Independent midwives in Kent supporting women's choice

About Us!

Virginia Howes, RN,RM,BSc(HONS)

This is me, although my hair changes from time to time.

I live in Ashford Kent with my 2 daughters and our dog (a cavalier King Charles spaniel) called Tom.

When I'm not working I love going on holidays and having family trips to theme parks. I enjoy reading and movies. I also adore dancing.

I love my job and feel passionate about the rights of women to have a good childbirth experience.

Becoming a Midwife was a dream come true.

I was young when I had my own babies but even then I had a great interest in childbirth and always wanted to know more than what was available in the books and magazines written for pregnant women. As the years past I always thought it was too late for me to go down that long path of education that would lead to achieving my dream of becoming a midwife...

Once I had made the decision that I was going to do it there was no stopping me. It was hard work juggling family and work but I really enjoyed all the education that went with obtaining my midwifery degree. I was really lucky that the very first midwife I learnt from carried her own case load. This meant that she cared for the women all through pregnancy, the birth and afterwards. I was able to see how wonderful, even when tiring, getting to know the families you are working with can be.

I worked with different patterns of care after that and often only met women for the first time when they were in labour. I hope all of those women found me caring and supportive. Yet after knowing how it COULD be, I always felt that the women did not know how, just a little bit extra, could make it so much better.

I once met a woman in the postnatal ward who I had looked after when she had her first baby in the caseload system. She had now had her second baby under a different pattern of care and had not known the midwife who had been at the birth. I remembered that the first labour had been long, painful and tiring for her. The second baby that she had now just birthed had been a very quick and according to her an easy labour. Yet her words were “It was not the same with out you and Paula”. This re-enforced my belief that the whole pregnancy and childbirth experience is enhanced if women have continuity of carer. From then on I knew that I would not be truly happy until I could work in a system where if I was going to be part of this amazing event in people’s lives then I want to know them and have them know and trust me.

And so I decided to become an independent midwife.

Kay Hardie, RN, RM (Dip)

I'm Kay and this is me with one the lovely babies I have had the pleasure of 'catching' recently. I live in Ashford, Kent with my husband and two children. We share our home with three cats and a rabbit. I've been a midwife since 1996 . I started my midwifery training soon after my son was born - I looked forward to seeing my own midwife during pregnancy and that spurred me on to train myself.

I worked for the NHS in the local hospitals and then as a community midwife for almost two years. I loved working as a community midwife but became increasingly frustrated because I wasn't able to give complete continuity to each woman I knew. Becoming an independent midwife has enabled me to practice in a way I always felt inside was right. Knowing and trusting your midwife during pregnancy is of paramount importance and research has shown that as well as a woman being happier and more relaxed, there is a strong positive effect on the outcome of labour and birth. This is reconfirmed each time I see the wonders of birth unfold before me and I feel honoured and privileged to be part of such a special event .