Renee Samson, My

Kind of Midwife

I was a Nurse first, but it was my own journey to motherhood that led me to pursue midwifery. During my first pregnancy and birth I trusted the routine based care of my local hospital to help me achieve a normal birth. I was let down tremendously and left the experience of birth feeling like a failure.

When my daughter was 18 months old I decided to study midwifery. 

In my time as a student Midwife I learnt about the importance woman centred care for a positive experience and the benefits of a known Midwife throughout pregnancy, birth into motherhood. As a student I was also introduced to private midwifery, homebirth, and alternative childbirth education. I remember feeling the penny drop! Where I had gone wrong in my own experience was handing over my trust and my power to a system that didn’t trust women’s bodies or really birth at all. I realised I had a responsibility when I became a Midwife to remind women constantly of their power, their choices and their amazing bodies. 

I have worked within a hospital since my studies and have enjoyed being in a busy environment and working with many women and families. However, the limits that policies and hospital culture place on the Midwife's role, women and birth have frustrated me and motivated me to pursue private midwifery.

I met and started working with a private Midwife attending home births in January 2017. Attending these births has filled me with trust in physiological birth and opened my eyes to the many variations of normal birth. These homebirth mums also filled me with confidence to follow in their footsteps.

I birthed my second baby on my terms, a water birth in my kitchen with private Midwives. It was and still is the best day of my life. This was the ultimate lesson of trusting women and their own judgment.

I have been mentored and encouraged to keep working towards private midwifery by my own Midwife. And I am so thankful. I am so chuffed to finally, truly be ‘with woman’.

To be a Midwife is a privilege and I can’t wait to take the very personal and amazing journey of pregnancy, birthing and motherhood with women and their families again and again. 

​My Kind of Midwife ABN: 75 494 408 194