I’m going to start by telling you a bit about my journey to being here.
Professionally I am a registered nurse, and I furthered my qualifications with a Post Graduate Diploma of Midwifery and then added my Master of Nursing via research. It started as a Master of Midwifery but had to pivot to a Master of Nursing when my supervisor changed and there was no longer a Dr of Midwifery to provide that role.
Anyway, I have many years of clinical experience under my belt now but I didn’t always have.
I have four children. I birthed two of them when I was quite young (in my early 20’s). I gave birth to my first two children in a smaller country hospital that I was working at as a registered nurse at that time. I knew the hospital and I knew many of the staff who would be caring for me. The bulk of my antenatal care was provided by a general practice doctor with obstetric qualifications. I was a young fit healthy woman, having an uncomplicated pregnancy with a single baby.
My mother at that time was a qualified nurse and midwife, and one of my older sisters was also a qualified registered nurse and midwife. I had beautiful friends from my nursing work. Medical discussions were commonplace amongst my circle of women. I was very comfortable in the hospital setting, and felt very safe and knowledgeable about health issues and my body.
So I entered my pregnancy and birth journey very well prepared.
My first daughter was born in the early hours of the morning, after an eight hour labour. I had no analgesic, no epidural, no episiotomy, no tearing. I had a beautiful birth and I felt amazing. I breastfed my lovely one without any complications. Life was wonderful.
My second baby came along quite soon, there is 20 months between my daughter and my son. Again I was a fit young healthy woman having an uncomplicated pregnancy with a single baby. The path of my care was just the same. Antenatal care from my Doctor, birth in the hospital I worked in, with people I knew. His birth also happened in the early hours of the morning. This labour was a bit shorter. I birthed him without any analgesic drugs, no episiotomy, no tearing, and I breast fed him easily too. Life continued to be wonderful.
When my babies were two and three I was widowed. Life was not so wonderful for a time.
A whole lot went on for a number of years, including me gaining my midwifery qualification.
I had repartnered and was pregnant again with baby number three. I had moved house and moved jobs. I was still nursing and midwifing. With this baby I decided to have a homebirth. My midwifery education reinforced for me how I wanted my birth to be. I wanted it to be beautiful, joyous, and at home. So that’s what I did. My sister and a lovely work colleague supported me to have my third baby at home. I then went on to support my sister to have her fourth baby at home, but that’s for another story.
The birth of my daughter at home was wonderful. I didn’t have to pack up and travel, I slept in my own bed. My other kids were there. I felt amazing, and she was just beautiful. Breastfeeding was a breeze…..until I got pregnant again when she was only three months old. For whatever reason feeding didn’t continue which I was very sad about.
Anyway baby four was also born at home. My son’s birth also was a lovely birth. He’s the only one to be born in the daytime, just after lunch.
So my birth stories are filled with happiness, confidence, healthy outcomes and self empowerment. I didn’t experience any trauma or hardship from pregnancy and birth.
I went on to gain my Masters qualification researching why women choose to birth at home
My work as a midwife made me all too aware however that not all women have the same experience of birth as I did. I would be doing my very best to support women in their pregnancy and birth. To help them to embrace their innate power, to stand in their own authority and achieve the births they desired. Sometimes it would happen, but the culture around birth in our society is not very conducive to women having wonderful birth experiences.
My midwife spirit would get broken time and time again as I saw women disempowered in birth. And then I thought, if I feel like this as a care provider, just how broken must those women feel when they go home with their babies. I wanted them to be going into parenthood feeling so honoured and loved and accomplished and whole, and knowing with every inch of their being that they are divine. They have brought a whole new person into the world, and there is not another person on earth who has the same relationship with that new little soul as that mother.
I had the “privilege” of having beautiful births. What made my births, and my path to birth so different from other women, that I could step into that position of privilege?
But you know it’s not a privilege to have a beautiful birth. It is our right, it is our physical capacity and it is the right of our baby to have a beautiful birth.
So that is why I am here doing what I’m doing now. I want every woman to find the path to beautiful birth, to successful breastfeeding, to joyous confident parenting and to knowing how absolutely amazing she is. I can’t promise sunshine every day,or that parenting wont come with challenges, and birth never comes with a guarantee. What I offer you is amazing support to dream, to plan, to discover, to learn and to equip your way to the birth you want.
