www.birthchoices.co.uk

About Us

Jayne
I worked in television for over 10 years on Factual Entertainment programmes such as This Morning, GMTV, Better Homes & The Wright Stuff and I reached Series Producer level before having children. After experiencing a poor NHS system of maternity care with my son, who was born in 2005, I started a website called Your Baby Your Body. I aimed to give women access to reliable research-based information about their pregnancies & births over the internet, so they could make better informed choices about their care. I also became the AIMS Home Birth contact for Glasgow and began to be approached by many women who were having great difficulties with their maternity care on a variety of levels.

Cassy & I met in 2006 & started up a local support group for women, which has ultimately led to the establishment of this website. Cassy was also my midwife when I gave birth to my daughter at home in water in May 2007.

I hope that by empowering women with better information, they can go on to have better birth experiences whether they choose to have a home or a hospital birth.

 



Jayne & Cassy appeared on STV's
Five Thirty Show to publicise the screening of The Business of Being Born April 2008  

Please click here to read our mission statement
Cassy
I am a registered midwife who has chosen, after a number of years working in the NHS, to work independently in private practice. Working this way means that I am able to offer continuity of care for women and families before, during and after pregnancy and birth, providing a responsive, unique and personal service. I am registered and governed with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in the UK and bound by the same regulations and codes of conduct as NHS midwives.

I am a member of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the Association for Improvements in Maternity services (AIMS), the Independent Midwives Association (IMA), the Association of Radical Midwives (ARM) and the country contact for the International Alliance of Midwives (IAM).

In June 2008 Cassy McNamara won the prestigious title of BabyGroe's Natural Choice Health Professional of the Year. The award was judged by the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown and presented by BBC Radio 4's Janey Lee Grace.

We believe that:
1. Birth is a normal part of a woman's life and should be treated as such.
2. One-to-one midwifery-led continuity-of-care should be made available to all women who want it on the NHS, regardless of their 'risk'.
3. Individualised woman-centred care is a vital key to better birth.
4. Birth trauma would be greatly reduced if women regained ownership of their births & retained autonomy over their bodies.
5. Every woman has a right to make a truly informed choice and the information they need to do this should be easily accessible & presented in an unbiased manner.

Ultimately, we would like the information contained on this site to become common knowledge. By collating it for you in this manner we hope we are contributing to that goal and that eventually we won't be needed.