I’m Nelly, and I can certainly say that midwifery runs through my veins. In fact, both my mother and father are midwives, and midwifery has been a part of my life since always. I remember the joy with which I listened to stories of births, of first cries, of powerful women giving life. I grew up saturated with this magic and strength to the point of deciding to become a midwife myself.

I completed my studies in 2015 and worked for a year in an Italian hospital, where I learned a lot, yet I felt something was missing. There was a missing piece. I arrived in the UK, aware that here, perhaps, I could find answers to my shortcomings. I worked first as a neonatal nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, then finally I landed back in the world of midwifery. I assisted in my first home birth and vividly remember the love, power, strength, and magic that linger when a new life arrives within the walls of its home, in an undisturbed and familiar environment. For the first time, I saw clearly that a respected birth is a political act, an act of spiritual and personal rebirth, an affirmation of one’s inner self. A birth is respected when the woman and the couple are at the centre, where my role is no longer to speak but to listen, welcome, contain, and silently observe. It was a true professional and personal revolution for me.

I became aware of a reality that ignores women, families, and their needs, and I decided to be part of the change in this system myself. I specialised in some of the topics I felt were most underestimated and ignored: breastfeeding with its difficulties, pelvic floor health, and the scars that birth brings (not only physical). Thus, I became an IBCLC and Tongue-tie practitioner and took numerous courses on scar treatment and pelvic floor care during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum while continuing to work as a home birth midwife in Brighton.