Midwife Jordan Holland spoke about the dangers of giving birth in hospital just three months before she was allegedly involved in the death of a newborn baby.
The 28-year-old was arrested and charged with manslaughter at Newcastle Police Station about 7am on Friday following an extensive police investigation.
Police say Holland was a privately practising midwife when she and a colleague attended a home in Wallsend to assist with a home birth on October 2, 2024.
They will allege in court that the midwives did not act on signs of complications or the mother’s requests to attend hospital, after she endured a two‑day labour.
On October 4, the mother attended John Hunter Hospital where her baby boy was delivered by emergency caesarean section. He sadly died in hospital six days later.
Holland fronted bail court on Friday morning and has since been released on bail.
The Daily Mail can now reveal Holland, who has a two‑year‑old son, became a privately practising midwife in 2023 and frequently shared her views on the benefits of home birthing compared with hospital births.
She even opted for a home birth herself after a series of ‘shell-shocking’ experiences while working as a midwife in a public hospital.
Midwife Jordan Holland, 28, has been charged with manslaughter after a baby died following a botched home birth in October 2024 (she is pictured left)
Holland and her husband Ryan married in 2022 and welcomed their son a year later
‘From the moment I became a midwife and did my student year, I was just shell-shocked with the things I was seeing and it really cemented what I wanted for myself and what women deserve and how the system is failing them,’ she told Positive Birth Australia’s podcast in July 2024.
Holland, who graduated from midwifery in 2021, said she booked in her home birth just three days after she discovered she was pregnant in 2023.
She said her family and workplace had concerns after learning of her birth plans.
‘My step mum, who is a paramedic and ICU nurse, [asked] what would you do if something goes wrong, and I was like, ‘We have an ambulance obviously, that’s what the system is there for if necessary’,’ Holland said.
‘I wasn’t really worried about giving birth or labour or pain or tearing… I was worried about actually transferring because I’d be going to where I worked and there’d be people that I know and what would they think.
‘I had discussions with my midwife – obviously if required I would, but I wasn’t going to transfer unless absolutely necessary – and she was comfortable with that.
‘They’ve got all the gear that they need.’
Following the birth of her son, Holland experienced complications while trying to birth her placenta, with her midwives worried enough to call an ambulance.
Holland became a nurse in 2017 and later studied midwifery, while training in a public hospital
However by the time the paramedics arrived, she’d safely delivered the temporary organ.
Holland also spoke about her experiences working in a hospital in a submission to the NSW Parliament’s Inquiry into Birth Trauma, dated August 1, 2023.
She described her work in a public maternity care facility as ‘confronting, traumatic and barbaric’.
‘These situations involve lack of informed decision-making for women, lack of education, withholding of information, coercive and manipulative discussions, physical abuse, lack of consent… the list goes on,’ she wrote in the submission.
‘These situations I have been witness to have definitely cemented the choices I’m making for my own pregnancy care and birth.’
Holland, who gave birth to her son two months after the submission was received, said the fact that one in three women in Australia experience birth trauma was ‘not good enough’.
‘I feel helpless,’ she said. ‘I have driven home from work many times crying.
The baby boy was delivered at John Hunter Hospital (pictured) via emergency caesarean but tragically died in hospital six days later
Midwife Oyebola Coxon (pictured right) was hit with the same charge over the home birth
‘There is a lack of debriefing around these scenarios that occur as well. Also I feel the issue is not at all recognised where I work. There was no recognition of birth trauma awareness week at work, no emails, no flyers etc…
‘I constantly reflect and wonder if becoming a midwife was the right decision, and quite frankly am not sure how long I will pursue it for.’
News of Holland’s arrest comes almost eight months after Italian-born midwife Oyebola Coxon, 36, was hit with the same charge over the October 2024 home birth.
Following a police investigation into the death of the newborn, Coxon was arrested on August 14, 2025.
She was charged with manslaughter and grievous bodily harm and remains before the courts, having been granted conditional bail.
The conditions include that she must not act, practice or educate any person relating to any birth or pregnancy and surrender her Italian and Australian passports.
The Italian-born influencer midwife, has long posted on Instagram under the profile Mamma Informata to promote ‘positive births’.
Coxon’s trial is due to begin at Newcastle Crown Court on October 15.
