05/05/2024
This year the 5th of May feels different. It is indeed as it always is on this date and I am still a midwife.. or am I not? Well, I have recently de-registered so technically I am not allowed to call myself a midwife anymore. And it hurts. Do you know why? I am a midwife, it’s my soul, my core. I am a woman, a mama, a midwife and will always be. This is not a profession, it’s who I am. I love serving women, families. I love being there to support them through matrescence. I just can’t do it in a way that ends up harming them anymore. I can’t remain silent. I can’t work in fear and can’t be truly with woman if I am fearful, if I have to obey protocols and guidelines not rooted in evidence and if I can’t recognise full autonomy of the mother I work for. So yes, I de-registered. And I am a traditional midwife, a birthkeeper, a mother who believes in birth and women. These hands of mine have witnessed so much. Have held so many new lives. Have massaged countless sore backs, have wiped so many tears. They have skills and empathy. They are here to hold space. The hands of a midwife.