Inspired by her own experiences of pregnancy and birth, Kirsten Ash is passionate about providing personalised, evidence-based maternity care that puts women and their individual needs at the heart of their journey. After working within the NHS, the powerful homebirth of her second son inspired her to take a different path and establish Ash Midwifery. Now working as an independent midwife, Kirsten has rediscovered her love for the profession, supporting families through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period with time, continuity and individualised care. Here, she talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind Ash Midwifery, the freedom and flexibility of running her own business, and her hopes of helping more families discover the choices available to them throughout pregnancy, birth and beyond.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I started my midwifery journey as a student. I’d just come off the back of an anthropology degree and was fascinated by all things birth, from both a biological and social viewpoint. I started my midwifery training with such a positive outlook, sure that I would be able to experience and learn all about truly being ‘with woman’. And it started off that way, but as time progressed, reality started setting in. I realised that policies didn’t follow evidence and didn’t always make sense to me. I saw people experiencing coercive care and birth trauma, and starting their parenthood journeys with a heavy weight on their shoulders from their birth experience.
It took a while for me to fully realise that standard care prioritised preventing litigation rather than providing evidence-based, personalised care. I tried to be part of the change on the inside, but I knew I wanted to give more, and I wanted to practise midwifery the way I knew it could be.
It was the birth of my second son, an incredibly powerful homebirth, that shifted something in me. I knew trying to change the system from the inside wasn’t my path. I wanted to be able to provide a service that could give the kind of birth that I’ve had the privilege of experiencing. So I left the NHS and set up as an independent midwife. I felt truly excited about midwifery for the first time in a long time. It reinvigorated my love for all things pregnancy, birth and parenthood.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I quit my NHS job with a plan and a dream. I reached out to other independent midwives in the area and started to build my network. I hired a business coach and started my social media. I went all in, investing in my business, because I truly value what I can provide. I wanted to make sure I reached people who needed me. One of the things I teach my clients is that you need to believe in yourself and your abilities, and have conviction in what you want from your birth, so that’s exactly how I approached my midwifery business.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough for my business was definitely the ability to fall in love with midwifery again. There is nothing more motivating than building an incredible relationship with a client and receiving feedback that you’ve made a huge difference in their lives. In my previous NHS role, I had between 10 and 20 minutes for my antenatal appointments, which was so little time to give the care that people needed. Now, my appointments are known to be a couple of hours long – however long the client needs that day. I’m able to really get to know my client and tailor care to what they specifically need. We chat research, I can lend them books and recommend podcasts. We talk about life, parenting, hypnobirthing, biomechanics – anything they need! I get to be on call and feel excited for my phone to ring so I can go and support a birth. Setting up my business as an independent midwife was definitely the right move for me.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I thought this would be harder than it actually was. I have two very young, pre-school-aged kids, so I balance work and childcare. But I have a great support network and parent equally with my partner, so independent midwifery has slotted into our lives pretty easily! Shift work with the NHS was actually more difficult because I’d be away from home for about 14 hours every shift day and would barely see my kids. My work is much more flexible now.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The midwifery part is the easy bit. Setting up and running a business has been such a steep learning curve! When I worked in the NHS, I didn’t need to know much about taxes, social media, invoices and legal requirements. But I’ve really enjoyed the learning process, and I’m enjoying the CEO side of my business.
Getting the word out about Ash Midwifery is still an ongoing process. Independent midwifery isn’t very well known as an option in the UK, so a lot of my challenges involve letting people know that we exist and that they have other options to consider for their maternity care.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The biggest pro of running my own business is definitely the flexibility and autonomy. I’m no longer bound by hospital policies that weren’t evidence-based. I’m able to make recommendations based on people’s specific circumstances rather than blanket, population-based guidelines. And I love spending time with my clients! In my old community midwife job, I’d had a maximum of 20 minutes with each person, seeing between 10 and 15 people in my clinic. Now, I can spend a good one to two hours at each appointment, really deep-diving into everything. To me, this is how midwifery is supposed to be.
The cons of running my business are definitely the business side of things, but that’s why I have an accountant! More time for me to do what I really want, which is be a midwife.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I’m already living my dream! More of this, please. I want everyone to know they have other options for their pregnancy, birth and postnatal care. I have virtual offerings, which I’d love to expand and offer to more people (watch this space!) as a more accessible option. I already have so many exciting things in the planning stages, including collaborations with other professionals and online offerings. There are big things ahead and I can’t wait!
Visit www.ashmidwifery.com to find out more, and connect with Kirsten on Instagram.
