Hello!
My name is Irene Vine de Hoyos and I am an independent private midwife covering Suffolk, Essex, East London and Cambridge.
I have over 10 years of experience in the maternity world. Firstly I did my doula training in 2013, then I was a student midwife at Basildon Hospital, followed by working as a midwife in the community/birth center in Romford. This job led me to lecture at the University of Suffolk for a year; and finally I embarked on my own motherhood journey in 2023.
In 2024 I took the plunge at last and decided to follow my dream of becoming an independent private midwife, so I could practice the most authentic form of midwifery.
I am Spanish but have been living in the UK for over 10 years. I speak fluent English, Spanish, French and some Russian.
I received my calling to become a midwife back in 2013 while having a shower in the Caribbean, yes, a shower! A long way from Essex! I had just finished my training as a translator and interpreter and I was teaching Spanish as a foreign language in Martinique. In this “vision” I pictured a quiet family life in the countryside where I could have a compatible job helping other families in my community, one that did not feel like a job. Midwifery came as the answer before I knew anything about being a midwife. I brushed it off as it made no sense, but the calling was so strong that before the end of the year I had embarked myself in a Doula training in Spain. And that was the beginning of it all.
Ten years on that vision is coming to life. I do in fact live in the Suffolk countryside, I have my own family and I create community as I go.
The journey was not straight forward.
It was not a complete random calling. Early on I understood that what attracted me the most about childbirth is that it is a field forgotten by feminism, but where activism is very much needed. In my young adult years I was inspired my feminist writings, so I easily felt passionate about birth as a cause affecting all women, specially homebirth.
Giving birth is an extremely vulnerable, but also unbelievable powerful event. The power dynamics between the health professionals and women under their care means, however, that women´s ability to make their own choices is often undermined and their power taken away.
Sadly, training to be a midwife can be a synonym with being indoctrinated in fear; fear of childbirth, of death and of loosing your job. Once you qualify, alliances lie with your colleagues and survival in the well oiled maternity system depends on how well you can adapt and comply with the rules. I held on for 4 years as a qualified midwife in Essex because I knew the end was near.
The pandemic showed the world what happens when health care power dynamics are played at a large scale. Forced interventions in health (such as compulsory vaccines) were strikingly similar to when professionals tell women they need to have an induction or their baby will die. The nuances in health care are vast and these fear statements hurt mothers and their babies. So when health care professionals became the last victims of the power abuse chain and our livelihoods threatened by compulsory Covid vaccines, I finally left my job in Romford.
I secured a job lecturing at the University of Suffolk and soon fell pregnant. This is when I went through the transformation that led me to become an independent private midwife after my maternity leave. The damage caused by the maternity system does not only affect women, but also those of us involved in it, those of us witnessing the atrocities, the trauma, the pain.
Being pregnant as a midwife meant a lot of unlearning, letting go of fears and even preparing myself to freebirth, that is, birthing without any professional present. I knew how others would try to convince me of interventions I did not want. Unfortunately there were no real independent private midwives at the time in my area, so I hired a doula/birth keeper. Sadly, the NHS midwives said they could not attend my planned home birth when my waters went. I was now “high risk” as I was 16 days over my due date. In spite of this, I had a lovely quiet birth on the labour ward floor which helped me understand that the power I had inside of me, that safe space, could not be taken away.
This is some of the professional and personal experiences I bring to the table if you decide to hire my services. Regardless of your background, nationality, religion, skin colour, sexual orientation, gender identity, political ideas or personality, I endeavour to support you in retaining your power and making the right decisions for you.
There are a few reasons why you are likely seeking an independent private midwife. You either fear the system; you know the system will not treat you with the respect and non judgement you deserve; you would like to build a relationship with the person who will guide you into becoming a mother, you would like the extra safety of having an independent midwife; or you would like the convenience of having your appointments at your own time and your own pace. Whichever it is, I am here for you. Let´s turn your fear into trust, lets turn your doubts into knowledge, lets turn your birth into an amazing, empowering, wild and wise experience. I am right for you if your gut tells you I am, but if you want to get to know me better, I invite you to explore my blog and Instagram to understand how I practice, my philosophy, my believes, my strengths and my weaknesses.
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1.When did we start monitoring babies in labour?
For more high quality evidence around fetal monitoring please visit Kirsten website here, an obstetrician with a PHD in CTGs. https://birthsmalltalk.com/
In this post she discusses intermittent auscultation: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2023/08/23/what-is-intermittent-auscultation/
Hear her talk about the lack of evidence behind CTGs in this podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1eXZY973Oxbs1ducavpSAk?si=872f8c4077be4ba5
Post on the history of fetal heart monitoring: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2023/08/09/listening-to-the-fetus-the-history-of-fetal-heart-rate-monitoring/
Cochrane review comparing CTG to intermittent ausculation (CTG increases interventions
): https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006066.pub3/full
Does CTG use improve outcomes for high risk women? https://birthsmalltalk.com/2024/10/16/the-story-behind-our-paper/
2. How should we use intermittent auscultation in labour?
These are the NICE guidelines for fetal monitoring in labour: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng229/chapter/Recommendations
Midwife researcher and lecturer Rachel Reed has a brilliant article and podcast about this where she unpicks the evidence around the recommendations for intermittent auscultation protocols here https://www.rachelreed.website/blog/listening-to-baby-during-labour
and podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3sJeIR3xUOr20EBRGilHxl?si=818537594dd04457
The WHO recommendations for intrapartum care: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/260178/9789241550215-eng.pdf?sequence=1
3. How does intermittent auscultation detect fetal distress?
For more on normal and abnormal heart rate monitoring watch this explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni48bbtiZgs
4. What happens if there are concerns with the fetal heart rate at a homebirth?
NICE guidelines for fetal monitoring in labour: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng229/chapter/Recommendations
5.What is better for fetal monitoring in labour: a Doppler or a Pinard/fetoscope?
To read about the research and the experiences of midwives using a fetoscope/pinard antenatally and in labour check these links out.
Short facebook comments compiled in this magazine here: https://www.midwiferytoday.com/mt-articles/wisdom-of-the-midwives-issue-131/
Midwives perceptions of fetoscope vrs Doppler Tanzania https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-018-1736-y
Midwives experiences of Pinard use Norway https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613822000407
Defense of fetoscope article by American midwives
A Cochrane review that compares Doppler and Pinard use in low income countries: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008680.pub2/full
For a compilation of research that compares the use of Doppler to Pinard check this link: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/content?templateType=related&urlTitle=%2Fcentral%2Fdoi%2F10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-01110791&doi=10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-01110791&p_p_id=scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay&_scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay_action=related-content&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_mode=view&type=central&contentLanguage=
6. What if you decline some or all fetal auscultations?
Is fetal monitoring essential?: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2024/11/06/myth-busting-3-fetal-monitoring-is-essential/
7. What to bear in mind about intermittent auscultation in labour?
Examples of womens experiences of fetal auscultation in labour: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871519224002658#bib14
