Experienced Dutch midwife
My name is Marieke Wildeman.
A couple of years ago Truus Gale and I met through our mutual work as a lecturer for the Bevalcentrum West.
In 2002 I graduated from the Amsterdam Midwifery College. From that time until 2014 I was a partner in a large midwifery practice in the north of Amsterdam. In those 12 years I’ve monitored hundreds of pregnancies and births, both at home and in hospital. Many of our clients had a foreign background and were not familiar with the Dutch midwifery system. I always enjoyed listening to them and learning from them and tried to make our two cultures meet. My ultimate goal was to make the experience of pregnancy and childbirth as beautiful as possible for them.
Since 2012 I have been giving courses and lectures for pregnant women and their partners in the Amsterdam area and I increased doing this after 2014. In 2016 I was a co-writer for a pregnancy book called “Moms”.
I don’t have strong beliefs when it comes to where or how a women should give birth to her child. I do however feel very strongly that parents should have a voice in this important moment in their lives. It’s been proven that this increases the chances of a good and happy experience and also I’m convinced that it will give a baby the best start in life. This is why I enjoy educating future parents so much; they get to know about all possibilities in our system and are enabled to make well-informed choices.
I live in the Amsterdam area with my (Irish) partner and two teenage boys.
