother of four confesses.
Ahmed has already delivered around 30 babies whilst working at Hillingdon Hospital maternity unit alongside studying at university.
But the trainee midwife has had her own personal experience having delivered her own four children at the same hospital.
Ahmed realised her wish to become a midwife after meeting the hospital’s longest-serving and recently-retired midwifes, Seleena Yates.
She said, “I always knew I wanted more from life, and Seleena provided the inspiration as I kept bumping into her each time I had a new baby.
“She is one of those people you meet and never forget, so once my youngest child was in school I took the plunge.
“If I can be half the midwife Seleena was, I would be delighted. Her patience and care are a real inspiration and she sums up what a good midwife should be.”
Though the devoted mother reveals she still gets emotional on the job, “I guess I should learn not to but it is such an emotional moment,” she said. “I just feel privileged to be part of it.”
Ahmed has earned praise and gifts for her hard work, she even stayed with a mother in labour for fourteen hours.
“The labour wards are pressured, but it’s a good team and my greatest wish is to get a full-time job here when I qualify,” she said. “Hillingdon has my heart.”
Her career is full of surprises too where Ahmed saw the birth of two babies with their embryonic sacs still intact, something that occurs once in 80,000 births.
The trainee said, “Every baby is special. I don’t want to forget any of them, so I keep count with a string of coloured beads at home. The kids help me add one for each birth.”
