The following apology was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column, Saturday May 17 2003

A confusion in the editing led us to state in this article that the Edgware Birthing Centre was affililated to Barnet Hospital, and that Sharon Lambe had been unhappy with her antenatal care there. The Edgware Birthing Centre is, in fact, affiliated to Edgware Hospital and Sharon Lambe would like it to be made clear that she was in fact so happy with her treatment that she returned for another birth and specifi cally requested the same male midwife. Apologies.

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Mother of five Sharon Lambe thought there was nothing left in pregnancy that could surprise her. Then, on a visit to her north London antenatal clinic, a portly, bearded man introduced himself as her midwife. "I was dumbfounded and embarrassed," she admits. "I thought, 'What have they sent me here!'"

Sharon, 31, had been unhappy with her antenatal care at the Edgware birth centre, affiliated to Barnet Hospital. She insisted on a new midwife and was introduced to community midwife Howard. He seemed no less confident and caring than the mid wives who had cared for her in the past. But one thought preoccupied her: how could this 55-year-old man possibly grasp the emotional ups and downs of pregnancy and the agonies of childbirth? Sharon had been so worried by the gender issue that she even barred her husband from the birth. "Only a woman knows how it feels to give birth," she says. "So I was suspicious of the kind of care that Howard could offer."

It is 20 years since the first man began practising as a midwife in this country. The number of male midwives has been increasing steadily every year, and, today, the total number of men delivering babies is set to reach 100. It may be a tiny number compared to the 36,400 female midwives currently working across the UK but it's an important milestone for men, for whom getting a foothold in the profession has been an uphill struggle.

Attitudes have been slow to change since men first entered the female-dominated world of midwifery in 1983. Men had to fight a long legal battle to be allowed into the profession and the first male practitioners met hefty opposition from female midwives and expectant mums, many of whom suspected them of trying to muscle in on childbirth. But, today, many women have accepted male midwives. In some cases, men are actually preferred.

After her initial misgivings, Sharon felt that knowing and trusting Howard was far more important than his gender. She liked him so much that she actually refused to let anybody but Howard deliver her baby. "I actually found him much more caring and sympathetic than the female midwives I had met previously," she says. "He took time to listen and to understand my fears. It felt like he knew what I was going through."

When Sharon went into labour with her fourth child Howard was in Brighton on his day off, but he drove straight back to London to deliver the baby. "I doubt I would have got that kind of commitment from a woman," she says. "He was supportive and even rubbed my back when I needed it. I stopped seeing him as a man and just as a midwife doing a very good job." So pleased was Sharon by the delivery she asked Howard to deliver her fifth baby, Sasha, who was born last month.

Male midwives might have won new friends but they still have to prove they are up to the job. Darrell Woolley, 27, is a community midwife on the White City Estate in west London. He recalls how life as a new practitioner wasn't easy. "I came across some frosty attitudes, especially from the older, more established female midwives," he says. "But they were fine once they got to know me."

After two years as a midwife, Darrell is a popular figure, based at the Queen Charlotte hospital birth centre - one of several midwife-led units springing up around the country. He works on a community one-to-one scheme, which allows women to be cared for by the same midwife throughout their pregnancy. His relaxed manner and natural approach to childbirth has prompted women who had babies delivered by him to pass his name to their friends.

Like many in the profession, Darrell decided to become a midwife while studying as a nurse. No one was surprised by his decision. "I'm from a large family, and midwives and babies were the norm in my household," he explains. "All my friends agreed that I would make a really good midwife."

His face lights up when he recalls his first birth. "I've never felt anything like it in my life. I had pure adrenalin pumping through my body - it was as if I'd just done a bungee jump." As soon as he got home he rang his family to tell them the news.

Darrell has never doubted he is in the right job. Gender is just not an issue, he insists, but he admits you need a certain personality to do the job. "You have to be a people person. Of course you need to be aware of women's needs and it helps if you can talk the hind legs off a donkey. If you can communicate well with people it makes life so much easier," he says.

Howard agrees. He has been a community midwife for over four years. "You need to be caring, you need to share the labour with them," he says. "Their experience of labour stays with them for the rest of their life, so it is important that we make it as positive an experience as possible."

For men entering the profession, job satisfaction is everything. They are definitely not in it for the money with top pay for midwives running to a mere £25,000. James Harris, 23, has just left his management job at Lloyds TSB to become a student midwife. He switched from a £20,000 salary plus benefits to a £4,000 bursary. When he qualifies in 2005 he will be making just £17,000. But he has no regrets. "My previous job was soul-destroying so I decided to do something worthwhile - to help women at a vulnerable time."

You will find those qualities - sensitivity, kindness and commitment to women - in most male midwives, believes Beverley Beech, chairwoman of the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS). A fierce opponent of men entering midwifery when the idea was floated in the early 1980s, Beech has since had a change of heart. "I have yet to come across a male midwife who has not been absolutely super," she says. "They are generally sympathetic and concerned to help women give birth."

Society might now be more accepting of male midwives than 20 years ago, but not all women are comfortable with a man delivering their baby. Some are suspicious of men's motives while others reject them on religious grounds. Occasionally the woman's partner might decide he doesn't want another man in the delivery room.

Darrell sometimes faces rejection, but he is surprised how little this happens. "It is completely within a woman's right to choose her midwife, and I make that absolutely clear to her. Childbirth is such an intimate thing - I want women to feel comfortable with me. If a woman is not happy with me then I am not happy, so the relationship breaks down."

Sophie Murphy, 30, had no such worries. Her first baby was delivered naturally by Darrell on New Year's Eve, with her partner by her bedside. "It's all about trust and knowing that you will get the best possible attention and care," she says.

Some people believe gender actually puts male midwives at an advantage. As Beverley Beech explains: "As a minority group, men are often more careful not to take over or cause offence. It is this that makes them so successful in their work."

Howard regularly receives cards and photographs from parents of babies he has delivered. "Men have to compensate in some way. You learn how to reassure a woman who has any worries. Gender stops being an issue once the woman starts to relax."

This echoes the experience of midwife Peter Brothwell, 35, from north London. He compares notes with his partner, Bernadette, also a midwife and says that "men have more barriers to break down, you have to work that little bit harder at the job."

Men might be setting new standards of midwifery care in Britain, but, warns Beech, they shouldn't be complacent. She would not encourage men to enter the profession. "The male midwives in this country are excellent - they are very gentle people and they like helping women. But you don't find many men like that around."