4 November 2010
A Trust midwife who specialises in supporting obese women throughout their pregnancy has been invited to speak at the prestigious Royal College of Midwives' annual conference in Manchester later this month (16 - 17 November).
Lead midwife for obesity, Zeni Koutsi will be speaking at the national event, which last year attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the UK, about her and the teams' work. Zeni said: "It's an honour to be asked to speak at the conference, and I feel very privileged to be able to represent the Trust. But it's also quite a nerve-wracking process, so I suppose the correct term would be stressfully excited!"
Zeni works as a research midwife in the Trust's Cedar clinic, a specialised service that helps women with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more, as they go through pregnancy and childbirth.
Research shows that women with a high BMI are at increased risk of developing complications during pregnancy and labour, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and having a large baby. All of these complications could require emergency medical intervention, such as a caesarean section.
And following the birth, a high BMI can have lasting effects, including making it harder for them to successfully breastfeed.
Zeni added: "Our work isn't about judging people or making them crash diet, it's about helping women to take a few simple steps to keep them and their baby as healthy as possible. We know that weight, especially in pregnancy, can be a sensitive issue, but we're all highly trained and we're here to help.
"By offering support, advice and individualised care to the women that we treat, we can help them to maintain their weight, rather than gaining too much through pregnancy. Everyone at our clinic is treated with dignity and respect, and we are seeing some very positive results."
As well as receiving tailored advice about nutrition and fitness, women at the Cedar clinic are also given specialist tests, such as a body composition analysis, which measures the efficiency of muscles and which muscle groups are the strongest.
The test, which is done at the first and last appointment with the clinic, gives the team an idea of how body fat is stored and the possible implications that could have for each person. It also gives women the opportunity to see the effect of their changing their lifestyle. Women in the clinic also have extra scans at 30 and 34 weeks to monitor their baby's growth and position.
Zeni added: "Pregnancy can be a fantastic opportunity for people to make some very positive changes to their lifestyle, and we're here to help people to do just that."
