Do you support water birth?

Yes. I attended my first water birth in 1990. I have two birth pools which I provide free of charge to women I care for. The decision as to whether or not a woman births in the pool is up to her – and the majority choose to water birth.

Do you care for women having their first babies?

Absolutely! Approximately one quarter of the women I have cared for are first time mothers.

Where do you do antenatal and postnatal visits?

Antenatal and postnatal visits are usually done in the woman’s home. However, some women choose to see me at my home if they are in town shopping during pregnancy and others come to my home when they want to choose new books or videos from my library.

How many women do you care for at any one time?

On average I have up to four women due each month which works out to be approximately 40 women per year.

Do you care only for women who plan to birth at home?

Yes. I provide home birth services only unless a woman who is planning to birth at home develops a medical indication which necessitates birthing in an obstetric hospital. This is because there is no scientific evidence to show that hospital is safer for birthing women who are well, who eat nourishing food and who have healthy life styles. To the contrary, there is considerable and mounting evidence that shows that when these women birth in hospitals they are subjected to medical interventions that impact negatively on their ability to birth well and breastfeed their babies without difficulties. Pregnancy, labouring, giving birth and breastfeeding are normal, healthy life events that seldom require hospitalisation and/or medical interventions. Instead they require a loving, familiar environment amongst known and trusted people. Removing a laboring woman from her home to go to a hospital when there is no health need, whether that be an obstetric hospital or a birthing unit, is the first step in a cascade of unnecessary interventions which are commonplace in New Zealand. It is these issues, which I explore fully in my second book Home birth bound: Mending the broken weave .

Do you attend women in hospital if there is a need to transfer?

Yes. If I have taken on a woman’s care and some health concern arises throughout pregnancy, labour or after birth that would be best dealt with in a hospital environment, I recommend transfer to the obstetric hospital. In this case I go with the woman and family and support her in hospital. In my practise transfer to hospital occurs less than 10 percent of the time throughout the whole childbirth experience; transfer in labour is less than 5 percent and the incidence of Caesarean section is less than 3 percent.

Do you have children yourself?

Yes, I have three adult ‘children’ (Amanda, Hannah and Sam) and two grandsons (Tobin and Gabriel). My grandchildren were both born in 1996 in what was then our family home. This cottage has since been named Birthspirit Cottage and Tony (my husband) has built us another home on the same property.

What is your PhD thesis about?

My thesis Out on a limb: The personal mandate to practise midwifery by midwives of the Domiciliary Midwives Society of New Zealand (Incorporated), 1974-1986 is on the herstory (history) of home birth midwifery in New Zealand during 1974 - 1986. At that time home birth midwives were called domiciliary midwives. If you would like to read my thesis, click on the hyperlinked title - but be warned (:->) – the PDF file is large and may take some time to download. Once opened the document is easy to navigate if you use the ‘Bookmarks’ tab (towards the top left on your screen).

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