Stay ConnectedA Podcast of Mothers’ stories of childbirth. Weekly interviews with mothers giving their first hand accounts of child birth in Australia. Designed to help educate and inform first time pregnant women, parents wanting to have better subsequent births and birth enthusiasts who love to hear and tell birth stories. An entertaining and heartfelt resource for pregnancy, labour and delivery and postpartum.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode Emma tells the story of her prolonged posterior labour with her little boy Raphael. Emma had a relatively easy pregnancy, overseen by her local GP and the midwives at the local public hospital. Her labour began with her waters rupturing in the middle of the night and contractions started a few hours later. After labouring at home for quite a few hours Emma transferred to the hospital to find she was in fact only dilated 1cm.
After morphine and several more hours of difficult contractions, Emma’s labour failed to progress due to the baby’s positioning. After induction medication, two epidurals and an episiotomy Raphael was born and Emma was able to reach down and bring him to her chest.
If you'd like my FREE guide on perineal massage click
If you'd like my FREE 5-minute breathing exercise click
Follow us on Instagram to keep the conversation going.
To learn more about The Birth Class my online childbirth education course head to the shop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Katie shares the story of the birth of Edie and then her son Willem. Edie was conceived through IVF after 5 years of actively trying to conceive ‘naturally’. Willem was conceived naturally as a complete and welcomed surprise two years later. After very careful research and consideration, Katie planned to birth both her babies at home with private midwives.
After labouring for 24 hours at home under the care of her private midwives, Katie transferred to hospital after the labour was slow to progress and exhaustion was setting in. Edie was delivered in a public hospital with the assistance of induction medication and an epidural.
Willem's home birth took a turn when Katie passed a large blood clot early on in the labour. Katie's midwife advised her to go into hospital to ensure everything was ok and she delivered him later that day with the support of her husband and private midwife.
Katie’s Recommended resources:
Birth with Confidence: Savvy choices for normal birth - Rhea Dempsey
Active Birth - Janet Balaskas
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin
If you'd like my FREE guide on perineal massage click
If you'd like my FREE 5-minute breathing exercise click
Follow us on Instagram to keep the conversation going.
To learn more about The Birth Class my online childbirth education course head to the shop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this weeks episode, Lucy tells the story of the birth of her second child Holly. Both Lucy’s pregnancies were achieved with the assistance of IVF. Lucy discusses the challenges IVF, having Hyperemesis Gravidarum (server morning sickness) and gestational diabetes.
Lucy was very pleased to have achieved an unmedicated vaginal delivery after having undergone an epidural, episiotomy and forceps with her first delivery of her son Dan. Lucy describes her labour as a positive induction story as she felt like it was carefully monitored by a midwife she quickly built a good rapport with.
Topics Covered: IVF, Low sperm count, morning sickness, private obsetricain, induced labour, breastfeeding.
If you'd like my FREE guide on perineal massage click
If you'd like my FREE 5-minute breathing exercise click
Follow us on Instagram to keep the conversation going.
To learn more about The Birth Class my online childbirth education course head to the shop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hilary's waters went at home the day before Sonny's due date. As she had tested Strep B positive, her midwife asked her to come into the hospital to be induced immediately. Sonny's labour was incredibly intense and Hilary found little to no relief in between contractions. She recalls that her husband only left her side for a one minute toilet break during the 8.5 hour labour, and even that was duly noted as being too long. Despite practicing yoga and active birth techniques from Juju Sundin's book 'Birth Skills' , Hilary found the pain overwhelming and cried out for a c-section after 5 hours. She then attempted Gas and Air which she loved. She discusses her birth plan (which stated to offer no pain relief) and doesn't recommend detailing your birth plan in this way - she wishes she had been offered Gas and Air earlier.
Sonny was mal positioned and Hilary was on all fours for part of her birth, trying to turn him into a better position for delivery. She ended up delivering on her back, which was not what she had envisioned for herself. After 35 minutes of pushing, Sonny arrived. These beautiful images are the very few she has of her labour, which she'd hoped to have been able to document in more detail (being a photographer). Hilary looks forward to a second attempt at putting Juju Sundin's techniques in an unmedicated birth if she decides to try for a second baby.
If you'd like my FREE guide on perineal massage click
If you'd like my FREE 5-minute breathing exercise click
Follow us on Instagram to keep the conversation going.
To learn more about The Birth Class my online childbirth education course head to the shop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After a long 36 hour first birth with my son Niko, (which included an epidural, an episiotomy, forceps and then a postpartum haemorrhage) I was determined to have another attempt at an unmedicated birth centre birth. Louis' birth came right as planned the day before his due date allowing for his Dad to help out during his school holidays. Louis' labour started quickly at home in the middle of the night and resulted in the birth centre birth I had planned for. Arriving at the birth centre at 5am Louis was born at 7am and we were all home for dinner at 7pm. I used hypnobirthing techniques, yoga, pilates, massage and acupuncture to assist in the preparation for the second birth I had dreamt of.
Louis dropped very little weight after his birth and I attribute this to his voracious appetite. I supplemented his first feeds with colostrum that I had pumped and frozen prior to his birth. I used the frozen colostrum and fed him through a syringe so as to avoid any early possible nipple confusion. The photo above shows me and my sister Hilary (see episode 2 for Sonny's birth story) breastfeeding together in my birth centre room just 2 hours after Louis' birth.
If you'd like my FREE guide on perineal massage click
If you'd like my FREE 5-minute breathing exercise click
Follow us on Instagram to keep the conversation going.
To learn more about The Birth Class my online childbirth education course head to the shop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
