We were lucky to catch up with Rose Watson-Ormond recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rose, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Well, I don’t really believe each person has a specific universe-given purpose. Our life unfolds, and in the wise words of Gandalf “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been given to us.”
As a midwife, I can easily look back at my life and feel like “oh, that’s how I ended up here.” I did have an innate interest in birthing bodies; I remember praying nightly for my parents’ pregnant friends and their babies. But, I also grew up in a culture where women were taught to be submissive to the men in their lives and were taught to be passive and not trust ourselves at all. While this culture led to abuse for me and many others, it also overwhelmingly led to women (and generally anyone not fitting the particular white cis/hetero male mold) constantly dimming their light and giving away their power.
Driven by my interest in birth, I trained to become a doula, and at my first birth I watched a 14 year old black woman be talked down to and yelled at as she gave birth to her first baby on Christmas Day. That was a turning point for me. I started digging deep for ways to help birthing people find their voice and advocate for themselves.
Fast forward few years I arrived to a planned homebirth before the midwife and ended up helping the mom catch the baby. All the neurotransmitters in my brain exploded in that moment! I had found the thing that set my heart on fire. I had found midwifery and knew that it was my path and “calling.”
As I’ve grown into a midwife, I see a large part of my role helping pregnant people find their voice, reclaim their power, and see their bodies as inherently good and not-broken. This also extends to the whole reproductive life span – menarche, menopause, and sexual experience. Sometimes I am in awe thinking of where I have come from, how my path was circuitous and not linear, and I see how I have unintentionally helped myself heal by helping others come into their full power.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hi all, my name is Rose (she/her), and I am a midwife practicing in central North Carolina, and I recently launched a private midwifery practice called Haw River Midwifery. I am the sole midwife but I work with some amazing assistants, lactation folks, doulas, and childbirth educators. We provide home-birth care, which includes prenatal care, the actual birth care, newborn and postpartum care. I also provide gynecologic care, such as annual visits, STI testing, contraception management (think IUDs, the pills, guidance around natural family planning, etc), and management of gynecologic issues like PCOS and infections. We will soon start offering intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) to help folks conceive who are either having fertility challenges or are part of the queer community and need some sperm! Lastly, we offer lactation care, as well as childbirth, infant feeding, and postpartum classes.
Our goal is to help build community for parents, families, and birth workers, and to make homebirth and holistic gyn and IUI care more accessible and inclusive for folks! We provide trauma-informed care, and prioritize informed consent and uphold bodily autonomy at all times.
I came to this work to help birthing people step in their power, use their voice, and be active participants in their journey to parenthood. For me, nothing is more fulfilling than to see a person on the other side of their birth feeling empowered and confident, regardless of whether their birth went according to “plan.” I love homebirth in particular because the client can have more autonomy and control. It’s also just magic to see a person birth with little intervention, letting their body and intuition lead the way.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Ridiculous lack of fear and ability to say yes – I just said yes a lot. I said yes to going to every birth I had the opportunity to go to. Yes to moving my family several states away for midwifery school, and yes to quitting a job I didn’t like to do what truly brought me joy. Now, of course it’s not has easy as saying yes, I have a supportive partner who really believed in my dream. I had the flexibility to go to births on a whim because I didn’t have children at that time, and I had a large amount of privilege going into it. So, it’s definitely not as simple as the “yes,” but the “yes” certainly helped!
2) Partnering with others-Being a midwife has never been just about me; it’s about transferring power in a toxic hierarchal healthcare system. I am always working to transfer power to my patients or clients, but it’s not just about the patients. I have partnered with other midwives, nurses, doulas, and physicians, and they have all taught me life-long things I am bringing into my practice. And, I’d like to believe that maybe they learned some things from me as well. Being open to the wisdom and experience of others has been life changing.
3) Being selfish but in a good way- YOLO, you know? I just kept thinking about how this is my “one wild and precious life”, and I wasn’t trying to spend doing literally anything other than what made my life rich and full. Sometimes that meant getting through a job I didn’t want, sometimes it involved me taking medications for my mental health, and sometimes it meant a major income cut to do what I love, but it has ultimately helped guide me to where I want to be, has made my work sustainable, and helped me be a better partner, mom, friend, and midwife.
I think my advice to folks would be to be in a cycle of saying yes, reflecting, and resting. Seek out mentorship, go to the events, meet the people, be willing to be scared and uncomfortable and then do it anyway. Then, reflect on what’s going on and if it aligns with your values, gives you energy, etc. And then finally rest. Remember that resting is revolution and a form of resistance.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Midwives typically leave the field after only 6 years of practice. The burn out is real and pervasive. I have been attending births in various capacities for over 10 years, but for 4 as a midwife. At my first job I worked at least 50 hours a week, at least one busy 24 hour shift a week, and often saw 30 patients in the clinic in the day. I left that job after 3 years not even sure if I wanted to be a midwife anymore- something I had felt deeply called to! In my new position at Haw River Midwifery, I am determined to write a different story for myself. I am learning to value myself, outside of what I can produce or make; I am valuing myself for me. I am learning to rest, and to say no. Part of resisting the grind of capitalism is to learn to say no and to protect yourself. My hope is that by caring for myself I will be able to provide the high quality true midwifery care I want to provide, and enjoy and be present for my own life at the same time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hawrivermidwifery.com/
- Instagram: Hawrivermidwifery
Image Credits
Gina Conley, Amanda Hend, Amanda Ditzel
