NO

Sorry that this midwife shop doesn't fade into irrelevance, but instead offers midwife merch with a message.

Look closely! Does the stork always fly in happily?

Why does every piece of midwife merch – every cup or candle we receive as a thank you – always just say:
"Midwife with a heart"?

What should really be written on it is more like:
"Get well soon from underpayment and constant fear of existential threat!"

The oversized hearts and platitudes, printed millions of times, give the impression that we're constantly zipping through the world with smiley faces. That's no longer midwife merch, that's an insinuation. "The midwife will come flying in with a big grin and deliver the little babies, no matter what the state of our profession is." ☹️ Unfortunately, that's no longer the reality!

The healthcare system in Germany (and not only here) has become increasingly economized with the introduction of flat-rate payments. Clinics are businesses with hard facts and figures – and obstetrics is one of the least profitable specialties: long care times, many staff, few "billable" procedures.

A C-section brings in money, a spontaneous birth with intensive midwifery care rather not. In self-employment, it's hardly any better: the system still doesn't reward the work that is most important for families around birth – prenatal care, home visits, postpartum care, courses.

And from November 2025, it's going to get even worse... At the latest, when you're looking for a midwife yourself or your chosen delivery room no longer has capacity (or has even been closed in your area), you'll realize:
"Oh damn, something really has changed."

And perhaps then you should finally find real midwife merch in midwife shops that truly reflects our reality, without oversized hearts and platitudes, but with an honest message: Midwife with a heart, but also with a sense of reality.

Yes, we too would love to fly to every stork's nest with all our heart. But for that to happen, something has to change politically.

Until everyone – not just midwives – wakes up and says:
Stop! No more of this!