Adelaide midwife Anne Tait works with bub she delivered 22 years later

Veteran midwife Anne Tait has helped deliver thousands of babies in a career spanning almost four decades. This week, she’ll be working alongside one of those bubs.

It was more than two decades ago veteran Adelaide midwife Anne Tait helped deliver a perfect baby girl into the world.

During the week she was reunited with Chiara Dias, now 22 and a midwife herself, when the duo was rostered on for the same shift at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The newly-registered midwife said she has long been fascinated by her own birth.

“I always wanted all the details of how I came into the world but Mum couldn’t remember very much and it was so frustrating … the one thing she remembered was the midwife’s name was Anne,” Miss Dias, employed as part of the hospital’s graduate program, said.

So she went in search of her baby book and a photo of a midwife holding her fell out.

Midwives Anne Tait and Chiara Dias with baby girl Winifred Dean-Fisher at the Women and Children's Hospital. Picture: Sam Wundke

“I took the photo to work and because Anne hasn’t aged a day, someone recognised her straight away – and told me she was still working at the hospital,” Miss Dias said.

“Ever since I was in high school I wanted to become a midwife … I used to love watching (the television series) Call the Midwife.

“To get to work alongside the midwife who delivered me will be amazing, I hope I make a good impression.”

As for Mrs Tait, who estimates she has helped deliver thousands of babies in a career spanning almost 40 years, the meeting was also momentous.

Midwife Anne Tait holding newborn Chiara Dias ... now aged 22 and a registered midwife. Picture: Supplied.

“Every baby you help deliver is special … (ahead of our meeting) I messaged Chiara and said I was looking forward to seeing her, saying I am sure she had grown a bit since I saw her last,” the 60-year-old said.

“I didn’t envisage I’d still be working at my age but I do love it.

“We get to be a part of one of the most special times in a person’s life and that makes it very special … in our (delivery) unit there is always something going on, there is a lot of diversity, it is forever changing and you are always learning something new.

“It is always very exciting when mum gets to see her bub for the first time.”

South Australia has bucked a national baby trend by recording an increase in the number of births, even as most other states remain in decline.

Figures released this month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show almost 400 more babies were born in SA in 2019, compared to 2018, the largest increase in Australia.

This compares to Victoria where more than 1200 fewer babies were born. Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory also recorded less registrations of births in 2019.