The Southwest Indie Midwife

07/07/2025

Last night I got to be second midwife with and join her for a powerful, gorgeous and oxytocin filled homebirth. Another family reaping the benefits of holistic, woman centred care that is both head and heart focussed.

Care with us is based in physiology, is focussed on safe and bespoke care, tailored to your needs as an individual. We focus on evidence based care with continuity at the heart.

Investing in independent midwifery care puts you at the heart of care that means you can feel in control of your choices and your birth. With 20 years of combined midwifery experience between us, we are here to support your choices and provide you with safe heart centred birth.

27/06/2025

Trigger warning ⚠️ Resuscitation

Did you know as your Independent midwife I am trained to manage emergency scenarios and carry lots of equipment for this?

This little guy came in to the world in a hurry and was a bit surprised by his speedy entrance in to the world ( in the ensuite of course iykyk!) This first time mama rocked her birth!! 🫶 4.5 hrs start to finish and only 3 pushes! In the first picture I'm assessing his Apgar - colour, tone, heart rate and breathing and he's around 1 minute old.
He needed some inflation breaths to help him get started with learning how to use his lungs once he was earth side, but he quickly rallied and was pink and crying back skin to skin with mama in no time.
Whilst resus can look scary, as your independent midwife I do yearly skills and drills and am NLS (Neonatal life support) trained. I carry all the same equipment for resus that the NHS midwives carry and that would be first line use in a hospital birth.
You can see the 999 call in progress as I'm assessing baby Apollo and we had 2 ambulance units attend within 5 minutes of making this call. We even had the offer of air ambulance support if needed.
Thankfully none of this was required and Apollo was well following a few inflation breaths to open up his lungs and help him take his first breaths independently.
Both parents commented that at no point did they feel out of control during the resus as we had discussed how this might look and the equipment I bring so they felt safe during this care episode. All of this was chatted through in the antenatal period.
We transferred in to hospital post birth for a review to ensure he was well, and there were no concerns about him so this little family were back at home after some observations for all the cuddles 🫶

Shared with consent because Apollos mama wanted to share how safe she felt even when care needs extra intervention or in an emergency.

21/04/2025

My 2025 books are now full for independent midwifery care 💞

22/03/2025

Did you know I can provide planned hospital birth support too?

With a planned hospital birth I am there as your professional advocate and to provide physical and emotional support...

Think....

Vibes in the room

Time to think through and understand decisions

Physical support with biomechanics & massage

Emotional support and hypnobirthing affirmations

Ensuring you are eating and drinking

Support for your birthing partner to feel empowered and involved in the birth

This mama had an incredible, fierce and strong labour and a beautiful baby is now earthside.

She crushed labour so hard she even broke her birth comb! Which is a new one for me!

Congratulations to this beautiful family ✨

15/03/2025

What a great time we had today at talking to so many women and families about the possibilities when you hire an independent midwife for your care....

✨Nurturing and holistic care that treats you like the individual you are

✨Bespoke and tailored care to your needs

✨ Two midwives at your homebirth with over 2 decades of midwifery and birth work experience between us

✨ Continuity of care and knowing your midwife, helping you to feel safe and in control

✨The most evidence based and up-to-date care adjacent and in collaboration with the NHS if needed

If you're interested in care that looks a little bit different, is totally centered around you and provides gold standard safe care then get in touch

28/01/2025

Take a listen 💞

02/01/2025

I reviewed this book and can wholeheartedly say it's an excellent and important read!

✨ NEW BOOK REVIEW ✨

📖 Supporting Autistic People Through Pregnancy & Childbirth by Hayley Morgan, Emma Durman & Karen Henry

An essential guide for providing compassionate, thoughtful, and inclusive care for autistic and neurodiverse people navigating pregnancy and birth. With insights from lived experiences and actionable strategies, this book is a must-read for all maternity professionals.

👉 https://www.all4maternity.com/supporting-autistic-people-through-pregnancy-childbirth/

📢 Members get 15% off—check the Members Zone for details!
Offer valid from the 1st January - 28th February 2025.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

29/12/2024

Went and hung out with today and we went through kit, obstetric emergencies and working together as second midwife for one another.

So excited to be working alongside her on this journey of IM life.

Katie is based in cornwall, so if you are planning a homebirth and looking for an independent midwife she's your girl. She's based near St Agnes.

Go give her a follow 🫶

26/12/2024

You're not brave for planning a homebirth....

You're informed .....

And by choosing homebirth in a continuity of care model you get gold standard care that is bespoke to your needs, safe and guaranteed access to homebirth.

As an independent, private midwife I am able to tailor my care to your needs and I'm always just a Whatsapp away pretty much whenever you need me!

If you want transformative midwifery care that isn't just tick box, but highly personalised and centres you in your care then get in touch today for a free no obligation enquiry appointment.

Link in bio

With thanks to Elisabeth Dawn for allowing me to share beautiful Mannaseh's birth from back in August, her second homebirth with me there to witness her strength and to welcome her chunky (4.3kg) baby boy earthside.

Beautiful photos by Rabbit House Studio Photography 😍

25/12/2024

Wishing all my families a very Merry Christmas, whether that's wriggly toes in tummies or under the Christmas tree ❤️

Thank you for entrusting me with your most precious cargo 🤰💞

Hoping your festive season is very Merry and bright 🎄🎁🎄

Lots of love & oxytocin

Mel

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02/12/2024

✨NOVEMBER 2024✨

Its been a busy month with
🎆2 babies born - and one was in a serious hurry!!
🎆Lots of antenatal appointments including supporting clients through obstetric appointments and scans
🎆Lots of postnatal appointments and breastfeeding support and discharging my October birth client which is always the saddest! But happy to still be getting little text updates of their adventures 🫶
🎆2 new clients booked for care and lots of care planning for their pregnancies and births
🎆New enquiries coming in all the time and 2025 starting to get booked up now!

Off call for a few weeks now as I haven't taken a Decemeber birth client to give me the opportunity to spend some time with my family before back on call at the beginning of the new year!

2025 is going to be amazing 🤩

24/11/2024

Hi I'm Mel

Thought I would introduce myself to any new followers and reintroduce myself to everyone else!

I'm a private independent midwife providing holistic midwifery care and specialist homebirth support.

Get in touch if you're ready to invest in transformative maternity care

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