This is a really lovely episode, where Agustina shares her two pregnancies and births, alongside her experiences as a Canadian living far away from her family. She opted for private obstetric care because she wanted extended follow-up care in the days after birth. She stayed really active in pregnancy, moved with the contractions and laboured relatively quickly, birthing both her babies with ease. Breastfeeding was a different story and if you’ve ever wondered exactly how profound and helpful a one-on-one session with a lactation consultant is, listen to Augustina’s experience - it speaks volu ..read more

If you need to hear a positive NICU breastfeeding story, this is it! Sarah shares her experience with premature prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM) and the NICU journey that followed the birth of her baby at 32 weeks. She started antenatal expressing in labour and continued hand-expressing in the days after before switching to a hospital-grade pump. She had plenty of milk, triple-fed and used a nipple-shield alongside navigating an oversupply (she could pump 400ml in a single session!). She saw a variety of lactation consultants in the first few months and emphasises how important it is to ..read more

Welcome back to the show for Episode 500. This one's a little bit different. I'm not interviewing anyone today, I thought I would instead recap the last few years and share with you a little bit more about the journey. Whether you're here for the first time, or you've been here since the beginning over 7 years ago, thank you for listening. I look forward to continuing to bring you birth stories for another 7 years and beyond. Want to celebrate with us? Please leave the show a rating or review in your podcast app, it means so much to me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information ..read more

Today Roisin shares her journey of infertility, IVF experience and her two births - both emergency caesareans. When she fell pregnant with her son, she knew she wanted MGP care in the public system after hearing so many wonderful things about it on the podcast. She intended to have a low-intervention birth but as soon as she was diagnosed with gestational hypertension which escalated to preeclampsia in her third trimester, she accepted that an induction was likely. ____________ Today’s episode of the show is brought to you by my online childbirth education course, The Birth Class. What makes T ..read more

Katelyn’s first birth was relatively quick - a low-intervention vaginal birth in a private hospital. When she discovered she was pregnant again, she booked in with the same obstetrician but at her eight week scan, she found out she was pregnant with twins, and her obstetrician refused to support a vaginal birth. So began Katelyn’s informed pregnancy and birth journey, which led to changing care providers at 25 weeks. She takes us through this experience - the fear and doubt - but mostly the thorough understanding of twin birth, the faith she had in her own body and her determination to birth i ..read more

In today’s heartfelt episode, Erika shares her challenging and inspiring journey into motherhood with her two little boys. Erika opens up about conceiving after a short period of trying, only to face the heartbreaking loss of her first pregnancy due to a missed miscarriage at 10 weeks. She candidly shares her emotional and physical experiences of conceiving again after this loss. During her second pregnancy at 35 weeks and 2 days, shortly after her baby shower, Erika started to feel unwell. She had been experiencing uncomfortable swelling of her feet and felt generally off and uncomfortable. W ..read more

Sarah has a family history of breast cancer and is very aware of the protective benefits of breastfeeding so she was determined to persist despite the challenges. She only realised she had flat nipples after the birth of her first baby so she used nipple shields for four months and fed without them for an extra 11 months. Her second baby was born with a tongue tie which has led to a slew of challenges including a shallow, painful latch subsequently causing cracked nipples and three rounds of mastitis. She talks about the difficulty in accessing consistent lactation support and the expert care ..read more

Sophie’s first baby was diagnosed with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) because of placental insufficiency at 25 weeks. Little Tilly was born at 29 weeks and weighed only 534 grams so she was tube-fed for 10 weeks in NICU before being discharged. Sophie takes us through her breastfeeding journey - controlling the controllable, triple-feeding and eventually an exclusive breastfeeding journey that ended at 22 months. When asked if she would triple-feed again to ensure she could breastfeed, she admits she would 1000 percent do it. “It’s so worth it!” _____________ Medela has worked with gen ..read more

Sheree takes us through her first pregnancy, her choice to have a termination for medical reasons (TFMR) at 20 weeks and the grief that followed. She admits that she has always been in denial when discovering that she’s pregnant, a response that’s actually quite common for so many women who experience more overwhelm and doubt than they do immediate joy. She opted for private obstetric care, educated herself and was intent on avoiding the cascade of intervention. Her second birth was incredibly positive, so much so that when she was preparing for her third, she doubted whether it could be as em ..read more

Today’s episode is a beautiful example of doing your research and making an informed choice, even if it’s not your first birth preference. Louise works as an osteopath and opted for public hospital midwifery care.. Her first birth was very straightforward and her second labour was incredibly quick, resulting in a 3C tear that she recovered from without symptoms, thanks in part to regular pelvic floor exercises and guidance from a physio and colo-rectal surgeon. In her third pregnancy she sought the opinion of five different health professionals who all agreed that a caesarean birth was the bes ..read more