Cabrini wound care nurse Leanne Gleghorn was told she was unlikely to have children of her own, which is why the celebrations she shares with her four daughters each Mother’s Day are such a joy.

Her girls were gifts that Leanne never saw coming.

“I’ve got endometriosis so was told I probably wouldn’t ever have children of my own,” Leanne said. “When I met Dean, he was a single dad raising three beautiful little girls, which felt like such a wonderful gift for me. Then at 37, amazingly, I fell pregnant and gave Dean another little girl.

“It really is an absolute blessing to be a mum and parent.”

Leanne loves her role of mother so much, she and Dean have also fostered two young girls in recent years.

She also gets to work with one of her daughters at Cabrini, peri-operative nurse Robyn Waller. For the mum-of-four, working with Robyn feels like Mother’s Day every day.

“I’m so proud of Robyn,” Leanne said. “I’ve always said that Cabrini raised her. I was sponsored by Cabrini to come over here from the UK, so she’s grown up with Cabrini, and she’s worked here for some time now, too.”

Robyn started work at Cabrini in a Personal Service Assistant role, before moving onto the Maternity ward, where she was told she was amazing with the mums, babies and dads and encouraged to do her nursing training.

“So, that’s what she did,” Leanne said. “She trained as an enrolled nurse, then trained as a registered nurse. She worked on 4 North up until this week, and now she’s started in theatres.

“I’m so, so proud of her, and very lucky to get to work with her.”

The feeling is mutual, Robyn said.

“Working with mum is very special to me,’ she said. “It means we can both share each other’s passion for providing best care. I believe you can learn a lot from our senior nurses but there’s nothing quite like working with your mum! We can share our highs together, and it means I get my personal psychologist when I need it, and so does she.”

For Robyn, Mother’s Day is an important day on the calendar.

“Mother’s Day to me means we are able to celebrate the wonderful strong women who go above and beyond for all of those around them, all year round,” she said. “It’s their day to be spoiled and allow others to take care of them.

“My mum is a very special lady and I’m so lucky to have her.”

Liz Noonan can’t possibly work out how many babies she’s brought into this world as a Cabrini midwife of well over 30 years, but there are three – well actually seven – that are particularly significant.

Liz, who is Associate Nurse Unit Manager on our Maternity Ward, has three children, including daughter Amy Kay, an Associate Nurse Unit Manager of our Recovery Unit at Cabrini Malvern (PACU). Liz had her three babies at Cabrini, and she also helped to deliver her four precious grandchildren here too.

“It’s very special to be able to come to work every day with Amy and to watch her do her work. She’s exceptional,” Liz said. “And it was such a special thing to be in the room when my grandchildren were born.”

The bond between this mum and daughter nurse duo has strengthened even further since Amy saw her mum in action firsthand.

“Mum was incredibly hard working – it took me becoming a nurse to realise afternoon shifts finished at 3pm and not 4.30pm – and she was definitely a big influence on me deciding to be a nurse,” Amy said.

“But watching her as a midwife when I was going through my pregnancy, which was very complicated, having mum during that time was amazingly helpful. And just seeing the influence she’s had on my friends and the impact that she’s had on people’s lives in their most vulnerable times, it’s amazing that I get to have her as my mum and my midwife.”

On Sunday, Liz will go to Amy’s house, where she and her husband will host the whole Noonan family for a special Mother’s Day get-together.

No champagne for Liz or Amy though. Liz starts night shift at 7pm and Amy, well, she’s just a few short months away from delivering her third baby – and Liz’s eighth extra special birth suite experience.

Cabrini nurses mother Liz and daughter Amy