Kim Crowe – Confident Birth Chester

I became a midwife 18 years ago after hearing stories about friends and families births, and hearing women report that the experience could have been better if they knew more and were able to have options about their care. This was startling as I imagined that it would be crucial to offer support and information at such an important time in the life of a new family. I trained at University of Chester and worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital (where I was born!) for 16 years where I have been blessed in my career to work with so many fabulous midwives and to have of looked after hundreds of lovely families from the Chester area. I initially worked in the hospital and then after my daughter was born (I used hypnobirthing when I birthed!) I transfered to work at as a community midwife, which was amazing as I had a feeling of truly knowing the women in my care, but working part time and on set patterns of work I rarely cared for women that I knew in labour and this was the icing on the cake for me as a midwife. As continuity felt so rewarding and a better way to provide care, I left the NHS team to join the private commissioned service of One to One Midwives locally where I thrived in being able to provide the care in a different and more personal way. After several years I have needed to reduce my hours for family reasons and have left caseloading midwifery for the time being, instead focusing on the teaching of antenatal education and hypnobirthing via Confident Birth Chester.