Véronique Lecointe: Kindness as a banner

Midwifery, a vocation?"More of a default choice at first," admits Véronique Lecointe, who had originally planned to become a general practitioner. After failing the medical school entrance exam after graduating from high school, the young woman turned her attention to the physical therapy, nursing, and midwifery entrance exams, all of which she passed. Faced with this second choice, Véronique Lecointe opted for midwifery. It was a revelation."It's certainly not the career I had planned for myself, but I immediately felt that I had found my place." Her place was then at the midwifery school in Reims for three years, where she obtained her state diploma. "Three good years" during which she discovered everything that makes up the essence of this profession, which she immediately enjoyed practicing. "The contact with the 'mothers' and their newborns is incredibly emotional. I realized the extent of what we could bring to them in those very special moments when feelings are heightened and emotions are running high." It was a revelation that propelled her to the top of her class at graduation in 1980.

Kindness

Véronique Lecointe then embarked on a rich and varied career that took her from Reims to Montpellier, via Tours and Paris, alternating between working as a midwife in a hospital and in private practice. It is a profession that, even today, is sometimes not given its due recognition."Midwives practice a medical profession listed in Title V of Book I of the Public Health Code, and are the first point of contact for physiological births. They handle pregnancy registration and medical follow-up, birth preparation, ultrasound scans, delivery, postnatal care, as well as preventive gynecological care, contraception, medical termination of pregnancy, and more. Midwives are fully capable of supporting women throughout their reproductive health journey." Always with the same core intention: "kindness. The idea of violence-free birth is deeply rooted in midwifery training and practice; it is central." Encouraging the mother-to-be, respecting her, reassuring her, congratulating her throughout labor, supporting her. "Every moment of childbirth should be nothing but happiness," says the midwife, who describes a profession where you have to "put yourself aside, not put yourself first." Working behind the scenes, with kindness.

A caring nature that requires many different qualities. "You have to know how to gain patients' trust, which requires excellent listening skills," explains the midwife, who emphasizes that her job requires very nimble hands but also "big ears to hear well." And then the ability to find the right words to address mothers and future parents. It is a multifaceted profession that requires initial training in which the humanities, psychology, and ethics play a major role in the curriculum, enabling a better approach to complex situations. "For example, providing interdisciplinary care to very young pregnant girls without their parents' knowledge. This is a situation that every midwife has encountered at least once in their career," says Véronique Lecointe.

Confidence in their skills

In order to pass on this knowledge and expertise, and to ensure that these skills are preserved, she decided in 2006 to go into teaching."I enjoy mentoring students throughout their training, from bachelor's to master's degrees," explains the deputy director of the Montpellier teaching site of the UM's midwifery department, who is also president of the National Conference of Midwifery Teachers. "I teach students that midwives cannot compromise their professional independence in any way and are bound to secrecy regarding everything that comes to their knowledge in the course of their work, i.e., not only what has been confided to them, but also what they have seen, heard, or understood. Not to mention personally ensuring, with conscience and dedication, that the care provided is in line with the latest scientific data required by the patient and the newborn. To do this, they must have complete confidence in their skills." This confidence is also gained with time and experience."A midwife is like a good wine, she improves with age," jokes the Champagne native. Until she becomes a grand cru, rewarded this year with the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor for her 39 years of service as a midwife. An award-winning vintage.