“I was the last midwife to hear the FETAL heartbeats.” Intrauterine death in midwifery practice

This chapter explores the existential impact of stillbirth on midwives. Drawing on the author’s own experience and a poetic narrative based on a lived experience of a newly qualified midwife, it highlights the importance of relational care in times of loss. Ultimately, this chapter argues that becoming a midwife means both celebrating life and learning how to be-with loss. Midwives carry each and every experience forward, revealing that the depth of midwifery care lies not just in joy, but in the ability to dwell with loss, while remaining profoundly human.