My Midwives
With 28 years as a midwife Liz knows the highs and lows of pregnancy, birth and mothering and her focus on making a life-changing impact in health care outcomes has seen her as the first midwife in Australia to use Medicare rebates for birth care.
Early in her career as a midwife, Liz’s strong sense of social justice meant that she identified that the “best” model of care for women and babies, backed by research and evidence, was ‘midwifery continuity of care and she set about not only gaining skills in the model in practice but also telling people about it so that they could receive the best care. Liz’s level of midwifery clinical practice has seen her develop expertise in all things ‘mother and baby’ and this led to her running antenatal classes for the Parent Baby and Children's Expo nationally for seven years, educating thousands of parents along the way. She has attended many hundreds to thousands of births and speaks passionately about the importance of birth as a transformative experience.
Liz commenced My Midwives midwifery practice in Toowoomba Queensland, and it has blossomed to be Australia’s largest midwifery practice with clinics in Brisbane, Melbourne and regional Queensland and Victoria. Liz’s expertise has led her to working with various organisations and in 2022 she is supporting Birthing on Country models which are defined as models of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and babies which provide mid-wifery continuity of care with a range of wrap-around ser-vices. This option has been shown to reduce preterm birth and stillbirth and increase exclusive breastfeeding. Liz is also involved with the Rainbow Baby Project for families experiencing a subsequent birth after loss of a baby.
Liz is an expert educator in the birth space and a passionate public speaker. She advises stakeholders from government and health services to the not-for-profit sector around maternity issues and passionately believes that Australia women deserve the gold standard options in maternity care that are available internationally. Her presence at many hundreds of births and her skills as a business leader provide a unique perspective and add dimension to the conversation about birth and mothering.
Website: https://www.mymidwives.com.au/
Articles
Everyone wants to have a great birth, right? No one goes into labour or birth wanting anything less. But a great birth means different things to different people. In trying to unpack this topic we need to first examine the… Continue Reading >
The decision about where you will have your baby goes hand in hand with the decision about your care provider. Many care providers will only operate at one hospital and therefore by choosing a certain Dr you may need to… Continue Reading >
Over the previous months we have run through a few of the decisions about preconception, and when you find out you are pregnant. This month we will focus on the next key decision – which is choosing your care provider…. Continue Reading >
We recently covered some of the significant steps to consider when planning a pregnancy, so what happens once there are two blue lines on a pregnancy test? It is super important whether you have planned a pregnancy or whether it’s… Continue Reading >
As a midwife and Managing Director of My Midwives, Liz Wilkes has seen thousands of women walking into her practice asking this question. For some, the journey will be straightforward and easy and they will be at their destination before… Continue Reading >
Christmas is both a blessing and a curse in the eyes of a pregnant woman waiting for a baby. It offers a chance to be distracted by the world around you and all the comings and goings of friends and… Continue Reading >
One of the dead giveaways when someone is pregnant is that they stop drinking alcohol. However, another is that there is this sudden “look” about them – nauseous, pale and making rapid trips to the toilet. In the absence of… Continue Reading >
The first trimester gets a bad rap – often pregnancy symptoms feel overwhelming – tiredness nausea, sometimes vomiting, feeling vague, emotional, and lightheaded. There is also a feeling of mild anxiety for many parents about things like whether the pregnancy… Continue Reading >
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