|
My interest in birthing began when I had my own son in New Zealand in 1978. I was unable to find a midwife to help me birth him at home but was fortunate to have a straight-forward birth in a small cottage hospital. I was pleased everything had gone well, but still disappointed that it needed to be a medicalised procedure. I thus joined up with a group of like-minded parents and worked to promote home-births.
Influenced by Frederick Leboyer's book 'Birth without Violence', we also worked to educate local women and hospital staff to help decrease stress levels for both mothers and their babies by creating a quieter, calmer more peaceful environment at birth.
From 1982 I managed my own practice as a qualified homoeopath, acupuncturist and antenatal teacher in Australia. Many of my clients were young children and women who I enjoyed supporting through their child-bearing years.
Because of my passion for birth and the desire to offer women more choice, I decided to train as a midwife always with the view of becoming a home birth midwife. This was a big decision as I had already worked as an independent practitioner for many years. In Australia I needed to become a registered nurse first and work for a year in a gynecological ward in a hospital. I have been practicing as a midwife since 1998, first in Australia, Central America, and then London. I gained valuable clinical experience working as a community and hospital midwife within the NHS for 2 years, then achieved my dream to work independently.
I love working as an independent midwife where I am pleased to be able to offer women and their families holistic continuity of care as both a midwife and natural therapist. I live in South East London with my supportive husband and our dog Hana. I enjoy reading, walking, yoga and traveling.
“Glenis has a lovely soothing personality – she can make you feel calmer just by being in the same room, which makes her an especially good person to be around during birth!” Colleague acknowledgement.
Client testimonials
"Glenis gave us the most wonderful home birthing experience. She was so calm and she allowed my body to dictate the pace. Our daughter truly has had the very very best start in life. In the visits proceeding the birth, she was unobtrusive but had some very loving suggestions. We would HIGHLY recommend
Glenis. If we have another I hope Glenis will be there." Anne, Christophe, Sophie and Elodie
Glenis truly was amazing; my waters broke two days before I was induced, and Glenis -with her incredibly calming presence- was with us in the hospital around the clock (we had to force her to go and get a couple of hours of sleep!). Due to my medical condition we had decided a hospital birth long before we met Glenis, who not only proved that she had great clinical knowledge and experience but also brought along her warm and encouraging personality and extensive holistic skills to make the birth of our daughter very special. We are forever grateful. -Sanna, Marc and Luna Torres
“I loved the wonderful unperturbable nature of (the midwives). The flexibility with regard to decisions of where to give birth: not having to decide until the last minute definitely helped me with the confidence to ultimately stay at home.
Extra post-natal visits were incredibly reassuring and the continuity of care was very helpful. Top marks for all your impeccable, good natured and professional support.
The whole birth experience has been fantastic, just being able to stay at home and avoid the whole hospital thing. Brilliant!” S.L. Home birth.
“A fantastic experience for me and my partner and the BEST possible start for our baby on his journey. The birth was so calm and relaxing and thanks to that our baby is happy and calm.” C.B. Birth Centre Birth.
“I loved the home visits (so much better than a stuffy doctor’s office).
We LOVED Glenis – she is the reason we will stay in the UK to have our next baby!
Having a midwife with us the entire time in the hospital – we never felt alone, and we always felt well taken care of. I loved that I could call whenever – it offers such peace of mind.
We loved the visits after the birth.” C.A. Normal vaginal birth in hospital.
“The things we loved about your service were:
- continuity of midwife care
- wonderful that appointments took place at my home, whenever was convenient
- very relaxed about where we could have our baby
- follow-up care for 6 weeks – fantastic
- midwives stayed at appointments for as long as we needed them; unhurried
- little intervention in the birth; so relaxed
Our midwives were amazing and we felt so comfortable with them that there were no nerves at all when contemplating the birth. It went exactly the way we wanted it to, all thanks to our midwives.” N.B. Home Birth |
