YORKSHIRE STORKS MIDWIFERY PRACTICE

Yorkshire's Longest Established

Independent Midwifery Practice

 
 

 

The Team

We work as a team, and give details below of the members -

Chris Warren -

After 10 years in the NHS, my daughter Jessica’s birth, at home, reinforced my desire to provide continuity of care for women and I went independent. I believe in the normality of childbirth and women’s ability to make decisions about their bodies and their babies. Given clear information and support for their choices, I know women will make the right decisions. Jess is now 18 and I want her and all of her generation to be able to access quality midwifery care and support.

I love exploring the countryside with my dog, Star, who often comes with me to visits. I also enjoy rough red wine, eating out and reading almost anything.

   Michelle Whittle -

I have worked with Yorkshire Storks since 2001 and have had the opportunity over the years to experience many fantastic, empowering births, at home, in and out of water. I have two children, Kristy and Jack and wish I knew then what I now know about birth. I enjoy working in a way that provides women with the continuity of care they need in order to make the right choices and decisions for themselves and their babies. I am passionate about childbirth and the need for women to have sound, unbiased information on which to base their decisions which is why I have set up an antenatal education service, where women can learn all they need. www.pregnancyandbeyond.co.uk

When not working, I have a clan of Irish setters that I enjoy walking every day in the woods, or up on the moors.
     
Debs Neiger -

After 3 years in the NHS, the catalyst for my becoming an independent midwife was the home waterbirth of my son Gabriel. I believe that a woman’s birth experiences can have a huge impact on her life and want to be able to support women in getting the birth they want. I enjoy cooking, researching new recipes and am fairly obsessed with the internet

I now have a year old daughter, Esme, also born at home in a pool, so am only working very part time and am not doing birth on calls as the demands of 2 children are taking up a lot of my time at the moment. I am happy to do babywearing demos and breastfeeding support visits as and when needed.

   　Kim Hughes -

I really enjoy being an independent midwife and have a genuine passion for midwifery. I feel that in this role I have time for women and their families during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. This relaxed approach is essential to enable me to build a trusting and equal partnership with the woman, and to find out what her particular preferences are with regard to her pregnancy and birth.　 Also I feel it is really important to involve partners and try to be flexible in order to meet them.

My interest in up to date research in all aspects of pregnancy and birth enables me to offer the best evidence based information so that women can make informed choices about their care. I also have an interest in parent education, providing one to one sessions for preparation for birth, breastfeeding and caring for the baby. In addition I am trained in reflex zone therapy for relaxation and pregnancy related problems.

I have twins Rachel and Bekki who are growing up fast. We share our home in a small village with an assortment of cats both resident and just passing through.
     
Jo Twyman -

 

I came to midwifery later in life than many, so I had no special knowledge of how labour and birth could be when I had my own daughter 16 years ago. Whilst I had no particular problems with the pregnancy or birth, I realise now that was more due to luck than any kind of judgement. I was within 24 hours of an induction because my waters had broken before I went into labour. In fact I was very lucky that I spent 90% of the 1st stage of Jamies birth in an antenatal ward without any kind of partogram (the usual NHS method of documenting labour), as I didn’t believe I could be in labour. It was actually my husband who could no longer watch the pain I was experiencing and felt compelled to alert the midwives on duty. After a speedy examination, I was dispatched to the labour ward and birthed within a couple of hours. The midwives had clearly told me I would have my baby the following day when they induced me. It may have been a very different labour if my husband and I hadn’t been left to our own devices with the ward staff too busy to notice my regular strong contractions! It would have been a very different birth again had I been at home in a pool.

Although I won’t be having any more babies myself, I am committed to supporting those families who are looking for a positive birth experience, sometimes under difficult circumstances, physically or emotionally. My own experience has left me with no doubt of the powerful effect of information given during pregnancy and birth (believe me, those contractions were strong, but not as strong as being told my labour would occur the following day), and the way it is given. I believe each woman should have all the quality information required for each of the decisions which are to be made at this special time, and the space and time to discuss them through with both her partner and birth supporter. With an interest in communication I am also a practitioner of NeuroLingustic Programming (NLP), I have a working knowledge of using self-hypnosis during birth, and also of moxibustion and reflexology in pregnancy and birth.

I love reading, the theatre and eating (but definitely not cooking). I have 2 dogs a cat and my daughter also has a horse which I am roped into mucking out most mornings.

   And Others -

For holiday and sickness cover we work with our sister practices in Yorkshire and beyond. They are;

Debs Rhodes WIMPs,www.independentbirth.com

The Village Midwife, www.anneadamson.com

Susan Stevenson Midwifery Practice, www.susanstephenson.co.uk     Tracey Smith, www.independentmidwiferycare.co.uk

Katherine Hales www.northeastindependentmidwives.co.uk

Other midwives and student midwives work with us from time to time, to gain experience but would only be involved in your care with your permission.