Renee Boland

My Story

Ever since I was a young girl, I have always been fascinated with pregnancy and birth. I remember as a child, asking my mother about labour and what that was like. Her reaction was what laid the cornerstone for my passion. She confidently shrugged and said ‘I have done harder things.’ From there on out, I felt driven to be in that space. To know and understand not only what was happening physically but also to be part of that emotional journey. To bear witness to the changes and growth of family. Having had the privilege to sit in that space with many people over the years, my passion has only grown and intensified.

I grew up in rural Newfoundland where my parents had been born into the hands of midwives yet within one generation it was completely lost to a medicalized system. Birth was no longer part of the community. I felt compelled to be part of swinging the pendulum back. To do that, I needed to become a midwife. Prior to leaving Newfoundland to study midwifery, I did a Bachelor of Science and worked as a scientific diver.

When the time was right, I moved to New Zealand, studied and worked as an independent midwife in a very busy community practice. I have been practicing the art and science of midwifery now for close to 15 years and I love it as much now as I did then. I have had the pleasure of working in New Zealand, Vanuatu, Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories with incredible families and beside some amazing midwives. I have also had the pleasure of being cared for by midwives through my pregnancies and births. Midwifery is my passion; my family is my world.