Transcript

Please not this transcript was generated by AI and may have errors.

[00:00:00] Georgina: Got it.

[00:00:01] Mel: Got it. Awesome. Hi, Georgina. Um, thank you so much for being here. We, this week, I have been just sharing a lot about private practice midwifery, and you came to mind because you're a privately practicing midwife and really fairly new to the game in the grand scheme of things. It's been a few years, hasn't it?

[00:00:22] Georgina: I was part of your first mentorship in 2021. Am I right? Was that the first year? That was

[00:00:28] Mel: the first year. 2021. Yes. So you were one of the first cohorts, you know, when I first started the mentorship, you were there and I remember you, I mean, we'll talk about your story, but you really stick in my mind, but you are now currently completely in private practice.

[00:00:44] Mel: Yes. Yes. And I. Just, can you give us a little bit of a summary? What were you doing before your private practice? What, what was your work and life like before that?

[00:00:59] Georgina: So I live in rural Queensland, close to Queensland, and I was working in a full time midwifery group practice in my, what had become my little hometown, um, where I'd married and had my five children, um, great model of care, um, all risk care.

[00:01:16] Georgina: Apparently, low risk on site birthing, but you name it, we had done it. Um, and for a good five years, our rural birthing service had been closed, 2006 to 2016. We reopened 2016 with a midwifery group practice. And it was pretty awesome for a good four or five years, but, um, I began to see that women's choices and my midwifery practice was becoming increasingly under scrutiny, medical scrutiny, um,

[00:01:49] Georgina: and the beginning of the end for me was when women were told in my hometown that if you wanted to birth your placenta physiologically in our hospital, perhaps it The next hospital an hour and a half away from our hometown would be the safest and better place to birth your baby and your placenta. And that was just so abhorrent to me.

[00:02:12] Georgina: Because for five years, um, we had a really close knit... group of midwives who are philosophically completely on the same page, and that hadn't changed. Um, and we were thinking, well, of course women have all the choice in how they'd like to birth their placenta, and I'm a skilled and experienced midwife, so I can make clinical decisions.

[00:02:35] Georgina: In, in concert with the woman as her birth is unfolding to make, to help her make the best choices for herself. So when, um, this decision was imposed upon women in our town and imposed upon midwives, um, from a medical point of view, I seriously began to question whether I could continue. I really, I was already aware of the tensions of the system.

[00:03:05] Georgina: Um, but I felt like I could navigate that being the midwife that I was in the model of care that I was working in, midwifery, continuity of care, I mean, it doesn't get much better than that. Um, and with the other midwives that I was working with, we were so, so closely knit, so tight, um, like, don't take us on because, you know, you're in for something, but they did, and they were dominant, and I thought, I came to the conclusion that I am not going to be able to change the system.

[00:03:40] Georgina: It's bigger than me, and it's even bigger than the medical staff that I work with. I just felt that I came to realize just how big and ugly and insidious the system is, and that I was not going to be able to. Change that and I couldn't bear the thought of injecting women with oxytocin when I knew they didn't need it.

[00:04:04] Georgina: I couldn't assault women. Um, so I started to actively plan to move away and that's I think I must have already made the decision to enroll in your mentorship because you enroll at the end of the year for the year coming. Um, so in the middle of 2021, I took 10 weeks long service leave, um, to give myself an opportunity to see, to think about where the private practice might work for me if there was a life beyond what I had already.

[00:04:35] Georgina: And, uh, at the same time. Not because of it, but at the same time, um, a woman in the next nearest very large town that I, um, live in. This woman started calling me asking me to support her in home birth and I said look, I'm moving in that direction, but I don't think I'm going to be ready. You have my sympathy, um, but I'm not sure I'm there yet.

[00:04:59] Georgina: And she just phoned me every month. Until she moored me down and I said, okay, just so happens. I've got planned to leave your guest state aligns with that. There is a good chance that I could be available to support you with your birth at home. Um, but I don't want this to be a revenue negative experience for me.

[00:05:21] Georgina: If you can cover my costs, then we'll do it. So we did it. So

[00:05:27] Mel: basically it worked out that you had already, like things are kind of falling apart at the hospital, which made you think, gosh, I need it. I need to make a change. Perhaps you saw the mentorship that kind of, you went, Ooh, hang on, that could work.

[00:05:40] Mel: I've got leave. This woman's interested in having me as her midwife. And so fast forward, you did join the mentorship and, and what happened then? What happened? You, you, there was a point where you made a decision to leave the hospital for good. Can you talk us through that moment where you realized it was a possibility?

[00:06:03] Mel: Yeah.

[00:06:04] Georgina: Yeah. Um, Once the woman birthed at home, like I hadn't left her house after she'd birthed and thought, I'm ruined, I can't, I can't go back. Like, you'd be, you'd be mad. Um, so yeah, I finished up my long service leave. I went back to work and gave, the day I came back to work, I gave 10 weeks notice because I had colleagues who had planned to leave.

[00:06:32] Georgina: You know, it's a small town. There were only four or five of us. And some of those midwives also are my best friends in the whole world. So I did not want to jeopardize their planned leave. Um, so I stayed for 10 weeks, um, and told everybody I was. Moving on, and I had a full caseload to step into when I finished with my public midwifery job.

[00:06:57] Georgina: I was, I was already endorsed before all of this, so I'd been a lactation consultant since 2015. I've done my endorsement in 2017. We're all, we'll never forget that COVID happened in sort of 2021. And when Medicare expanded, um, midwife item numbers to include telehealth, I saw that as an opportunity for me to provide midwifery care slash.

[00:07:24] Georgina: lactation consultation support, um, by telehealth. So I was no longer geographically limited to who I could provide care for. So that was all sitting in the background already. I'd also, um, married into a farming family. And I, when I married my husband, um, there were three things I was told I had to do. Um, Or, or shouldn't do one was I shouldn't buy pumpkins because anybody can grow a pumpkin.

[00:07:50] Georgina: So the other one was I had to cut his hair. And the other thing was I had to do the bookkeeping for the farm. So I'd been doing the bookkeeping for the farm for, you know, two, two or three decades. So, you know, and you talk a lot about. Um, if you're going to be in private practice, you need to accept that you're a businesswoman.

[00:08:08] Georgina: So I had quite a few things sitting in my background that made the step into private practice. Not that big a leap.

[00:08:19] Mel: And so that, that was the background. So can you talk us through, where are you now? Cause 2020, it's only a few years ago when you were not involved in private practice You know, it was still an idea.

[00:08:33] Mel: So what's happening now, Steve, how far have you come?

[00:08:37] Georgina: Yeah. So, um, I'm completely in private practice. I've got a full, a full caseload. When I say a full caseload, a caseload that I'm happy with. Yes. Okay, so work life balance, it's important and you have to curate that yourself, it doesn't happen by accident.

[00:08:53] Georgina: So, I'm as busy as I would care to be. Um, I also do my lactation consultation. Um, I have a collaborative agreement with the local, well, with the whole, whole health service, um, around where I live. So, I have a... Um, a functional collaborative agreement that's working well, um, and working hard on getting, uh, visiting access at the birthing hospitals within the hospital and health service as well, of which there are three.

[00:09:24] Georgina: Um, though, since then, since the early days, when I stepped out with that first birth, I was using. All of your paperwork, basically. Um, and now I use, um, I use expect software for my, um, documentation. Um, I have a website. Um, I've got a workflow system called DubSato. I don't know if you have anybody's heard of DubSato, but I've got this flow workflow set up that saved me a lot of time.

[00:09:52] Georgina: So I don't have to have 45 minute conversations with women over and over and over again. That's all automated. Um, I also just last year. I joke about this. I accidentally bought another business, um, that was already preexisting in this area that was called, it's called let's talk birth. And it was basically started by two doulas and it was set up to meet the needs of pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

[00:10:20] Georgina: So I had an opportunity to buy that. Uh, from one of the, the women that started that business a few years ago. And my daughter has joined with me. So Claire, my daughter, runs Let's Talk Birth, which is all the hire of the pools, the tents, machines, the placenta encapsulations, anything your little heart might desire, um, in, in your pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum journey.

[00:10:45] Georgina: Um, and because I've become so busy, I had been just driving around to people's houses all day long. And I realized how much time I was spending with my hands on the steering wheel when I could have been doing other things. So, um, I've opened up a physical clinical space that is the first part of the, the, uh, the space is the let's talk birth shop.

[00:11:06] Georgina: And then I've got the most gorgeous consultation space. And then out the back is all the, um, all the stock basically, things have just grown exponentially. So I've got last year, we developed two websites, a Shopify shop, the dubstado stuff, like we paid smart people, lots of money to do lots of things that I had.

[00:11:32] Georgina: Zero desire to learn about and had zero desire to step into the frustration of trying to learn how to do the thing. So I just said to people here, take my money and now it's all set up. It's beautiful. The other exciting thing is that I've got one of my preferred second midwives is now stepping into private practice as well.

[00:11:51] Georgina: So I have a succession plan going on. That is

[00:11:55] Mel: amazing. And that's exactly, I mean, this, this is exactly what. What I want midwives to see is that, you know, you were in this spot only a few years ago and desperate state of like, whoa, they're changing the model. We've got no power in this system, despite being, you know, heavily experienced in a model that you believed in and that was evidence based and should theoretically work in favor of women and midwives.

[00:12:23] Mel: You know, it's all going for you in your workplace. And yet you couldn't realize the full possibilities of what you're capable of until you kind of take the big leap out. And now, full caseload, second business. I mean, you've got staff now, really,

[00:12:40] Georgina: um, yeah, we employ casuals as well. Yeah,

[00:12:43] Mel: yeah. And, and I love that you, one of my big things in business and that I have been talking about this week too, is this idea of, um, having to invest.

[00:12:55] Mel: financially, but also time wise into your business, but that it's not a, uh, it's not a waste of money. It's actually like a seed. So you, you, you put some money, put seed in the soil and it will grow a tree and produce you fruit for years and years and years and years. And all you had to do was invest that little seed, a little bit of cash into that, um, process.

[00:13:16] Mel: And I think that's really clever business to actually outsource things that. That's not our job to do things like that. We're good at good at the thing that we do. So that's where we should focus our time. And so super clever, super clever business prowess, which is really, um, exciting and I just want midwives to say, if you're watching this, Georgina was working in the hospital in 2021.

[00:13:41] Mel: It's now 2023 and this happened. So. It's so within reach. I remember speaking to you back when you joined the mentorship and you know, I interviewed everybody before they come in. And, and you were saying, you know what, I've got, I've got a few short years left in midwifery, and I want to finish my career in a role that I absolutely love and believe in.

[00:14:11] Mel: And I've just got this feeling now that maybe you don't have a plan to start. Stop, like maybe you did have a plan to retire and slow down. I feel like you are speeding up. Where are you on that? You know, just a few short.

[00:14:27] Georgina: Yeah. I do remember saying that quite a bit. We, someone organized a showing of birth time and I was on the panel and I said, I came to the realization, this was probably two years ago, I said, I've got.

[00:14:42] Georgina: If I'm going to work to, if I practice as a midwife till I'm 70, I've got 13 years left to give the profession and I thought, do I keep doing what I'm doing, which is still worthy? Um, but I felt this really strong sense of how will you leave? What state will you leave midwifery in when you walk away? Are you going to leave it better than you found it?

[00:15:05] Georgina: And I thought I can't stay where I am. I have to do something different. I wanted my legacy to be something worthwhile and memorable. Um, and now being in private practice and having. Other midwives looking at what I'm doing and going, I would just so love to do that and having, you know, my dear friend who's stepping into private, she's birthed at home with me, had her fourth baby at home with me, um, with me, me, with her, I should say.

[00:15:36] Georgina: You know, that's my dream, um, has come true. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I have a legacy and I feel like in this area by the time and having listened to Robin Thompson's, um, interview with you guys on the Great Birth Rebellion, she's still kicking on. So she's my new, um, Example of keeping on, keeping on. And there's a, there's a midwife that works at mama in, um, yes.

[00:16:02] Georgina: Melvin

[00:16:03] Mel: Jan, Jan, I think Jan.

[00:16:06] Georgina: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, there, there are others that I can look to and say, you know, you don't have to, you're alone in the sand at 70 or whatever, you know, my next birthday, I'll be 60 in January. Um, so I do feel now that my dream of a legacy will come true that in this district.

[00:16:27] Georgina: I'm certain that there's the potential for a very strong, um, private midwifery practice, um, the population and the, the, the demographic of this area can absolutely support not just one or two, but half a dozen privately practicing midwives. Um, so yeah, I don't doubt. And if each of those midwives have complementary skill sets beside their.

[00:16:55] Georgina: Midwifery skillset this town's going to have and this district is just going to be so well cared for.

[00:17:02] Mel: And you, while we were doing the mentorship, I remember you saying that when you, one of your clients birthed and you said, I've just caught the first home birthed baby in my town for something like 10 years or was it ever?

[00:17:18] Georgina: No, it had been about 10 years. There were, there was a, there were a collection of midwives supporting birth at home, um, uh, at 10, 15 years ago. Um, but, uh, that didn't continue. Um, so yeah, yeah. And I mean, women still choose to birth their babies the way they know that they're meant to birth their babies. So let's not forget there are, there's always women out there choosing to free birth.

[00:17:49] Georgina: It always has been, it always will be. It's growing exponentially as well. Um, and I was completely unaware. That women were choosing to do that in the area that I live in, and probably the number of women who are choosing to free birth are equal to or greater than the number of women I'm supporting to birth at home.

[00:18:07] Georgina: And that's a legitimate choice. You know, I respect women's right to make the choice that's right for them. Uh, so yeah. Yeah. And

[00:18:15] Mel: also a testament to, you know, my PhD work was in free birth and a lot of them are motivated to give birth. It's a free birth because the other options available to them are unacceptable, but if we can start offering acceptable alternatives to hospital birth, if there was enough midwives and you know, that women can have a choice of who they want to have, you know, I do think that would do something to, um, offer women other options as well, but, um, can, can we talk nitty gritties?

[00:18:47] Mel: Cause one of the really big things that midwives worry about. We've got a stable, reliable income when you work at hospital, and it can be very frightening if you've got financial commitments to, um, to let that go and to launch into something that might have an uncertain earning capacity. Uh, I've already shared some information through this week about, you know, the.

[00:19:13] Mel: The earning capacity of a private midwife, uh, do you, would you feel comfortable to give us a bit of information about kind of financially how you made that transition and what the transition was like? Um, so midwives sort of know what to expect

[00:19:28] Georgina: launching into this. Yeah. So, um, by virtue of my age, all my children were adults and have mostly left home and are financially independent of me.

[00:19:40] Georgina: Um, We don't have any debt. So I didn't have any of those things, those commitments really weighing heavily on me, but I still knew that if private midwifery practices in this area was going to be sustainable for other women who had small children, who had a mortgage, who needed to know for sure before they stepped into this, that it wasn't going to be a financial disaster.

[00:20:05] Georgina: I had to demonstrate that it would bring the cashflow that another job. So, and the answer is yes, it does. So first of all, you have to know your worth. Um, so, um, I would probably sit down and think about how much you need to earn or how much you want to earn in order to meet the needs of your family and work backwards from that.

[00:20:30] Georgina: And then also think about how much time you've got to give to this way of practicing. Um. What support, what human supports you have so that you're free to do the work. Um, so I charge. 6, 500 per continuity experience, but then, um, women consent to me Medicare bulk billing their internatal and postnatal care.

[00:20:57] Georgina: So from Medicare, I may receive up to about 1, 500, sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. So you could probably look at about 8, 000 per family that, that is income for me. Um, and then you have to meet all your expenses. So, um, the first year of practice. My goal was to care for 10 or 20 families, and I cared for, shall we say, 24 families in a bit over, a bit over 12 months, because it was from, including that May, long service leave birth, the first one, um, and then by the end of this year, January to December, it will probably be about 25, but that's in a shorter time span, that was a true 12 month period, whereas the other one was more like 15, 16 months, so, and I have had, I have said no, to some families.

[00:21:50] Georgina: Um, I have turned people away regrettably. Usually I'll aim for caring for one or two families a month. I will take on a third because I find it very hard to say no because I know there's presently no other option for that family. Um, but I know I can't, I know I can't care for four families a month. Um, because I'm covering quite a wide geographic area.

[00:22:10] Georgina: I feel the, the mind game of who's going to birth. Next, and where will I have to drive to be with them is just more than I'm prepared to entertain that headspace. Um, and, you know, I, I opened up a bank account at the end of the first year. I had 100, 000 in the bank and I thought, holy crap, where'd all that money come from?

[00:22:34] Georgina: But then, but then I did have to, um, pay tax. Damn it. I

[00:22:40] Mel: mean, business, this is the tricky thing is that we need to get, Oh, wait, there's tax and then there's insurance and then there's expenses. But I think what, um, What's, what's come out of your story is actually you can earn equivalent at least to what you earn in a hospital and over time more, but actually for less hours and more satisfying hours.

[00:23:05] Mel: So it's not like you're trudging through five days a week, full shifts. and earning 100, 000. I mean, this is, we're talking, you know, your, you know, your workload, 24, 25 women a year, and actually being able to make a sustainable income of that many women without compromising your integrity. Without being answerable to people who tell you, you can't offer physiological third stages.

[00:23:34] Mel: And, and then opening up the opportunity for lactation consultancy, this new second office space, training other midwives, employing other people. I mean, it's just the quality of what you get to do is so much different. Uh, and then, but still being able to earn the money that you need. Um, and I think you made a great point is we get to choose what we're going to take on.

[00:24:02] Mel: It's not imposed. Yeah,

[00:24:05] Georgina: I think last financial year I paid probably about 60, 000 in wages, superannuation additional to that. Um, and then paid all those other really big expenses like the two websites, the Shopify. Like they were huge, like multiples of chunks of money. You can definitely earn a good living, but I would definitely sit down and demonstrate that on paper before you set out, but don't doubt for a minute that you're not going to have the women approach you for care because you will, you'll be turning, you'll be regrettably turning women away.

[00:24:44] Georgina: Yeah, a hundred

[00:24:45] Mel: percent. I agree. Exactly. And this is what I've been saying this week too, is the days of women not knowing that home birth is an option are over. And once, you know, word gets out, women talk, once the word gets out that there's a midwife on the scene, all of a sudden. So, yes, yes. And this is what happens.

[00:25:06] Georgina: Yeah. Yeah. My advice would be don't put much effort into marketing. Um, don't feel like you need to go and visit all the GP practices. Please don't waste your time. Just, just, just let the word ripple out. And women will self select and you'll find that the women who are a good match for the care that you want to provide, there will be a natural meeting together.

[00:25:29] Georgina: Um, yeah.

[00:25:32] Mel: 100%. Um, I'm curious, do you have any advice for midwives who, you know, who are looking at all this information this week and exploring the idea of private practice? What would you want to tell them? At this point in their career, you know, if you're thinking about you in 2000 or 2021, what would you have needed to hear, um, yeah, to just make that leap?

[00:26:00] Georgina: During my long service leave, I promised myself that every day I would do one thing that would take me closer to private practice. So it could be writing a note in my diary. It could be filling in a form. It could be buying a piece of equipment. Um, it could be something really big, like filling in. I mean, I mean, I already had my endorsement for, for others it might be applying for your Medicare provider number.

[00:26:26] Georgina: It might be enrolling and doing your prescribing and diagnostic course. Just do every day do one thing that takes you closer to your end goal so that the elephant that you keep talking about or, um, yeah, that, that funny little saying that you and B have got about. You know, yard by yard, it's too damn hard, or what's the easy bit?

[00:26:49] Georgina: Inch by inch, it's a cinch. Inch

[00:26:50] Mel: by inch, it's a cinch. Exactly right. You know, you've got, it's a

[00:26:57] Mel: big task, isn't it? down. So, yeah.

[00:27:00] Georgina: It is, it's totally achievable, you know, um, apparently there's somewhere between 230 and 250 midwives in this country supporting birth at home. Clearly they're all endorsed midwives. So this process has been done at least 250 times before. And more like it's not rocket surgery.

[00:27:23] Georgina: You can do it. Yeah. You just have to not give up

[00:27:29] Mel: one bite of the elephant at a time. That's all it is, isn't it? And I just think you're absolute proof that this can be done. It can be done in a short amount of time. And you know, we spoke to Ashley as well this week and you know, she's got children and she lives rurally.

[00:27:46] Mel: And I mean, she's turning clients lately. I just think midwives need to see that this isn't a pipe dream. It's not a maybe this could happen. It's just that you just have to do the steps and then out comes a private practice. Yeah.

[00:28:02] Georgina: Yeah. I just, I just love not suffering moral distress. I just love, I love my headspace.

[00:28:11] Georgina: I just love watching a woman laboring and going, you're amazing, you know, and you know, laboring hard and then going, I think I'll go have a sleep now. Like we did that the other day. There's a two hour gap in my notes. The woman, her partner and I were all fast asleep for two hours in the middle of her labor.

[00:28:31] Georgina: And then she woke up and had a baby. The rest. Wait. When, when does that ever happen in a hospital, you know, that would have been viewed as pathological. So I just, just love my life, mate. I just

[00:28:46] Mel: love my life, mate. That was my next question is, like, how is your life better now than it was when you were working in hospital?

[00:28:55] Mel: And I think what you said hit it on the head, it's so great not to live in a state of moral distress. And midwives are just. Turning up to work in a state of low grade or high grade moral distress that's just worn you down. Uh, it just kills your motivation for things and it's no way to live. There are 30 year old midwives looking down the pipeline of another 30 years in their midwifery career.

[00:29:24] Mel: And I just can't imagine living in that level of distress for that long. Um, so tell me, like, how is your life better now with that event of private practice? Then it was,

[00:29:37] Georgina: uh, well, um, I'm in control of my workload. Um, after that first birth at home, I thought, how do I feel about this? What's the dominant feeling?

[00:29:50] Georgina: And it was satisfaction. Yes, it was just satisfaction. And I just thought, um. Being able to be in a position to support women to labour the way that they, they know they can and they just need to be given an opportunity. Um, I can go wherever I want to go on any given day as long as the women know where I am and how long it's going to take me to get to them should they labour.

[00:30:14] Georgina: So, I've got five children, they're scattered. So, I could be a couple of hours away from where the birthing woman is likely to be and they know where I am and I know how long it will take me to get to them. So, I have much more of a family life than I did before. Before I couldn't, I couldn't leave town, but now I can be wherever I choose to be.

[00:30:35] Georgina: I'm very involved in my grandchildren's lives. I care for two of them on Monday mornings. I care for another two on Fridays all day. Um, I've got time to exercise. I've got time for other interests. Um, I'm at the tail end of doing my master's, so I'm writing my dissertation. So, you know, I've got a lot going on in my life.

[00:30:56] Georgina: It's not, it's not just all private practice, but it all fits together really, really nicely. Um, and I just love, I just love the idea that, um, you know, this other midwife that's coming up into private practice, that just makes me so happy. Um, I'm getting to mentor someone in a way that I didn't really get to do in my public job.

[00:31:21] Georgina: Yeah,

[00:31:22] Mel: this is the dream. I mean, you know, when I started the mentorship, I remember saying, I hope that my mentorship is unnecessary in the coming years. I hope that I can mentor enough midwives that they will start mentoring midwives. And then that's how we'll keep growing this profession. And so thank you for carrying on that legacy and making my mentorship.

[00:31:45] Mel: that much closer to being obsolete. That's the dream. Is

[00:31:48] Georgina: that, well, you, you won't be, you won't be obsolete, but I will tell you doing the maintenance. You know, for two years and into the future, um, being part of a virtual community has been essential. Um, I think from the outside looking in, you know, I, I met with the consultant obstetricians at the hospital a few times talking about the collaborative agreement that we were working on.

[00:32:11] Georgina: I said to them, I know to you, it looks like I'm out there working alone out in the breeze, but I said, I don't feel like I'm working alone. I feel like I'm connected with all of these other amazing midwives. And if, if I ever, I'm in a sticky spot in a midwifery sense, I've got dozens of midwives that I can reach out to and we can meet monthly and more often if we need to, like, I don't, I don't feel professionally.

[00:32:41] Georgina: Um, and the other thing I should say, too, is I don't feel like I'm completely disconnected from the system or I don't have support because, um, if I need, if the woman needs medical care or I need to talk to a medical person about the woman's care and she consents. I have that available to me, you know, I'm not working in a silo, I, and the research says that this way of working works well when we are integrated, when there's a pathway into the system, when it's clinically indicated, and I do that.

[00:33:16] Georgina: Yeah, yeah,

[00:33:17] Mel: absolutely. And, and I think that the myth of this kind of rogue independent midwife floating off all by herself in the middle of the night to catch babies, it's not how it is anymore where we're well, well networked with each other. There's all these formal pathways that we've had to traverse to become private midwife.

[00:33:36] Mel: So this is we've absolutely professionalized. Uh, this is the, I feel like the private midwives are sort of the elite midwives of the industry now because we've just So qualified, so driven, so inspired, and you know, we're, we're bringing back physiological birth opportunities for women. It's just, I can't even speak about how amazing this is.

[00:34:03] Mel: I'm so grateful that you made that, those steps in 2021, Georgina. Here we are. The women of your town have got you. Now you've got a second midwife coming in. Um, you know, and I know you've blessed and nurtured midwives who were, who've come through my mentorship as well, and, and we've all learned from your amazing journey.

[00:34:23] Mel: So I'm just so grateful that you made those steps and that, you know, little bite of the elephant every day.

[00:34:31] Georgina: Well, I've learned from you all as well. It's, it's, it's in both directions. Um, you know, I come to my relationships with my other midwives in a, in a, an attitude of humility and to women as well, you know, learning from what learning and watching women.

[00:34:45] Georgina: Um, yeah, it's just been amazing. Yeah.

[00:34:48] Mel: Can you just finish us up with that, this idea of mentorship that you've taken on? Um, I've got my thought, my feeling is that mentorship is the way. That we're, we're going to keep drawing midwives into this way of working because there's no real great, uh, sort of, no one's offered us a roadmap for how to enter private practice.

[00:35:12] Mel: So mentorship is the, the key to, to making this happen. Um, any suggestions to midwives out there who are looking to take that step into kind of, how do you find a person that can

[00:35:27] Georgina: help you? Mentor you practically? Yeah. Yeah. Well, do your mentorship course and then at the same time, seek out other privately practicing midwives who are establishing or are established and ask to be a second midwife.

[00:35:46] Georgina: Yes. Or just have a chat with them about what their life is like and how they work. Um, yeah. So I think, I think being second midwife, At home births is a good place to start and then you'll realise that it's entirely possible and it's not the practice of supporting a labour and birth at home is, it's not that big a deal.

[00:36:11] Georgina: But it's all this, it's all this stuff that sits, all the governance and the regulatory stuff that sits in the background. But once you're, once you've done all that, it just sits there. Um, yeah, um, yeah, I just, yeah. Find someone who's in private practice and ask if you can hang out with them. Um, yeah. Join the Facebook groups and ask questions and go to the home birth conference in Sydney in November and then go to your assembly of rebellious midwives in August and go to the endorsement conference.

[00:36:48] Georgina: In October, like take a whole year off to go to conferences.

[00:36:53] Mel: But this is, these are the individual bites that we take, isn't it? To just slowly learn more and more and get better and better. And no one knows anything. We're all just on the journey. Helping each other out and some people can speed ahead and others take smaller bites and maybe a chunk.

[00:37:10] Mel: So thanks so much Georgina. That's inspired me. I mean, I already knew half your story, but I'm still re inspired again. So I really appreciate you giving your story. My pleasure. And inspiring a new, um, new cohort of midwives. Your legacy will

[00:37:26] Georgina: go on. I can't wait. For the birth stats to come out in a couple of years, and we're going to be talking and other people are going to be forced to talk about the exponential growth in home birth, they're going to say, Oh, it used to be 0.

[00:37:41] Georgina: 1 percent of the population now it's 6%, you know, blah, blah, you know, and the outcomes, we're just going to replicate the outcomes because labor and birth at home works. It's not an accident that we're getting these outcomes, it's consistently demonstrated globally. So, you know, you want to rescue labour and birth for women and the physical and psychological outcomes, then bring birth home.

[00:38:04] Mel: And you know, the numbers of endorsed midwives are increasing. Soon enough, the number of private midwives will be increasing and that will just lead to an increase in home births. So. I do feel the tide is turning. I really, really do. I feel like there's fewer barriers for private midwives and we can make this happen and we're all

[00:38:23] Georgina: part of the change.

[00:38:24] Georgina: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

[00:38:28] Mel: Cool. Cool. Cool. Amazing. Thanks Georgina. It's been a pleasure having you and yeah, thanks for being with us this home birth, becoming a home birth midwife exploration

[00:38:38] Georgina: week. All right. Thanks Mel. Thank you. Bye.