New midwife delivers sister’s baby in Rehovot

Just two months after completing her midwife studies, Weiner delivered her sister’s 4.2-kilogram daughter.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
baby in cot 311 (photo credit: Illustrative photo)
baby in cot 311
(photo credit: Illustrative photo)
Olga Weiner, a nurse from Gedera, and Katrina Ratner of Rehovot – two sisters five years apart – apparently believe in togetherness.
On Wednesday, just two months after completing her midwife studies, Weiner delivered her sister’s 4.2-kilogram daughter.
Four years ago, both sisters gave birth to their first daughters on the same day.
Weiner, for years an emergency-room nurse, decided to be an obstetrics nurse and deliver babies. She spent the last year in a demanding course at Kaplan Medical Center where she works.
“Already at the start of Katrina’s pregnancy, I promised her I would try hard to pass the course so I could be her midwife,” she said. “We are close sisters, and we gave birth together last time. It’s a lot of responsibility to bring into the world one’s younger sister’s baby, but it’s also a very emotional event.”
The neophyte midwife said that being new in the field, she received a lot of support from the doctors, other midwives and families in the delivery room.
Ratner said that her sister came specially to the hospital to work a shift in obstetrics when she started to feel labor pains.
“Olga put on her uniform and was with me from the moment I arrived,” she said.
“Her course was long and difficult, but she met the challenge and was accepted. It was a wonderful feeling that my sister – the person who is closest to me – would be at my side all through the delivery. It was an unforgettable experience.”
Weiner said now that she has succeeded she already plans to deliver babies of other relatives, friends and neighbors, in addition to her regular patients.
“There is no doubt that as a starting midwife, it was an incredible thing to deliver my younger sister’s baby,” she said.