Anne Marie Brogan has a certain glow about her. Her job at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, is everything she could wish for, where birth is an everyday occurrence.

"It's an immense privilege to be able to deliver a baby into the world," she says. "I've delivered about 28 at this stage."

She has the calming presence of someone who is used to being in emotionally charged situations. She speaks quietly and clearly but with a strong, steady voice. At work she wears a white and navy top with navy pants. Birth and sometimes death are present every day in her job. Currently she's a postgraduate nurse studying to complete her two-year midwifery course.

"Every woman is an individual; every birth is different." The job will never be routine or repetitive, she says. She witnessed her first birth in Tralee General Hospital a couple of years ago, when she was studying for registration as a general nurse, having first trained as a learning-disability nurse in Cregg House in Sligo.

"I'll never forget the feeling of being so overwhelmed at the birth and being able to share the parents' joy at the birth of the baby. It's fairly amazing all right."

Today, she is based at the antenatal ward of the hospital in Holles Street. "Every day is very different; there is no typical day. A lot of women come in to antenatal wards for different reasons, many with pain. Our job is to enable her to cope with her pains."

Throughout a woman's pregnancy, she says, "a midwife has a role as a facilitator and a health promoter". She loves the satisfaction of empowering women to make informed choices about issues such as nutrition, the provision of care, breastfeeding as opposed to bottle-feeding. "There's a fantastic sense of fulfilment," she says.

Equally "there's enormous satisfaction in delivering a baby," she says. "You could have up to three or four deliveries in a day."

Her job can involve "walking up and down the ward or even just sitting in the room, depending on whether an epidural has been asked for or not.

"You need an enthusiasm, a willingness to learn; you need to be co-operative and be able to work with a multi-disciplinary team. It's the satisfaction, the fulfilment - there are days when it's really busy."

It is not difficult to leave the elation or the heartache of the hospital? "It's a career: it's a profession, it's a job, at the end of the day," she says matter-of-factly. "You have to adapt your skills accordingly.

"You have to focus on the individual; be compassionate to her needs," she says. "You must not be judgmental."

Brogan took a round-about way into midwifery.

"I'd been dealing with sick people all the time, quite old people. It was like a breath of fresh air. You are more of a health educator or a health promoter as opposed to hands-on care."

At school, she knew she wanted a career where she was working with people. "I always liked working with people. I was really interested in that.

Before entering sixth year at St Columbus College in Stranorlar in Co Donegal, she did voluntary work at a nearby centre for the mentally handicapped. The experience "got me aware of the whole nursing scene. I wanted to learn a bit more about it," she says, thinking back to her Leaving Cert year of 1992.

Since then, each new stage in her nursing career has been different. She worked for three months in the Australian outback, travelling with the flying doctors in a small aircraft to people living in the bush, near Broome. "It sounds very glamorous," she says. Before she trained in general nursing, she worked in St Rosalie's, a special unit in Portmarnock run by the Daughters of Charity for adults with challenging behaviour and learning disabilities.

"I love the different experiences along the way. Hopefully, I can encompass those different experiences in the job I'm training in at the moment."