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.

28/10/2025

Continuity of care...the absolute gold standard of midwifery care. Don't just take my word for it, there is a whole Cochrane review that states all of its many many benefits.

A tool so powerful it improves almost every measurable outcome in maternity care for you and your baby.

And that's not just physical outcomes, it's demonstrated to reduce your chance of negative feelings around your birth and birth trauma.

If you want empowered, nuanced care, tailored around your unique needs and on a schedule to suit you then get in touch and let's organise a free enquiry appointment to see if I'm right for you

Mel

Xx

25/10/2025

If you really want a low intervention birth, then start to do the prep....

Choose your place of birth carefully. Both home and birth centres are associated with increased chance of a straightforward birth, reductions in intervention and support physiology.

Think about accessing continuity of care. It's proven to improve almost every measurable outcome in maternity and you may be able to access it through the NHS. If you can't, think about strategies to get it.....can you have an independent midwife. If not can you have a doula?

Move your body. Start to do the work. Walking at least 20 mins a day, join a pregnancy yoga or pilates class, look at spinning babies daily exercises. Soften that pelvic floor as well as strength

Mindset work.....the biggest muscle you are gonna flex in labour is your brain. Learn how birth works and start to understand how you can pimp your hormones and help yourself stay as calm and relaxed during birth as possible

Birth is just the beginning of your journey in to parenthood, but how you feel about your birth matters. Give yourself the tools to feel in control of your own narrative 🫶

20/10/2025

🎈HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE VERY FIRST SOUTHWEST INDIE MIDWIFE BABY 🎈

I can't believe a whole year has passed since my very first independent birth!

I have been at hundreds of homebirths over my years as a midwife, but boy was this powerful and special ✨✨✨

This baby boy's mama made some huge and life changing decisions along the way, moving from a planned caesarean birth, to a birth centre birth, to choosing to remain at home and birth her baby in her own bedroom with her husband, mum and little doggy present as her birth partners and team.

We spent many hours in the lead up to this birth discussing all the options open to her, the benefits and risks of each choice and the space to decide what felt right for her. All under the loving care of me as her independent midwife providing non biased, evidenced based care and information and the time to make choices that felt right for her and her baby.

Hoping you have the most wonderful day celebrating his 1st birthday. I've spent the day remembering the 🌕 and the storm that he arrived in as well as being sooooooo very lucky to witness women's power as they birth their babies. Wow am I a lucky midwife ✨✨✨

Beautiful beach photo by and a very special thank you to this beautiful family for allowing me to share their special photos 🥹😍💖

14/10/2025

You're having a coffee with some mama friends, rubbing your growing bump and admiring their gorgeous squishy babies....and then the birth horror stories start to flow.

You find yourself in a bit of a spiral, worrying about how the baby will come out and will you also have a similar story to share.

You really want a calm and positive birth but you never seem to hear stories like that!

Don't worry, I've got you...here are my top tips to increase your chance of a positive birth experience....

✨Firstly, if you can, get continuity of care from an experienced midwife through your whole journey. The NHS often has teams, but it can be a postcode lottery. Ask your midwife if you can be looked after in this model (or book an independent midwife). This model of care is evidence based to demonstrate almost every measurable outcome in maternity care is improved, in particular birth trauma is reduced and your chance of having a straightforward birth increased.

✨ Use your BRAIN. Don't be afraid to ask....Why are you suggesting this care pathway...what's the BENEFITS are there any RISKS, is there an ALTERNATIVE available, what does your INTUITION tell you and what happens if you do NOTHING.

✨ Look at birth mapping and what an A, B & C plan might look like. What would your choices be if faced with an induction of labour or a caesarean birth instead of what you planned, or if you planned a caesarean but then laboured what choices might you make

✨Learn about birth physiology! Good antenatal education is so important. Understand how your hormones work and how you and your birth partners can support them. Think about where you want to birth your baby. Birth place matters as it increases or decreases your chance of intervention, but one place may be safer than another dependant on your individual circumstances.

✨ Don't just decide to go with the flow. Knowledge is power and have your birth team on your side

✨ Seek out positive birth stories. Watch the film Born at Home, find positive birth communities, change your narrative from within. We are programmed to believe birth has to be a certain way because of media and exposure.

What things worked for you??

07/10/2025

That time I left my vulv@ at my clients house 🤣

But on a serious note...when you book me, you aren't just booking your clinical midwifery care.

You are booking

WhatsApp support in day time hours for anything non urgent. My clients have loved this for any time they are unsure about something, having a wobble, didn't understand information they were given by another healthcare provider, postnatal questions and generally having a midwife in your pocket! (I am pretty small 🤣)

Antenatal education...it doesn't matter what baby this is, this is still a vital and valuable element of my full care packages. We reframe birth, look at why our belief system is what it is, and then work through from your perspective to help you learn to believe in your own power 💪✨ birth partners learn advocacy skills that are invaluable and you get 1:1 hypnobirthing support.

Connection through continuity of care...this is a Biggie!! Evidence based to improve almost every measurable outcome when it comes to pregnancy, birth and your postnatal journey. Continuity reduces the chance of preterm birth, having a caesarean or instrumental birth, having a traumatic birth and increasing your chance of breastfeeding successfully

Postnatal support that provides 80% more contact points than the NHS. All your screening taken care of, you don't need to leave the house for a single appointment, I come to you. I have 19 years of breastfeeding expertise to help your feeding journey off to the best start possible.

When you book a private independent midwife, you are booking connection, evidence based care. The TIME to hear you and ensure your care is genuinely about your needs.

BOOK A FREE ENQUIRY APPOINTMENT TO FIND OUT MORE

www.indiemidwife.co.uk

07932048540

mel@indiemidwife.co.uk

01/10/2025

❣️ WOMEN ARE CHANGING THEIR OWN NARRATIVES AROUND BIRTH❣️

Interventions are increasing, yet outcomes aren't improving in the NHS and the families I work with have chosen a different path to empowered birth.

Choosing to work with an independent midwife means guaranteed CONTINUITY OF CARE. This is gold standard, evidenced based midwifery care from the same known midwife throughout your whole pregnancy, birth and postnatal journey....this is something you are unlikely to experience with the NHS where care is fractured and broken up in to community and hospital care and where you may not see the same midwife twice through your whole pregnancy. Continuity of care has demonstrated benefits on almost every measurable outcome in maternity care, from reduced caesarean birth rates to reducing trauma.

When you book an independent midwife you also guarantee you will have access to homebirth if this is where you choose to have your baby. Not only this but you will have two highly experienced homebirth specialist midwives at your birth providing you with physiology informed care and safe birth care to the highest standards.

Nourishing postnatal care, where you receive evidenced based feeding support and expertise. I come with 19 years of breastfeeding expertise. I support physiology well in to the weeks following the birth to help you and your baby adapt to life together. This is family centred care where I come to you. No clinic appointments or schedules to keep.

If you are interested in enhanced, bespoke and empowering midwifery care, with all appointments in your home. Trauma informed and holistic care that is nuanced, evidenced based and person centred....then get in touch for a free discovery appointment

www.indiemidwife.co.uk

07932048540

Mel@indiemidwife.co.uk

Address

Plymouth

Website

https://linktr.ee/southwestindiemidwife

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