First off, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to have your real-life story featured on Nursingpreneur. I’m building a high-quality resource platform for all budding nursing and midwifery students. Therefore, your experiences, thoughts, preferences, and suggestions are immensely valuable for Nursingpreneur’s growth.
To that end, I must say that it’s great to have you here.
Now, I’d like you to answer the following questions so that we can shed light on your story and experiences in an engaging way.
Let’s start! Shall we? (Write as much as you want, there’s absolutely no limit)
Could you please tell us a bit about yourself? How has life been treating you?
I’m Stacey, a mum of 2 kiddos (6 years and 3 years) and a partner. I also care for my grandmother who lives with us. I’m a midwife (over 8 years) and childbirth educator, and I’d say I’m a pretty busy person! I love what I do, even if the chaos is a little overwhelming at times. I’m originally from Queensland but have been in Victoria for over 21 years now, so consider myself an honorary Victorian. I’m fiercely independent, love to read, and feel most at peace in our beautiful home in South Gippsland.
How did you get into your current field? And do you enjoy doing it? (E.g. of Fields such as nursing, and midwifery)
I first became interested in midwifery after reading Dr. Catherine Hamlin’s book “Hospital by the River”, which details Dr. Hamlin’s work around Obstetric Fistulas in Ethiopia. Her book emphasised the importance of midwives in women’s health and rights, and this was what initially sparked my curiosity. I worked in a number of admin jobs until my late 20s and was really fortunate to complete a Bachelor of Midwifery at Monash University, graduating in 2014. My degree was bloody hard work (especially being a mature-age student with no one around for support – working 3 part-time jobs plus juggling uni work and placement was no joke!), but it has been worth it to get me where I am today. I’ve worked in a lot of different settings across Victoria from large tertiary hospitals and private hospitals to small regional hospitals and attending home births. My favorite setting by far is homebirth! Both of my babies have been born at home, and it is where my heart truly lies. I currently work in both a hospital midwife role and attend homebirths.
I got into childbirth education by accident! My previous work career had been admin-based, but largely training roles and some in the education sector. I started teaching childbirth classes in a public hospital, but I was really bad at churning out compliant hospital patients, which is what hospital classes are often designed to do. So I went out on my own in October 2021. My first 4 class series only had 1 couple enrolled for the first 2 classes… now I typically have 5 to 6 couples in each class and run 1 to 2 series a month! So the growth has been amazing, mostly because I know so many families are getting educated and smart about their births! I have also recently opened up a little online store of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum items.
Could you please tell us about your favorite nursing or midwifery moment? (keeping things confidential for clients involved)
I attended a homebirth, with a first-time mum who really did not want to go to the hospital unless she truly needed to. She had a very long, slow labour (even for a first-time mum), and her baby wasn’t rotating into position in the way they would normally be expected to. Myslef and the other midwife had spoken to her several times about potentially needing to transfer in (as per our NMBA guidelines on consultation and referral) and she had declined and asked for more time. With a lot of hard work by the mum and some help from the midwives (thanks to spinning babies!), she started to push her baby out. She worked harder than I have ever seen anyone else work to birth their baby, and as her little one emerged she made eye contact with me and said “I did it! No one thought I could but I did it, I had my homebirth!” and it was possibly the most incredible moment I have ever witnessed. She was right, I was doubting her ability to continue after so long, but she once again showed me the power and strength of a woman who is truly determined, safe, and supported.
What is the most striking moment of personal “failure” you’ve experienced in nursing or midwifery?
For me, it’s a failure that happens often. Every time I step foot into the hospital I am working in an environment where women are coerced, belittled, and abused almost every day. Obstetric violence is rampant in the hospital setting, and I feel complicit just by working in that system. It is an incredibly hard feeling to fight against and keep turning up to work and doing your best when you know the over-arching system is designed to break mothers and babies and destroy their trust in themselves, their instincts, and their bodies. When 1 in 3 women in Australia experience their births as traumatic, 1 in 10 have PTSD and 1 in 10 suffer obstetric violence, you can see that we have a significant and devastating problem. So for me, it’s all of those moments. Witnessing women be lied to by their dr, or coerced into making the decision the dr wants them to make without being fully informed of the benefits or risks. Seeing women held down despite them saying no. Talking with women who didn’t realise that they can say no and that they do have rights. Watching midwives do not update themselves as better research comes out and hence giving care that is not up to standard. All of those moments to me, feel like constant little failures.
How did you cope with your failure?
Hmm, that’s a tricky one. In terms of day-to-day coping, I go to work and do the very best I can do for each woman and family that crosses my path. I advocate fiercely for them (often getting myself reported to management and complained about by dr’s in the process!), I educate them on their rights to say no, to ask questions, and to ask for more time, and I try to give them the most complete, compassionate care that I can each and every day. But the biggest thing I do to cope with my failures is try to change. Unfortunately, I feel like I can’t make a change in the hospital setting, as it is just too beneficial and comfortable for the system, the drs, and the midwives in it, and I don’t truly believe they want to change. For me, that was one of the overarching reasons for starting my business and is why I’m completing training to become a homebirth midwife in the near future.
Okay! Let’s have a little insight into your entrepreneurial life.
First things first, what comes to your mind when you think about entrepreneurship, in general?
I generally think about a very clever, dedicated person, who is incredibly put together, well-presented, and has brilliant ideas!!! Nothing like me, in other words!!!
And, what comes to your mind when you think about entrepreneurship in relation to nursing/midwifery?
This has been something that has changed as I have gained more experience. I honestly would not have thought that you could ‘do’ much with midwifery, other than be a midwife, until I started to realise that maybe hospital midwifery wasn’t where I wanted to be. Now I think of lots of things – homebirth, private antenatal and postnatal care, childbirth education, parenting education, lactation support, infant sleep support, labour support in hospital, advocacy – the list goes on! My training is in the care of women and babies, which is actually incredibly diverse and allows for so many different paths to be explored!
How do you think entrepreneurship or business per se associates with a nurse’s/midwife’s life? (Influence on midset/expansion of opportunities, etc.)
I think once you start to broaden your thinking, you can feel less trapped in a position or environment, and like you have many more opportunities. I think it also helps you to think outside of the box, and try to problem-solve in different ways.
Now, let’s get into the most asked questions.
How did/do you maintain consistency in your doings?
I don’t know that I’m super consistent! I’ve always been someone who procrastinates massively, and this is an ongoing learning curve for me in my business (& every other aspect of my life). I try to respond to business messages on various social media platforms asap, or at least within 12 hours. For emails, I try to respond within 24 hours if it’s not urgent. I allocate 1 day a week to cover invoicing and all of the behind-the-scenes things that go on. As part of that, I’ve put my youngest child in daycare for 1 extra day a week to allow me a day to get this work done! My partner and I also communicate really clearly about where I’m at with work, and what we need to get done. We try to split the workload evenly, and after our kids are in bed I’ll often do a little bit of work in the evening.
How do you set priorities in your work?
Homebirths are always a top priority, over almost anything else. I have my hospital shifts to work. For my business, I work around that. Responding to communication promptly and clearly is always a priority to me, as is getting out invoices and receipts, and any online orders my shop has. I work on updating my content as new research comes in, so I try to keep up to date with any new evidence about pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding, or parenting coming out! Evidence-based podcasts are great for this, as I can listen to them while I’m driving around, and being in the country I do some big drives! I also make sure I have uninterrupted family time, so for me doing my work in the evening or on the extra day my daughter is in childcare is really important.
If you had one piece of advice to give an aspiring nursing and midwifery student, what would it be?
To listen to the women. Truly listen to them, and what they need and want. Try not to let the system break you down. You will witness some horrific things. Try to be brave and take a stand against it if you can. It is so hard to come into midwifery as a passionate new midwife, and then to see what the majority of women are experiencing in their births; it can be crushing. Find your people, and keep your spark burning. Join the midwifery groups and talk about how you can impact the system and make positive changes. And remember, no one wants better for that baby than its mother. Not a single person; not the dr, not the midwife, not you. The mother. So she should ALWAYS be at the centre of care.
The most important question coming your way.
Caffeine or not caffeine for shift work?
Caffeine! But I don’t really drink coffee so I’m more of a tea drinker. Please don’t hold that against me!
Where can people reach out to you? (social media and email)
Email: info@beempoweredbirth.com.au
Instagram: @be_empowered_birthclasses
Website: www.beempoweredbirth.com.au
Thank you for answering all these questions. Wishing you all the very best for your future endeavors.
