I really enjoyed this book. It was so interesting, I have read a couple of books prior to this, which were written by midwives, but they were as the profession was in the early days of the health service. This book is midwifery as it is now and gives a real insight into the highs and lows of the wonderful people who deliver our babies. It is very well written and I was drawn in right from the beginning. I highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this look into the life of an NHS midwife. No 2 shifts were the same & patients were from all walks of life.

Fascinating insight into the crazy world of individuals that give their all for very little reward

Over the past few years we've had a rash (sorry - no pun intended) of books by medical practitioners. Doctors have been at the forefront, but Hard Pushed is the first book I've seen by a midwife. It's an unusual profession in that it's one of the few callings within the medical system where most of the patients are healthy and the only one where one person comes into the system and (for the most part) more than one goes out. It's an amazing thing to be able to do - to escort new life into the world - and an enormous responsibility. Leah Hazard came to it after a career in television and Hard Pushed is the story of her career as a midwife - and the title tells more than one story.

We watch Leah as she completes her training and becomes a fully-qualified midwife working in the NHS. What quickly becomes obvious is that she's working within a system which is at breaking point, despite the best efforts of all the staff. She's used to going without sleep for twenty hours and even going without food for ten hours. It's a world of extremes: blood and bodily fluids are commonplace and clearing them up quickly is a valued skill, but then there's the beauty of a newborn baby and the joy of the parents. Women are seen at their most vulnerable, but Leah also sees remarkable displays of strength, heart-breaking grief and raw desperation.

We meet a few patients but they've been carefully selected to show how Leah never knew what she was going to encounter as she went into work each day. Eleanor is a miracle of modern science and the baby she and her wife are giving birth to is a feat of reproductive science. Then there's Crystal, pregnant at fifteen but the baby inside her, only just at the edge of viability, is threatening to come far too soon. Star is giving birth in a room heady with essential oils and the relaxation of the birthing pool. The atmosphere is one of love and joy until something intrudes into Star's psyche and hints at at past which was far from joyful. Pei Hsuan tells a tale of exploitation and people trafficking which has brought her from her native China to Leah's ward.

The story is told with love and affection: Hazard has a great deal of understanding of how the pregnant women feel and she makes allowances for their occasional bad behaviour. Her story is eminently readable: I finished it in one sitting, relieved that my child-bearing days were long behind me and appalled by the pressure which the staff in hospitals work under. It should not be like this and whilst it continues we will lose excellent staff who can no longer stand the pressure of a difficult job and the constant demands to do more.

I hope that doesn't make the book sound like a toil of a pleasure, as it's anything but. Hazard has a delightful sense of humour and the ability to paint a picture in remarkably few words. It was a real treat to read her story and I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag.

Let me tell you: this book set me on an emotional rollercoaster, and some of the women's stories will stick with me for life and all I can do is commend Leah for being the kind of midwife that should I ever be pregnant I would wish to have. One of the many things I've learned from Leah's accounts is that my heart is too soft for midwifery - and, as Leah notes, how sad and frustrating this is for a profession that's seen as caring and compassionate. For Leah, she is just a brief participant in these women's stories, a side character in what is for many a new chapter in their life - or, in some instances, a very, very sad end to a chapter that barely got started.

And then there's the NHS. The UK's good ol' National Health Service. Something I will fight for til my very last breath - the right to free healthcare. But the system is flawed. In a lot of ways I've lost complete trust in the NHS from my experiences dealing with mental health - something that is sorely underfunded - and from reading Leah's experiences it looks as if the funding issues are prevalent in other facets of care. In much the same way mental healthcare is seen as we should just strap up our boots and get on with things - surely the key to feeling better is to, in fact, just feel better? - that childbirth is as easy as a few good pushes and out you go, on with your life. I've read elsewhere recently - and I think even in this book too - that Western medicine seeks to cure the ailment while other cultures seek to improve overall wellbeing and, in fact, keep you well. This most definitely seems to be how the NHS works. The sooner you're deemed 'better' - in midwifery, the baby arrived - the sooner you can be discharged so a bed can be given to someone else. And this is where we see the failures that affect both the staff and the patients. My heart broke reading Crystal's story, never knowing the outcome. I will forever live in fear for what happened to Pei Hsuan and if she ever got the help she truly needs. This is a book I would recommend to our current government, a cry for help just as loud as the cry of a newborn baby. Our system should be doing better than treating patients like a revolving door. Our system should be doing better to provide support to the staff. Thank you, Leah, for this touching account. I will never forget it.

In this true memoir of life as an NHS midwide, we learn about how Leah starred her career after having her two children and how the patients she has helped have influenced her life both positively and at times also challenged her for the better through her career.



From a lesbian couple dealing with cancer and a new baby, young teen mum Crystal, a lady called Olivia trying to breast feed after her mum's influence and a woman escaping abuse, we see the trials each woman faces as she comes to meet her baby and also how much they impact that midwife that helps them too.



It is such a heart warming read and reassuring too to know that there are NHS staff out there who take the time to care and not just provide a service to the public as Leah shows how the patients she's had have impacted her life as she can recall the stories she does in this brilliant memoir.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Leah Hazard tells us her stories of working as a midwife. These stories are told in detail, they tell us of the variety of work midwives do and the struggles they face with their health mentally.

I loved reading this book, it gave me an insight into midwifery, how challenging it can be along with many other difficulties from the midwives themselves or their patients. It was an interesting, thought provoking book which kept me turning the pages.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Hard Pushed is an honest and heart-warming book of the author’s experiences as a midwife in the underfunded and often frustrating maternity service in the NHS. The stories are retold from true events and while some are lovely with happy outcomes, some are heart breaking that stayed with me for a while.

What comes across is that our midwives across the Uk are bearing these emotions daily with true grit and a heroic attitude as they move on to their next patient. Midwives and indeed all NHS staff are our saviours and we are extremely fortunate to have them serve us. Let us hope as Leah Hazard and many others do, that the NHS receives more funding so that continued care can be administered to ease the pressure.



My thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC , these are my own thoughts on the honest and open memoir Hard Pushed.

My thanks to netgally and the publishers for allowing me to review this book.

I found this to be an enjoyable read as I worked in the health service for many years. I also recognised the frustration felt by the author to the under staffing of wards and departments as we also saw a rise in ward managers. I also over the years saw the loss of commitment by nurses being university trained. Basics like bed baths being an example.
So though I did enjoy the book it did seem to bring my frustrations to the fore.

Amazing... five emotional stars amazing.

The first paragraph of this book paved the way forward. That opening paragraph had me knowing I was going to love this book because from that first paragraph I had fallen in love with Leah’s way with words.

This book was both informative, emotion provoking and soul destroying. You become witness to *something every mother thinks happens but hopes doesn’t*
I applaud Leah for her brutal honesty surrounding her experience as a midwife and thank her from afar for her love and care she gives to those she helps ❤️

The chapter where she shares about her farthers diagnosis hit me on a deeper level. My mother sadly had the same unknown condition I pray that for her father the outcome was different to that of my mother.

Thankyou for sharing your experiences with all who wish to read ❤️❤️

A real eye opener. Candid, heartbreaking and funny. Outlines the repercussions of NHS Cuts. A recommended read.

Oh my God, I have such respect for these angels in blue scrubs after reading this book. From the humourous to the tragic, and the absolutely shocking events that our author was part of and shared with us, I have had my eyes opened fully. She writes it so well that you can see, hear and feel the drama and at the end of it, you feel like you have been on shift with her. Highly recommended.

I’d like to thank Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Hard Pushed’ by Leah Hazard in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

After completing her training, Leah decides to concentrate on working in the Maternity Assessment Unit, otherwise known as ‘Triage’. Through Leah’s eyes we view the world of pregnancy and birth, meeting some of her patients, for example, Eleanor whose wife Liz has health problems, Crystal who’s having a baby but is little more than a child herself, Olivia who’s had enough of her mother’s ‘helpful’ hints and takes charge herself and the heart-wrenching story of Pei Hsuan who needs an interpreter as she speaks only Mandarin.

We’re taken through the blood, sweat and tears involved with bringing another human being into the world, some of the stories desperately sad, a lot so amusing it made me laugh out loud, but all of it informative. We learn about how the Government cuts are affecting the NHS in causing staff cuts and bed shortages, and what a huge difference it would make to be well-resourced and appropriately staffed. We’re told how the midwives continue to work twelve-hour shifts when exhausted and unwell because if they’re not there for the pregnant mothers then who will be? I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the dedication Leah Hazard and her fellow-midwives around the country give to their profession. ‘Hard Pushed’ has given me a lot to think about.

A superb book that leaves you in no doubt just how hard the Midwife's in hospitals work and the pressure that sits firmly on their shoulders when bringing new lives into the world.

I loved the honesty and compassion in this book, being a Midwife is a massively important role and those of us who have had children will know the true magnitude they play when you are in labour and how they work tirelessly to ensure the safe arrival of your baby with as little intervention and dramatics as possible.

I loved this book and will be recommending it to everyone as it left me in absolute awe of the brilliant work Midwife's do and how Leah even when pushed to her upmost limits is still 100% dedicated to providing the best care and experience she possibly can for all mothers.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Leah and for continuing to help bring new lives into the world.

My own child bearing days are long gone. Once you've been there though, I don't think you ever forget the most painful, exciting, awe inspiring event of your life that is child birth; as the song goes - Nothing Compares. Since giving birth is probably one of the most intense times you'll go through as a woman, you're probably unlikely to forget the midwife who was there to help you deliver your baby.

When this book came up on Netgalley I jumped at the chance to read it. I really enjoy anything medical related and after reading the first paragraph of the synopsis I was even more eager to read this. With references to the "NHS Front line", and "working within a system at breaking point" this had echoes of a book I read towards the end of last year by Rachel Clarke - Your Life in My Hands which was so insightful as well as touching.

Well this book lived up to and even surpassed expectations. I enjoyed every page. Leah comes across as such a kind and dedicated professional. She shares with the reader her reasons of why she went into midwifery, shares some wonderful stories of the more unusual birthing experiences she has encountered during her work. She also shares the sheer exhaustion that she feels at times. Working 12 hour night shifts, coming into work feeling ill but not wanting to let her overworked and understaffed colleagues down. Struggling with labour ward bed shortages and the total overwhelm that is often felt by NHS staff working in an underfunded and very overstretched health service.

With compassion and an obvious dedication to her role, Leah Hazard paints an insightful picture of what life is really like for a midwife working on the NHS front line of maternity services.

If you liked the TV programme One Born Every Minute, you'll love this book. There's no playing up to the camera here, just true life stories that will melt your heart, break your heart but make you smile too.

This is a moving, warm tale of midwife's experiences through her own eyes. Midwives are very very special people and this book only clarifies that.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It makes a change for me to read a real life story, but to get an insight in to the working life of a midwife was very appealing to me. Through a series of thoughts and anecdotes, Leah brings to life the gruelling, sometimes tragic and often miraculous day to day life experience of working in a busy maternity unit. It is nitty gritty reality, often funny, but giving a real vision of what it's really like to do that job. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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As a Midwife of over 30years experience I approached this book with some trepidation, but I need not have worried, Leah Hazard has written a worthy account of the challenges and pressures we face every single day. We do have great moments of highs and lows and many of these aspects are well written and documented. The abiding sense of humour found in the majority of midwives is here for all to see with some wonderful and also very sad moments.
Told with humour and honesty with accounts of the complex care needed for today’s society, this is an enjoyable book and one I would have no hesitation in recommending to colleagues, friends and clients!

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher and also the author. This was a great read looking at things from a different perspective (after having 4 children) and makes me so feel proud that we still have the great NHS here in the UK

*** ARC provided by Netgalley via the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ***

This is a really enjoyable (though sometimes heart breaking) tour through life as a midwife in the NHS. The news is full of stories about the NHS failing and offering poor service but accounts like this remind you that we should be proud of our NHS and the service it provides. Yes, errors are made, but people aren’t infallible!

I thought Leah Hazard (real name!) made Hard Pushed (great title) an engaging read which I would recommend to others interested in books in this genre. My only downside is that in the last year I have also read ‘Unnatural Causes’ by Richard Shepherd and ‘This Is Going To Hurt’ by Adam Kay, both detailing life in the health service. In my opinion, I think they were both more compelling. Overall though a good and speedy read.

A brilliant memoir of an NHS midwife. This book is warm, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. After two high risk pregnancies and months in hospital I met a lot of midwives, good, bad, indifferent and amazing. And I appreciated them all as they were doing what I couldn't under difficult circumstances. I've seen them crying, laughing and literally shaking with rage and this book gives me an insight into the other side of the bed to see what they have to deal with on a daily basis. Hard Pushed is an honest and gritty look into their world and should be handed to each expectant mother with her maternity notes and a request for patience.