Returning Home with Salt in My Hair and New Seeds Planted
After a meaningful trip to Spain, I’ve just arrived home—blessed with a stretch of warm weather that gently welcomed me back. The heat of early Spanish summer is still lingering in my body, but the cooler air has helped soften the transition. My time in Málaga was precious. The Birth First Aid course we held there was small, intimate, and deeply connecting. I felt that we weren’t just learning skills, but weaving threads of something much larger—something that may blossom into future collaborations and community roots. Before heading home, I took my first-ever swim in the Mediterranean. As I floated in that salt-laced water, I imagined it absorbing into my skin like a protective layer of amniotic fluid from Mother Earth—a sacred cloak for the journey home. Breech as a Variation of Normal: A Study Spiral The first birth my mother ever attended was a breech birth. It was the experience that sparked her path as a local birthkeeper and wise woman for the women in our community. Years later, when I was 28 weeks pregnant with my second daughter, I was told at a routine hospital check-up that she was breech—and that I would need a caesarean. I was shocked.“What?” I exclaimed. I’d never heard of this variation of normal being met with such rigidity and invasive intervention. With time, support, and gentle encouragement—using inversions and homeopathics—my daughter turned head-down at 36 weeks. She was born sunny-side up at the Southern Spring Equinox, a radiant and powerful entrance. These experiences will guide our next Study Spiral on 26 June, where we’ll explore breech birth as a variation of normal. I’m honoured to be joined by wise woman Joy Horner, whose presence is sure to ground and inspire us. Learn more or book your place here The Self Sufficiency in Childbirth Course – Begins 3 July This 4-week online course was born in response to a deep call from our community:A longing for a space where pregnant couples can truly connect, explore, and prepare for autonomous, soulful birth. This isn’t just another antenatal class. It’s a guided journey of self-inquiry, awareness, and connection—where your inner knowing is honoured, and your questions are held with care. We’ll explore topics such as: What self sufficiency in childbirth means to youAligning as a couple during this transformative timeProtecting your birth space and making empowered choicesEngaging with systems (when needed) with clarity and strengthSharing stories, learning birth basics, and weaving community Limited to 6 couplesLive Zoom sessions on Thursdays: 3, 10, 17 & 24 JulyRecordings available for a month afterwards€240 / $250 USD / £205 / R2500 per couple Book your place hereQuestions? Write to us at truemidwife@gmail.com Birth First Aid: Blossoming with Every Circle After hosting two Birth First Aid workshops in Europe, I feel newly inspired by this ever-evolving offering. What I love most is how each person brings something of their own—how each session feels like a living organism, shifting and growing with every new group. As we prepare for the next online series, I feel excitement and curiosity for who will gather this time—and what wisdom will unfold. Join the next course Thank you for being part of this ever-growing circle. Whether you’re walking beside us already, or feeling the pull to join, you’re held with warmth and reverence. With love,Ruth True...
Read MoreWalking With Birth: Notes from the Road & What’s Next
For just over two weeks now, I’ve been walking a path of travel, connection, and learning—first to the Czech Republic, then to southern Spain. It’s been a journey full of beauty, remembering, and meeting birth workers who hold this work close to their hearts. In the Czech Republic, I taught the Birth First Aid Course at Umeni Babictví (The Art of Midwifery) school. The days were full and deeply connecting, and we closed our time together with a collaborative song circle with Katcha—a soulful evening of women honouring birth through voice, presence, and warmth. I then travelled to Da a Luz Oasis, a community and traditional midwifery school I last visited over a decade ago. It felt like coming home. I reconnected with old friends and finally met some of the beautiful souls I’ve come to know through our online circles. The nearby river’s cool waters, the sunlit days—it’s been a blessing. Today I am travelling to Malaga, preparing for another Birth First Aid course (yes, there’s still space if you’re nearby and feeling called!). And soon I’ll return home to Cape Town, to winter’s invitation: to hibernate, be close to my family, and create from stillness. And here’s what’s coming next… Study Spiral: Breech Births with Joy Horner 26 June 2025 | 11:00–14:00 SASTA deep and rich learning space with UK birthkeeper and former midwife Joy Horner. Through stories and images, Joy shares decades of experience supporting breech births in a world that often says, “You can’t.” This is for anyone wanting to understand the real skill, strength, and stories behind physiological breech birth. More info & booking here » Self Sufficiency in Childbirth For Pregnant Couples | July 2025 | Thursdays via ZoomA 4-part online course for couples who want to birth with inner clarity, shared vision, and practical wisdom. We’ll create a space of connection, courage, and care—together. Full details & booking form » Online Birth First Aid Course (September 2025 – January 2026) Join us from wherever you are for this beloved course on supporting birth safely and wisely. From helping babies breathe to handling bleeding and breech births, we weave skill, story, and stillness into this global circle of learners. Register or learn more » Wherever you are on your journey, I hope to meet you in one of these spaces—or somewhere down the road. With love and respect,RuthTrue...
Read MoreTrue Midwifery is a safe space for ALL birth attendants…
True Midwifery is the home of The Silent Birthkeeper One Year online Immersion and a variety of other courses and workshops are offered online and in person in countries around the world. One of the visions of True Midwifery is to offer a safe space for birth attendants around the world. In a similar way that we want to offer safe spaces for mothers, and babies True Midwifery endeavours to be a safe space for those who guard and protect birth. Sadly there is a lot of fractioning, disparity and othering in the birthing world and the True Midwifery learning spaces endeavour to bridge that gap and to honour that no matter in what capacity we are attending births, we hold at the centre of our calling, the guarding and protecting of the mothers and babies. So we welcome anyone who is interested and feels a connection to birth. Part of what we celebrate in the True Midwifery space is the diversity of the community, not only cultural diversity but also the diversity of what the participants bring into the space. To find out more about the Silent Birthkeeper course see...
Read MoreHolding Death as Birthkeepers
“…if you are a birth keeper, you must also be a death midwife. If you support people to enter the earth realm, you must also become a midwife for those who pass on.” – Dr Mmatshilo Motsei The first time I ever saw a dead body it was a baby. I was 9 years old and we had very recently made the move to the farm. The little girl had been born on the drive to the hospital after her mother had gone into labour on Christmas Eve. She had emerged whilst the bakkie (the pick up truck) was winding down Gydo pass, to the town of Ceres. She had lain, wet and alone, at her mother’s feet and had begun to grow cold. By the time they had reached the hospital she was no longer breathing. (You can read AN’NOOI’S BIRTH STORY here) At the funeral, which was held in the bushman graveyard on the farm, her father unscrewed her little coffin for us to all see. The coffin was no bigger than a shoe box. She was perfect. Beautiful. Angelic. I will never forget her face and her little fingers. Her little body dressed and swathed in silken white. She looked like she was asleep… There was something so pure, so innocent about this death. Her mother sobbed at her graveside whilst the rest of us looked on not knowing what to say. My mother had been asked to oversee the funeral, she wore a big sun hat and read from the Bible. The women began to sing as the tiny coffin was covered in sad and red clay soil. Assie verlossers huis toe gaan Assie verlossers huis toe gaan Oh Here help my dat ek kan saam gaan Assie verlossers huis toe gaan (When the saviours return home When the saviours return home Oh Lord help me, that I may return with them When the saviours return home) ——————————————- Birth should be about life shouldn’t it? And yet, as Mmatshilo’s quote illustrates, we cannot work in the realm of birth without knowing that death walks along this life giving force as well. “We come from spirit, come from light, shining in the stars at night” – Martyn John Taylor (SHINE) The fact that birth and death carry a similar energy became evident to me after I experienced the massive loss of having my mother, my sister and my step father wrenched from this life. Whilst I grieved, I also noticed the familiar tenderness that comes with the thinning of the veils, the sensitivity, the vulnerability, the same openness that I had carried after giving birth. BIRTH AND DEATH ARE INFINITELY INTERTWINED It is very difficult to talk about and face death when it accompanies birth. And yet it is a conversation that needs to be had. How do we hold Death as birth attendants, birthkeepers, as space holders for birth? I am not sure that I have the answers … but I do my best to initiate conversations and to create safe spaces for us to explore these topics that are so emotive and important in this work. The following True Midwifery online offerings will explore this topic in depth and from different perspectives, in a safe and held container and within a beautiful community: 25 July 2024 – STUDY SPIRAL: Holding Grief and Loss in Pregnancy and Childbirth with Nadia Maheter 4 September 2024 – 15 January 2025 – Birth First Aid for Mother and Baby 14 November 2024 – 13 November 2025 – Silent Birthkeeper: One Year Immersion into True...
Read MoreBreech Painting
I was 23 and pregnant with my 2nd child (my first daughter) when I painted this. She was sitting breech and I painted this to honour how she had chosen to stay close to my heart while in utero. I had been surprised and shocked when I had gone for my single check up at my local hospital for back up for my home birth when the doctor who saw me told me I would need to have a caesar if my daughter opted for staying breech. It was the first time I had heard of this protocol (it was 2003 so I suppose the Hannah Breech trial was fairly fresh). On the farm where I had grown up, my mother had attended breeches and twins with no issues. It was the first time I had heard of someone saying a caesar was necessary for this variation of normal. I chatted to my midwife about it and she suggested homeopathic remedies and inversions to try to encourage my daughter to flip. I did this for about a week and one night while I was lying in bed about to go to sleep I was overcome with extreme nausea as my daughter did a big movement. When I went to visit my midwife the next day she was able to confirm that my daughter was now head down. She must have turned head down during that big movement. I don’t know if she was meant to have been born breech or if she would have flipped on her own in the end but when I went into labour a couple of weeks later she decided on a posterior position that challenged me with strong labour and was born facing sunny side. In her own way she still needed to be born...
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