About

The content of this website and my books is written from the perspective of an experienced (now retired from practice) midwife who also has a PhD, a strong background in academia and research, and a trust in the ability of our bodies to grow and birth our babies.

Most importantly, I believe that only you can make the decisions that are right for you. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to birth or health, and you won’t find me telling you what to do or think. I see my job as offering information and explaining the evidence so that you can make your own decisions.

In fact, I was sharing the idea of ‘here’s the evidence, now you do you’ at least twenty years before it became a hashtag.

I have a deep respect for what we can learn from science and for women’s own knowledge, and you will find both of those things discussed on this website and in my books. I have found in much of my work that there is often more alignment between evidence and our bodily experiences than between either of those things and the sometimes profit-driven approach that underpins a lot of what is on offer to childbearing women and families today.

I’m not anti intervention when it is appropriate and what women want, but there has been a swing towards high rates of induction, caesarean and other interventions over the past few years. Induction in particular is now offered routinely in many situations, and some of my more recent books have been written to explain how the research evidence doesn’t support these high rates of intervention.

On this site and in my books, I share what I know, explain why it’s sometimes different from what you might have been told elsewhere, give you the numbers when it’s possible to do that, and offer honesty about the many things that we don’t know.

What’s here for you?

If you’re new to this website, here are a few of my popular blog posts that you might like to try as an introduction to my work and thinking.

Three things I wish every woman knew about pregnancy and birth knowledge

Ten things I wish every woman knew about induction of labour

Plus size pregnancy: why weight stigma matters

If you want to be kept up-to-date with birth-related research and thinking, we have an email list and free newsletter.

• Our Birth Information Update offers a monthly overview of the best of the blog, research study updates, news and a few bits that Sara writes exclusively for our newsletter friends.

• We also send regular emails about birth-related research and thinking, along with details of Sara’s books and current projects.

Meet Sara

Career and qualifications

Sara’s first degree is in Midwifery; she has a BA(Hons) degree in Midwifery from Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and undertook the practical element of her four-year midwifery education programme at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Sara gained Registered Midwife status in the UK at the end of her degree programme, and worked in a variety of roles and settings as an NMC Registered Midwife from 1995 until 2023. Sara has worked in hospital, birth centre, and home birth settings, both within and outside the NHS. She worked as a midwife in the USA in the early part of her career, before returning to the UK. Sara also lived and worked in New Zealand between 2007 and 2010, and has returned several times since. She maintained a part-time midwifery practice throughout much of her research, teaching, and freelance speaking/writing career, but has now retired from midwifery practice.

Sara worked as a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Anglia Ruskin University from 1998 until 2006. She also practiced as an independent midwife during (and after) this time.

In 1999, Sara was awarded an MA in Midwifery Practice with Distinction from Thames Valley University, now The University of West London. She focused on evidence-based practice during this programme. Her dissertation, which looked at the evidence for the administration of Anti-D, was the subject of her first book, Anti-D in Midwifery, published in 2001. (This book was rewritten in 2021, as Anti-D Explained).

After the publication of Anti-D in Midwifery, which led to a number of invitations to lecture around the world, Sara was invited by Elsevier to become the Editor of the Midwifery: Best Practice Series, and she also took on a consultancy role for the publisher.

In 2002, Sara authored the first edition of What’s Right For Me?, a book which set out to explain the ideology of the maternity services and help women and families understand the range of options that were available to them. That book also explained notions such as screening and prophylaxis, and offered tools for decision making. Although these tools and concepts are now more widely understood, this was not the case at that time.

Sara was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Further Education from Anglia Ruskin University in 2005. Much of her work at the university was focused around teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students to appraise research, understand statistics, and apply evidence to practice. Elsevier invited Sara to write a book to help student midwives understand research, which became Appraising Research in Childbirth. She later wrote 101 Tips for Planning, Writing and Surviving Your Dissertation.

Sara has also undertaken Masters-level study in the areas of statistics and evidence-based medicine. Sara began to read for a PhD at The University of Sheffield in 2003, with Professor Mavis Kirkham. She followed Professor Kirkham to her new role at Sheffield Hallam University in 2007, where Sara was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 2008. Her thesis looked at the evidence around post-term pregnancy and the knowledge of holistic midwives in relation to this area.

During the time that she was lecturing and reading for her PhD, Sara also published books looking at the evidence in relation to a number of other topics, including Vitamin K, Inducing Labour, and Group B Strep. She wrote a monthly column for The Practising Midwife journal, authored many articles for other midwifery and birth-related journals, and contributed several chapters to books. To date, she is the author of more than 240 articles about midwifery practice and the evidence base for this.

Sara was also the author of several of the Informed Choice leaflets, an abstract writer for MIDIRS, and a frequent contributor to national and international discussions about policy and guideline development. Along with a number of her colleagues, Sara was to seeking to create balance, as much of the information available to women at the time was very medically-focused, and often didn’t clarify their rights, look at options outside of ‘hospital policy’, or acknowledge uncertainties or gaps in the evidence.

In 2006, Sara was receiving an increasing number of requests for her to speak about her work on sharing and explaining evidence in other countries, and decided to resign from her academic post at Anglia Ruskin University to speak about her work internationally.

Since then, Sara has lectured for multiple Universities, both in the UK and abroad, has spoken at many events for NHS Hospital Trusts and organisations, and worked on a number of maternity-related projects for a variety of governments, national bodies, and NGOs.

Sara has lectured and run workshops at conferences on almost every continent for midwifery, medical and birth-related organisations. She has continued to consult on national and international midwifery education, development, and research projects.

In 2009, MIDIRS (then an independent charity) invited Sara to create a new monthly journal for midwives. Sara created and was the Editor of Essentially MIDIRS, a monthly professional journal, between 2010 and 2013. She was Editor of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest in 2012 and 2013. She edited a number of issues of The Practising Midwife in 2015, was the Midwifery Consultant for Elsevier for several years, and has consulted for several other journals and publishers, as well as for media organisations and production companies.

Since resigning from MIDIRS when its structure changed in 2013, and later ceasing work with other market-driven charities, Sara has chosen to work independently in order to write about evidence without pressure from employers, funders, advertisers, or other market-driven sources.

In order to ensure credibility, relevance and intellectual honesty, Sara has a team of academic and professional colleagues who peer review and edit her books and other writing and provide advice to her. This team includes several professors from relevant disciplines in science and social science, practicing midwives, consultant midwives, consultant obstetricians, medical consultants in other specialties, allied health professionals, economists, statisticians, and colleagues who work in other areas of birth, including childbirth education. Those who have worked on Sara’s most recent books include Professor Amy Brown, Dr Nadine Pilley Edwards, Consultant Midwife Julie Frohlich, Emerita Professor Mavis Kirkham, Professor Jo Murphy-Lawless, Becky Reed, Dr Rachel Reed, Emma Rose, Dr Helen Shallow, and Dr Kirsten Small.

Sara is proud to have worked with some wonderful people who are sadly no longer with us, including Tricia Anderson, Beverley Beech, Penny Simkin, Sheila Kitzinger, Dr Michel Odent, and Marsden Wagner.

Since 2015, she has created a monthly Birth Information Update email which gathers and summarises recent birth-related research, and which is emailed without cost to anyone who would like it. This remains the cornerstone of the Birth Information Project.

Sara occasionally speaks at conferences and runs online courses. She remains involved in publishing, and still consults for publishers and other organisations. She has continued to take an occasional role supervising or supporting postgraduate research students.

Most recently, Sara’s focus has been on writing books, in the hope of helping women and families access more balanced information about the evidence relating to their options. Her most recent books include In Your Own Time: how western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop, and Plus Size Pregnancy: what the evidence really says about higher BMI and birth.

What’s here?

Sara has written a number of books which you can read all about on her Books page. The most recent of these are:

• Plus Size Pregnancy: what the evidence really says about higher BMI and birth
• What’s Right For Me? Making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth.
• In Your Own Time: how western medicine controls the start of labour and why this needs to stop. 
• Anti-D Explained.
• Group B Strep Explained.
• Inducing Labour: making informed decisions.
• Birthing Your Placenta.
• Vitamin K and the Newborn.
• 101 tips for planning, writing and surviving your dissertation.

This website contains a series of information hubs to help you find your way around this website and get the info you need. You may also find it useful to use the search box or click on relevant tags.

You can also follow Sara on Instagram or Facebook.

And don’t forget to sign up for our free information emails.

Heart-funded, free and ad-free!

You will never find any external adverts or sponsored posts on this site. Sara explains why:

“I have always wanted to be able to share good information without charging for everything that I do or taking sponsorship. Yes, I need to make a living, and I do that by writing books. I created the Birth Information Project so that I could freely share information on my website without having to rely on revenue from advertising or funding from institutions or from pharmaceutical, technology, baby milk, baby product, or baby blood harvesting companies.” 

We launched the Birth Information Project after a successful crowdfunding campaign which involved making and selling hearts which we exchanged for donations towards setting up the initial infrastructure of the project. We also sold ‘velvet vaginas’ and other audio visual aids for a few years.

Now, we have a ‘kofi’ donations page for those who would like to support the free element of Sara’s work.

We are delighted to report that the software and technical expertise that supports the Birth Information Project continues to be funded by donations, ensuring that our independence continues.

Huge thanks to the lovely people who help us keep this going.

And the fun last paragraph…

Here’s hoping you enjoy the website.

Some of the links to Sara’s and other books are affiliate links. Anything we earn from these goes into the Birth Information Project and towards the creation and sharing of free resources.

Disclaimer

While we do our best to keep this site up-to-date and packed with good information, the information cannot be guaranteed as accurate and should not be taken to constitute professional midwifery or medical advice. No website or written information can be an appropriate substitute for a careful and respectful appraisal of the unique and holistic needs of an individual. 

We are sorry, but we receive many more emails than we have the resources to respond to. We don’t look at DMs on social media, for the same reason. If you are seeking advice in relation to your own health, please consult an appropriately knowledgeable practitioner for information specific to your situation.

Privacy: You can view our privacy policy here.

© Sara Wickham 2008-2026.

All the resources on this website and on Sara’s social media pages are subject to copyright. Read more about how to share our blog and social media posts and content legally and ethically here.

---

---

---

Books to help you become informed and make the decisions that are right for you…

---

---