About Me

Ever since I was very young I have always been fascinated with pregnancy, birth and babies. At the age of 9 I witnessed my brother being born at home, my mum supported by the infamous independent midwife Mary Cronk. When she showed me the placenta and how to check a newborn, I was convinced that midwifery was the career for me!

Going through a traditional school system, I was only told there was one way to get into birth work - university. After completing a 3 year Midwifery training in London in 2010, I worked as a hospital based midwife for 4 years before moving on to be a community midwife in 2014. I worked in the system for 15 years in total, in a myriad of diverse settings with countless numbers of women and their families. I have attended over a thousand births, many of which have been at home. 

During my career I have experienced incredible highs and massive lows. Being at the gateway of birth is a true honour, every time. But witnessing the systemic abuse of women that comes from a top down medical modal time and time again, was the catalyst for my move away from this way of working.

The road from system based maternity care to holistic birthkeeper was a long and winding one. I have 3 children now and my first birth was a hospital transfer where I was left shaken by the fact that I hadn’t ‘achieved’ a home birth. I then went on to have a homebirth with my second, which was attended my NHS midwives. These 2 birth experiences shaped me and allowed me to start digging deep into how I was providing midwifery care. In 2019 I began sticking my head above the murky waters of licensed midwifery and into the possibilities of what truly being with women could mean. I talked to women who had birthed outside the system, listened to inspiring podcasts, and realised what I needed as a mother myself. I did a deep dive into my beliefs around what midwifery means and began the process of unlearning so much of what I had been taught in the system. During my 3rd pregnancy I opted out of a lot of the standard antenatal care. I birthed at home again, still attended by midwives but reluctantly so. I needed an alternative and at the time did not know where to turn,

After realising the protocols within the NHS are there to support the system and not the birthing woman, I began creating an alternative - Village Birth. I finally left the NHS and deregistered from the NMC in October 2022 and have not looked back since! This work is my true calling, to walk with women in all stages of their motherhood journey, from preconception through to many months and even years postpartum. 

Village Birth continues to evolve within my local community and further afield with offerings in person and virtual support to women on the whole spectrum of the perinatal journey. I feel truly aligned with this ancient practice of being with woman and I am always learning and growing from this work.