Dear Mum, It’s been 8 years since you died.

Dear Mum, Dear friend, Sylvia, It’s been 8 years today since you died. In some ways time has been fleeting and in other ways time has been long, drawn-out, a lifetime. Your death anniversaries have brought with it many shades of emotions. The first year and I was in shock, I felt numb and threw…

New mothers: What does support look like during a pandemic?

These have been trying times. It is with disbelief that I watch the global covid-19 pandemic unfold. I cannot quite grasp the reality of this virus, the implications upon the worlds population, the dramatic affect on how I need to live, day by day. I have both recently and in the past, reflected a great…

The grandmother project

Midwives within the public health setting have a series of questions we ask women when they come in for their first ‘booking-in’ pregnancy appointment with us. These questions look at how likely a women is to develop postnatal depression based on her mental health history, her relationship with her partner and her support networks in…

Nurturing the child within

It is not uncommon in my practice as a midwife to hear of the struggles of pregnancy. Contrary to popular belief, pregnancy is not always a journey of unconditional glowing radiance. Many challenges can arise within the pregnant state from the intense rollercoaster of hormone-driven emotions to the ongoing visceral and tender aches and pains,…

Sylvia and her 66th year

Today is my mothers birthday. She would have been 66 years old and I imagine had she been alive, she would have danced and smiled and laughed and embraced and felt joy at life’s precious moments. Today I set off on a holiday overseas. I will pass by three time zones on this very day…

I’m pregnant. Now what?

A great challenge of the world we live in is choice. There is a plethora of options from the simple decisions of how we want our coffee to the kind of books we read to what toilet paper we use to the more complex such as career pathways, love ventures, birth and death directions. This challenge…

A doula for the life traveller

Years ago amidst the colour and vibrancy of my global travels I remember a teacher imparting his wisdom on finding true satisfaction in life. “Give to others” he spoke, “Give so much that you forgot your own troubles, that you transcend the world of ego and enrich your heart though the gifting of love.” This…

Vipassana and the year of self-care

“It’s a fine line between aggression and excitement”, the first words to leave my mouth since waking after midday, post-night duty, ordering a coffee at my local cafe.  The words echo through my mind as I contemplate the fact that I quit coffee over a year ago and since doing Vipassana, a 10-day silent retreat in…

It takes a village to raise a child

We don’t live in tribes anymore. Our lives are tucked away in separate compartments  exclusive to me, mine, I.  Busy days promote working hard and fast, with filling up on all the doing, with coffee and sugar, bright lights and express trains. Days that end with a gripping panic to get home, to close the chapter of that…

Call of the void

Several weeks ago I had a friend visit my little Bronte treehouse, the apartment I call home, perched several stories up, nestled amidst the ancient gum trees like a carefully constructed nest; airy, light and ‘dangerously high’. We chatted about the north facing morning light, chuckled over all my ‘gypsy trinkets’ and then on my suggestion of peeping over…

‘midwife mutterings’: those birthing reassurances

Last week I posted a blog exploring my ‘unfounded pregnancy theories’, a collection of midwife thoughts and musings to encourage the seeding of ideas and provocation for inner-enquiry. This week I transition from the blooming beliefs of pregnancy, forward and into the unwrapping of the  birth day experience. As  mentioned last week, my midwife brain has, over the years, racked up…

my unfounded pregnancy theories

I have a few unfounded theories when it comes to midwifery. I am sure each midwife does. In fact us midwife bunch talk about them from time to time, delving into the world of probability, possibility and passion with furrowed brows, gesticulations and often a throaty chuckle dependant upon how ‘far out’ the concept is. These ideas are…