From Midwife to Birth Keeper: My Journey in Birth Work

IMG_7580.jpgI’m taking this opportunity to share some of my journey around birth that brought me to where I am today. My hope is that in sharing a little of my path, you’ll gain some insight into who I am, and perhaps feel inspired to follow your own knowing, your passion, your joy. After all, this is the divine, leading the way.

Witnessing My First Birth

I witnessed my first birth when I was sixteen years old, during my year 10 work experience at the local rural hospital. We were told that it would be rare to see a birth—there would have to be a woman labouring during our one-day placement on the maternity ward, and she would need to agree to a student’s presence. I still remember the feeling of desperately hoping that I would see a birth, but with it, a strong knowing that I would.

Partway through my day on the maternity ward, I was invited into the softly lit room, infused with the quiet rhythm of the woman’s breathing, the soft words of her family. She birthed her first baby with grace. I stood at the foot of the bed, not trying to control the tears streaming down my face. The beauty of it was beyond words.

I thanked her for allowing me to witness something so sacred and remember her still. Needless to say, the next two days of hospital work experience could not hold my attention. Something in me had awakened.

The Journey to Midwifery

After completing my nursing studies, I worked in Emergency- a fast-paced, high-adrenaline environment that taught me resilience. I forgot about the mystery and grace I had glimpsed during that birth, as work became a means to fuel my plans to travel. I felt that the world had lessons for me beyond what I could experience at home.

I set off alone for Africa with nothing more than a plane ticket and a sense of curiosity. That journey stretched into another, spanning nearly two years and many countries. Near the end, while on a small island in Thailand, a simple conversation with a fellow traveller, around my plan to study midwifery on my return home, changed everything. He told me his mother was a midwife who only supported homebirths and used herbs and natural remedies.

And that is when the realisation struck! Of course. That was what I was meant to do.

Becoming a Midwife

Whilst I was traipsing around the world, I left my mother with the job of enrolling me in a midwifery programme. Oh, the self-focus of the young! This was before the days of the internet as we know it, a time of postcards, and not something I could have done.

I soon found myself immersed in a world of love, power, transformation through birth. My first unit was The Poetry of Birth, where we spoke, not of anatomy and hormones, but of the power, mystery, and transformation of birth.

The first day, Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery, almost jumped off the library shelf, and that began my journey of learning through women’s stories. I devoured all I could find. I began attending monthly homebirth meetings in Bellingen, hearing more stories, and was where I met the woman who would later mentor me through my own first birth into supporting women at home.

In the hospital, though, I quickly saw how differently things played out and I struggled with the dissonance of what I knew to be true and what I was witnessing. Women were coerced into interventions they didn’t need, that didn’t support physiology or their own wishes and all the research based knowledge I had gained at Uni was discarded. Midwives whispered their frustrations but rarely spoke up against the doctors.

I had planned to “get some experience” before supporting homebirths, but instead I felt myself becoming filled with fear and distrust. After six months, I knew I couldn’t stay.

Soon after, I gave birth at home to twins, to everyone’s surprise except, perhaps, my own.

Returning Home to Birth

The obstetrician at the time was furious about my choice, bringing it to the attention of the Director of Nursing. I still wonder why he thought it was any of his concern. When I returned to work, it was to Emergency, not Maternity. Still, birth called to me. Through word of mouth, women found me, and I began supporting their births at home, in ways that honoured the natural process and a woman’s own authority over her body and baby.

Thirteen years later, I returned to the Maternity Unit on a casual basis when they were desperate for staff. Some things had changed, but I had changed more. I had birthed five children, and I had seen what birth could be when women were trusted and undisturbed. It became clear to me that we create our experiences, as in my remaining years in the maternity unit, I did not ever take a woman to theatre for a caesarean, or support a woman with an epidural, as that was not where my interest lay. My joy was in the simple, powerful and transformative.

Leaving the System

Then came 2021. The healthcare system demanded more of me than I was willing to give. When I refused, I was fired. After nearly three decades as a nurse and midwife, I found myself outside the system that had defined so much of my adult life.

It was confronting, frightening, but with time, I came to realise it was a blessing. I had known for a while that I was in a rut, but it was a comfortable one. The universe had nudged me back onto my true path.

Reclaiming the Scared Work

I surrendered my registration the following year. I no longer wanted to be part of a system that had no connection to care, to health, or to women’s innate power.

That meant redefining what it meant to serve. I could no longer practice midwifery as the system defines it, but I could return to its roots by truly being with women.

Now, I hold space for women in pregnancy and birth in a different way. I provide education, embodiment practices, and deep listening so that each woman can step fully into sovereignty, owning her choices, trusting her intuition, and remembering the ancient wisdom that already lives in her body.

I don’t “deliver” babies. Women birth their babies.

I don’t give advice; I offer information and presence so that each woman can make the decisions that align with her own truth. For the birthing woman, taking on this sovereign role is challenging, as she remembers her own inner knowing and wisdom. We are so used to handing over our power and outsourcing responsibility.

Coming Full Circle

Nearly forty years after that first birth at sixteen, I understand why it moved me so deeply. Birth is not simply a physical event; it is sacred, powerful, transformative. It is where life begins, and where women remember their own strength.

When women remember their power, and the value of the feminine is honoured, strong families and resilient communities are born. Remember your power.