The Southwest Indie Midwife

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The Southwest Indie Midwife

Independent, private midwife. Homebirth specialist

Holistic, physiology centred care

Plymouth, Devon & Cornwall. Aromatherapy, hypnobirthing, biomechanics.

Independent, private midwifery services in Devon & Cornwall. Full continuity of carer and guaranteed access to home birth with an experienced and skilled homebirth midwife. I want you to be at the centre of your care. i value relational care, with a physiology first approach. Helping you to understand how and why your body works to ensure a positive birth experience. I will always prioritise the safety and wellbeing of you and your baby and am a fully qualified and NMC registered midwife. I am trained in managing obstetric emergencies, Newborn Life Support and Immediate Life Support and carry out yearly skills and drills to ensure my skills stay up to date. I am able to provide a range of care packages, from the full pregnancy, homebirth and postnatal care continuum, hospital birth packages including where you are choosing a planned caesarean birth as well as enhanced antenatal or postnatal support. I can offer individual appointments or a package of care depending on your needs. I am trained in biomechanics for birth, hypnobirthing, aromatherapy, massage and reflexology and can offer tailor made sessions for you to enhance your pregnancy and plan for a positive birth. To find out if I am right for you I offer a free online meeting of approx 30 mins where you can have the opportunity to meet me, ask any questions you may have and decide if what i can offer will suit you and your needs.

16/03/2026

Sometimes birth doesn't go as we expected it to. Currently 50% plus of women giving birth in the UK are likely to end up with a caesarean birth and at least 30% of them will be unexpected.

Give yourself permission to grieve the birth you didn't have if that is how you are left feeling, but also know that you didn't do anything wrong.

In the days and weeks that follow caesarean birth you can give your body the best chance of healing with rest.

Make sure you keep on top of pain relief as this will help you to feel like you can manage and have low expectations on your body to do anything other than gently care for your baby.

I love the 5 days in bed, 5 days on the bed, 5 days around the bed for any birth. But deep permission to rest and heal is particularly important for any surgical birth.

Some gentle movement every day will help keep your bowels moving and help prevent blood clots. You should also drink plenty of water and consider stool softeners to help prevent constipation. Think about your diet to nourish your healing. In some cultures certain foods that are warm and easy to digest are preferred and these are often also nutrient dense and high in fibre, helping your body and gut to replenish after birth.

Take all the help offered. Provision of meals or care for other children are great ways for friends and family to help.

Spend lots of time having skin to skin, this is great for binding, building your babys microbiome and getting breastfeeding off to a wonderful start.

If you find yourself thinking about your birth lots there are a number of talking therapy options open to you. From birth after thoughts through the NHS to private birth debriefs.

Consider if you would like the idea of a rebirthing ceremony where you and your baby can be held in reverence and supported with intentions through your postnatal journey in to matresence. This is something I can help arrange and support you through as an additional service if this is something you wanted to explore.

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09/03/2026

Connection, relationships, your birth team and navigating birth and life with a new baby.

This is what I live and breathe with you, helping you navigate choices, nurturing and deep knowing.

Want to find out more about independent midwife support? DM me for a free meet up to see if this kind of care feels aligned for you

08/03/2026

A friend just sent me this picture....it's 2006/2007 and I had just qualified as a breastfeeding peer supporter.

I met some of the most wonderful women on this course and through the years of volunteering that came from this.

Midwives, health visitors and other wonderful mums that I walked the journey of early parenthood with.

I am still in touch with some of these women today and these women inspired me to take a path to midwifery.

Because women inspire me. With their strength, tenacity, and general awesomeness.

And that's why I am a midwife. To stand in awe and reverance of women. To walk by their side and show them some of the wisdom that was gifted to me along the way.

Thank you to all the wonderful women at Plymouth Latch On. An inspiration all round ✨

07/03/2026

Interested in what independent care looks like?

Care without the barriers.....

No worrying about short staffing

Care based on relationships which makes you feel safe

Expert care from a midwife with over a decade of experience and a foundation built in physiological care

Integration with NHS services if needed

19 years of breastfeeding expertise

Let's have a cuppa together to find out if I'm right for you.

Limited 2026 availability for full birth care.

06/03/2026

If you're searching for care that looks a bit different then you have arrived in the right place.....

Unhurried

Warm

Person centered

Trauma informed

Physiology informed

Experienced

Midwifery care that goes beyond perfunctory checks and is centred in deeply knowing you, who you are, what you need.

An experienced midwife with over a decade of experience and grounded in physiological birth.

Limited availability left for 2026

Working alongside the wonderful to provide gold standard maternity care

04/03/2026

Feeling safe in maternity care is a big topic right now......

Enquiry after enquiry is not making a difference, and women have never felt more unsafe accessing maternity care. I know this because the basis of my enquiries are women seeking support they don't feel they would be able to access in the NHS.

The midwives, ,MSW and doctors show up to work every day in the NHS wanting to do their best for you and to keep you safe, but when systems are run for efficiency, flow and inflexible guidelines then it means you become a number on a conveyor belt in order for the (broken) system to keep going.

Care with us looks a bit different.....

We operate in a model of care called continuity.

We have a micro caseload of one to two women due each month

We come and see you in your own home

We have TIME -an appointment might last 2 hrs, woven with exploring choices, antenatal education, thoughts, feelings and Human touch.

We integrate our services with the NHS if needed - urgent and emergent care and if complications arise during pregnancy, then the NHS is our wingwoman, but you aren't navigating that system alone. We walk beside you, helping you understand your options and choices, allowing you to decide what feels right.

We curate your care around you. We understand that you are a unique individual, having a unique and special pregnancy and we want it to feel like that.

We create a restful and nourishing postnatal period for a full 28 days. Seeing you up to 80% more than the NHS would. This means feeding generally goes better, recovery is faster and partners and family feel involved.

Investing in an independent private midwife feels big, we understand that. But investing in us now will last a life time.

Contact us today, we serve Devon and Cornwall and can't wait to hear from you.

20/02/2026

Yes I do sometimes have wealthy clients approach me, but most of my clients sit firmly in the working professionals category where they are choosing to invest in a different way of experiencing maternity care..

They are choosing
Alignment
Continuity of care
Provision of evidence based care including homebirth
Nourishing postnatal care
TIME

The big questions to ask about your NHS provider?

What are their rates of

Caesarean birth (planned and emergency)
Induction of labour
Instrumental birth
Number of homebirths and birth centre births supported and their transfer rates
How often is the homebirth service suspended and women asked to attend the local unit instead
What does postnatal care provision look like - will I need to leave my home for appointments even if I have had a caesarean birth

If you are looking for care that gives you access to the same midwife throughout your pregnancy, access to home birth with a midwife who has been supporting homebirths for over 10 years and is an expert in physiological birth.
A midwife that prioritises time, getting to know you and what you need - because she knows this means safety.

Then get in touch

Because investing in your maternity journey is bigger than just 10 months of care. It is life altering, life affirming & empowering.

Link in bio

16/02/2026

Thank you for nominating me for the second year in a row!

So grateful for all my wonderful families

And so grateful to make an impact on their maternity journeys

To see them feel heard

To hold them in their own power

To walk by their side 💕

14/02/2026

The ultimate gift of love ....

To yourself

To your baby

To your family

Gift yourself the life changing experience of independent, private midwifery care.

Guaranteed access to the same midwife for gold standard continuity of care

Access to homebirth and physiological birth expertise

Nourishing postnatal care, honouring the journey in to motherhood in your own home and for a full 28 days after your baby arrives earthside

Enquire today for a free chat with me Mel, The Southwest Indie Midwife to find out how to begin your journey.

www.indiemidwife.co.uk

06/02/2026

Ok tenuous link I know but I hear the question ...why would I invest in your care when there is care freely available on the NHS?

Firstly NHS care isn't free you just pay for it from your taxes

Secondly NHS care isn't the bad guy, but you need to understand that the system is set up for 'the masses' Imagine it's like a giant sieve or production line conveyor belt. It needs to act in best interest of a lot of people simultaneously with very little time given to each of those people. If you know you are a number in the system then this can help you navigate it and personalise or tailor it more to your needs, but there will always be some things that aren't in your control - staffing for your homebirth, the availability of the pool on the birth centre as examples.

Choosing independent private care gives you back control over what you are accessing, information and care. It's care that sees you as more than a number and is deeply nourishing (much like that delicious home cooked food)

Not only that, but the evidence speaks for itself when it comes to the model of care I work in - continuity of care. There are a multitude of research studies that demonstrate huge benefit to women and families accessing care in this way.

If you are after deeply nourishing care then I offer free enquiry 'get to know me' appointments where you can decide if I'm right for you. And you can check out more info about my services at www.indiemidwife.co.uk

30/01/2026

I don't often talk about my own births, but my kids birthdays always leave me feeling reflective!

My second birth truly led me to midwifery.

This time 18 years ago my labour was gently beginning and I was determined that this birth would be different.

I had planned a homebirth with my first, naively thought an NCT course would be all the prep I needed and then was shocked to find myself facing a long latent phase, post dates induction offers and a labour involving syntocinon and an epidural.

I vowed this birth would be different

Again I planned a homebirth. My labour began gently at 41 weeks and I played a game of distract myself until I could not be distracted. This time I had learned how birth physiology worked, done a hypnobirthing course and made a birth plan. Most of all I had some steely determination that I wouldn't freely give my autonomy over to someone who didnt know my body like I knew it and wound trust my intuition.

My birth was not perfect. I birthed my baby in my own power but ended up needing to transfer for a PPH (bleed post birth). I lost a fair bit and needed a blood transfusion.

The thing that really sticks with me though is I did not walk away from this birth with trauma, in fact I walked away feeling the opposite....powerful, like a lioness. I marvelled at just how bloody amazing my body was and how powerful I felt.

This was my lesson that brought me deeply to midwifery......to bring this to other women. For my care to not be deductive, but empowering and showing women how to access their true power.

I believe in you, I want you to be able to unlock that power and I want to walk by your side while you marvel at just how amazing you are.

This isn't about what type of birth you have, it's about how you were made to feel, how you were respected and how you were left to feel in control.

If you're interested in trauma informed empowering care then The Southwest Indie Midwife is for you. 🫶💪✨

Address

Plymouth

Website

https://linktr.ee/southwestindiemidwife

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