Giving birth on International Day of the Midwife in 2012 turned out to be a life-changing experience for Laura Bowman, now 35.

She was so inspired by her midwife, Jill Langford, and the great care she received at Queen’s Hospital when giving birth to her third child, Ella, that she ended up leaving her mortgage advisor job in the city and training to be a midwife herself.

Laura, who also has sons Jayden, 12 and Luca, seven, said: “I was not planning a career change at all but Jill was so lovely when she was looking after me. After I had been at home with Ella for a couple of months I just thought I didn’t want to go back to what I was doing before.

“Jill inspired me to become a midwife so I went back to college to do an access course before beginning my training at Anglia Ruskin University in 2014.”

Laura, of Burnham Road, Romford, was then ‘star-struck’ when she ran into Jill while she was working as a maternity care assistant at our hospital during her training.

Jill, a nurse since the 1990s who has been a midwife with us since 2001, said: “When Laura told me I had inspired her to become a midwife I was elated and so touched. Not many people can say they’ve inspired someone to follow the same path.

“Ever since I’ve always been here to give her advice and I was really proud when she qualified as not many achieve that and make it to actually become a midwife.”

Laura started her first job as a midwife at Homerton University Hospital last October, just a month after qualifying.

She added: “I love it. I believe everything happens for a reason and I followed my heart. At the beginning of my career I wanted a different experience so chose a hospital further from home, but I hope to work at Queen’s one day.”

Laura will mark her first International Day of the Midwife, on Saturday 5 May, by celebrating Ella’s sixth birthday, while Jill, who has three grown-up children and three grandchildren, will be spending it with her peers at the MaMa midwifery and maternity conference in Scotland.

Now semi-retired Jill, of Morland Road, Wickford, always knew that becoming a midwife was her calling.

She said: “I knew it was my vocation since I was nine years old. There was no direct entry then so I trained to be a nurse first and found I really enjoyed working in A&E, which was why I stayed for quite a while before completing my midwife training.

“Having done the job for so long I still enjoy every aspect of it. There is much more to giving birth than just the delivery. The level of care we give here is phenomenal and I’m really proud of what I do.”

Pictured above are Jill and Laura with Ella.