A Midwifery Blog

Published: March 2026

It’s been a fair while since I’ve written anything about my personal or my work life. I’ve been trying to take some time away from social media, hence a little less from me recently.

So, where am I now. I’m still a midwife working in New Zealand. I come to work, give as much as I can to as many people as possible and go home. However, I never stop reflecting.

I think it’s a trait of most midwives, and perhaps healthcare professionals in general, to be constantly reviewing their own practice, going over conversations in their head, over-thinking slight changes in body language or tone. It is a skill that helps midwives immensely when trying to make connections in situations where you’re asking people to put their trust in someone they’ve never met before. Equally, it is a fact that makes ‘relaxing’ or ‘switching-off’ almost impossible.

2025

Last year challenged me in ways I hadn’t expected.

As of August, I have now worked longer as a midwife in New Zealand than I have anywhere else in the world. Which was quite shocking to me when I realised it, and also puts into perspective how young and inexperienced I was when I took the leap.

It’s been around a year since I started this blog. Starting it, I was quickly overwhelmed by the familiar self-doubt. That quiet voice insisting no one really wants to read my often lengthy stories.

I’ve been working hard to improve my security and self-image, reaffirming the belief that this is for nobody else but me. I share it because I like to share stories.

With the beginning of this blog, I also tried my hand at creating some educational Instagram posts with differing levels of success / popularity. It was a fairly interesting way to spend time on a rainy afternoon (which occur disappointingly often, even outside the UK). What it gave me, was an opportunity to contemplate the place of education in midwifery practice.

As a teenager, before I decided to pursue midwifery, I often considered a teaching career inspired by the great teachers I had in my life up to that point. Looking back, perhaps it’s why being a midwife appealed to me as much as it did in those early placements.

The two, I think, go hand in hand. Of course, there’s the obvious moments where mentors teach students, or colleagues teach colleagues. That’s easy to see. But with every patient and family we look after, we’re constantly teaching too. Giving or reminding the people we care for the knowledge their bodies hold.

I firmly believe that the best, and perhaps only, way to offer truly effective midwifery care is through education. It doesn’t have to be systematic or involve more than the midwife and their patient.

Someone given two options has the right to choose either one without bias or judgement – great!

What’s much better? Someone given the same options, alongside the theory, evidence and reasoning behind it. Taking the time to teach the physiology of a process to give their options context.

It’s not about overloading, confusing or proving we’re good at our jobs – it’s about true informed choice.

In the way I work, I’ve often tried to keep this at the heart of what I offer. And it got noticed.

For the past year I’ve been part of the PROMPT faculty in my workplace, helping deliver multidisciplinary training to colleagues. Something I’ve enjoyed and which has confirmed to me that I actually do know what I’m doing more than half the time.

Towards the second half of last year, I was approached by an out-going midwifery educator letting me know she’d be leaving. Highlighting it to me in particular as she was encouraging me to think about taking up the role.

What followed was a lot of thinking – shocking, I know.

Was I too young and too in-experienced? But someone thinks I’d be good at it, so maybe I would be.

I’m not sure if I know as much as I need to know to have this much responsibility. But, then again, I’ve worked with increasingly high-risk care and learned a hell of a lot in a short time.

I would be too nervous to try to teach my older and wiser colleagues. However, I was showing a consultant obstetrician how to resus a baby the other day.

I also struggled with the fact that… I’m going to have to say it… I’m not a woman. If you can believe it, I normally don’t remember on the day-to-day. I’m surrounded by the people I’m surrounded by, who are often women and it’s easy to forget you stand out, until someone reminds you.

There’s an assumption that I will seek promotion simply because I’m a man and “you all end up going up into management anyway.”

I can only speak from my own experience, but it has always felt like a strange expectation. I didn’t come into midwifery to climb ladders or collect titles. I came because I found something meaningful in the work itself. The moments of connection, the privilege of being present at the beginning of someone else’s story.

If I do move into education or leadership one day, I hope it will be for the same reason I became a midwife in the first place: to contribute something useful.

Eventually, after a lot of internal debate, I applied for the role.

The application process itself was an experience worth having. Preparing for the interview forced me to reflect on my practice in ways I hadn’t done before. It made me realise just how much I have learned in a relatively short time, but also how much more there still is to understand.

In the end, this particular role wasn’t the right fit for me. And that’s okay.

What it did confirm, however, is that education will remain an important part of my professional life. Whether that’s through simulation training, teaching colleagues, supporting students, or simply sharing knowledge with the families I care for.

Teaching is inseparable from midwifery.

I imagine I will continue to pursue opportunities for growth in the future; further study, research, or education roles. But not for the sake of promotion alone. Titles don’t interest me very much. What matters is contributing something meaningful.

Outside of work, the last year has also been filled with experiences I never imagined when I first stepped onto a plane bound for New Zealand.

I’ve travelled to places that once only existed on maps or postcards in my mind. Standing at the northernmost point of the country, driving along coastlines that seem to stretch endlessly, and slowly making my way across landscapes that feel almost unreal.

Travel has a strange way of putting life into perspective. It reminds you how large the world is, and at the same time how small your own worries can sometimes be.

2026

This year has already felt different.

For some time now I’ve been sitting with the quiet knowledge that this chapter of my life is beginning to draw to a close.

Alongside that has been an ongoing journey with my own mental health.

I’ve always been someone who reflects deeply – there might be some eagle-eyed people who’ve noticed that 😉

Over the last year I’ve been trying to understand that part of myself a little better. Learning when reflection becomes growth, and when it becomes something more obstructive.

Healthcare environments can also be surprisingly small worlds. News travels quickly, rumours travel even faster, and it sometimes feels like your life is being narrated by people who only know fragments of the story.

It’s an odd thing to navigate.

Learning to accept that people will speculate, ask questions, and draw their own conclusions about what you’re doing next. I’m still figuring out how best to handle that with patience and perspective.

For now, I’m still here.

Still coming to work. Still doing my best for the people who place their trust in me. Still learning more about midwifery, and perhaps even more about myself.

Whatever comes next — whether that involves further study, teaching, research, or simply continuing to grow within the profession — I hope it remains grounded in the same reason I started this journey in the first place.

Simply to contribute something worthwhile.

Stewart x

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