Marie the Midwife

When I was very young, I can remember people asking what I wanted to be when I grew up. I either answered that “I wanted to be a Princess” or “a Midwife”, and was long before I even knew the meaning of the word ‘Midwife’. It was always a passion in me, that grew stronger and stronger over the years. Practically every book I got from the library was a ladybird book about nursing, midwifery or the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If my mum wanted to find me, she would seek me out in my bedroom with my nose in a book. Every Christmas, without fail, Father Christmas would bring me a nurses outfit and kit containing a plastic stethoscope, syringe and thermometer. How I adored those gifts!

Although the passion became stronger, fate took me on a different journey, working in various offices, becoming a young mum at 18 years old with my son and almost three years later, my daughter came along. The midwifery passion just got so strong and so deep that when my children were older, I knew that I had to study and I studied every single night and opportunity I had to re-teach myself everything I thought I would be asked when I got invited to attend a nurse entrance test.

In 1987, there were no direct entrant midwifery schools, then you had to do 3 years of nurse training and 18 months of midwifery training. Nearly five years of continuous study, as soon as I qualified as a registered nurse, I went back to being a student midwife for another 18 months and loved every single moment.

I was offered a post as a midwife at my training school in the UK, they would call me the ‘new age midwife’ because every time there was a water birth, the older midwives would send me in to care for the lady and her partner. I loved it. I loved every single moment of being a midwife, to be the midwife a woman has chosen is a privilege and to be there at that very special moment when a baby is born is such a wonderful experience.

I came to New Zealand in 2001, here I found the midwifery I have always wanted to practice, to be there from the very beginning of a woman’s pregnancy to 4-6 weeks after the birth of their baby is wonderful. I love the partnership in care model here in New Zealand. I came on a two year working visa and fell so much in love with the people and the country, we decided to stay.

We have been in Whangarei for about 10 years and to coin a phrase, “We love it here”, with its scenery and beaches, just beautiful.

Our Mission

To provide antenatal, labour/birth and postnatal care in partnership with you and your family/whanau.

What We've Achieved