Ask A Midwife
For the next few instalments of our Ask A… series, Two Doulas will be interviewing professionals who help catch babies. This time we are hearing from Trista Leggett, one of the wonderful midwives serving Montreal families at the Maison de Naissance Lac-Saint-Louis.
Trista Leggett is soon to be fifty years old. She is Montreal-bred but has been living on the West Island for the last twenty years. Trista has been “Married forever with two grown daughters (how did that happen?!)”
She holds a BA in Psychology from Concordia and BSc in Midwifery from UQTR.
Trista started her journey towards midwifery twenty five years ago. She had some lovely travels through apprenticing as a midwife before the legalization*, working as a doula, heading back to CEGEP for her science prerequisites for the Midwifery University program, working as an aide-natale in the Maison de Naissance Community Birthing Home, and then finally obtaining a Midwifery license in 2007.
How would you describe your job in just one sentence?
Midwifery is accompanying women and their families through a journey of a lifetime.
What made you want to be a midwife?
I think originally I was somewhat obsessed with the wonders of pregnancy and babies. I could not wait to have my own. It was definitely mind blowing to learn that midwifery is so much more than pregnancy and babies.
What happens at your first meeting with an expectant parent or family?
We cover some essentials pertaining to their eligibility and motivation for midwifery care. But then we get right into the fun part of getting to know each other.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about your field?
Oh geez, just one? The biggest misconception is that midwives are the way of the past. On the contrary, we are the past, the present, and the future.
What do you love most about your job?
Again, a question that has so many answers. The sisterhood is what gives me the constant high. I am so blessed to be working amongst amazing women: colleagues and clients. To have a job that leaves you constantly inspired, nurtured and in awe of the powers of women is just too good to be true.
And finally, when you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Probably a vet, but for horses. I was supposed to marry a man who would buy me a ranch. Lol
*Fun fact: Midwifery in Quebec was finally legalized in 1999, the same time as the UQTR program, of which Trista Leggett is a graduate, began.
Stay tuned for more interviews to come! And if you want to catch up on our previous Ask A posts, you can find them here.
