Keep Birth Wild

E31 Alice Lang | First Birth, Calmbirth, Fast Labour, Anterior Perineal Tear

In this episode Alice shares the story of her daughter Luna’s birth.

Alice is a midwife and Calmbirth instructor herself and we talk about how that experience informed her choice of care provider and place of birth. She also speaks to what she learned from private home birth midwifes that challenged her existing views and how her birth helped to develop her understanding of better care for pregnant and postpartum mothers.

Luna’s birth was very fast and Alice and her partner had to improvise once they realised how quickly things had progressed to make sure that there was a midwife and ambulance at the birth. She suffered from an anterior perineal tear and explains how she was aware of the tear occurring during the second stage of labour and tried different positions to avoid it.

You can find a video of baby Luna having her first breastfeed on instagram so make sure you check that out, its just beautiful. 

E30 Victoria Rathjen Duffton | Two Births, Induced Hospital Birth, Homebirth, COVID

In this episode Victoria shares the pregnancies and births of her two children Ezra and Lumi.

Ezra was an induced vaginal birth in hospital. Although it was the intervention free birth she was hoping for, she was still a bit disappointed in the care she received and planned to go ahead with a home birth the second time around.

With her second pregnancy, there’s was some ups and downs with what maternity care was available, and in the end due to Covid she was actually able to arrange a homebirth at the last minute.

Lumi’s birth was empowering and set her up for a positive start to postpartum and breastfeeding.

Victoria is a Chinese Medicine Practitioner and also has a small business, Tiny Tot Tinctures, making topical herbal baby products. I actually used her nappy balm when Alice was a baby and still use what’s left on small bumps and scrapes so I can definitely recommend checking out her products if you’re preparing to welcome a newborn or have a baby with nappy rash! 

You can find Victoria on instagram @tiny_tot_tinctures.

E29 Kathryn Mc Cabe | Two Homebirths, Pain-free Birth, Unassisted Birth

In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking to Kathryn about the births of her two children.

Kathryn lives and birthed her babies at home in Ireland. We talk a lot about the differences and similarities in maternity care and how social and hospital systems work against people who choose to homebirth, and ultimately even more so against those who birth in hospital and experience unacceptable rates of intervention and birth trauma.

Kathryn shares beautifully how she navigated birth and family trauma handed down through her family, and what she identifies as a phobia of pregnancy and birth, to achieve two positive, pain and injury free homebirths.

Kathryn is a social ecologist and director at The Change Agency, and you can find her at https://www.thechangeagency.ie/.

E28 Lys Meyer | Two Births, Hospital Birth, Instrumental Delivery, Homebirth

In this episode I am chatting to Lyss about the births of her two sons Ryan and Ruben.

In her first pregnancy Lyss planned a hospital birth, which ended up in a stressful instrumental delivery with a long recovery.

In between her two pregnancies she made friends with a midwife, and was lined up for a homebirth when she fell pregnant again. Lyss went on to have a beautiful birth at home with Ruben, and a much quicker recovery.

E27 Carla Muellings | Two Births, Hospital Transfer, Miscarriage, Homebirth

In this episode Carla shares the stories of two pregnancies and births. She planned to birth both of her babies at home, however with her first her midwife had her transfer due to failure to progress, and she had a vaginal delivery in hospital.

Carla had a miscarriage before she went on to conceive her second child.

This time around she again planned a homebirth, but made sure that she found a midwife who was happy to support lots of different variations of normal labour, at home.

This is a longer episode, about an hour and a half, but I didn’t want to cut it down too much because Carla talks a lot about the difference in the level of care that she received between her two midwives and I think its a really interesting and valuable insight for anyone planning a homebirth.

You can find more photos of Carla and her family on instagram @keepbirthwild.podcast.

 

In this episode Carla mentions the follows books which she read in preparation for postpartum after her second birth.

The First Forty Days - Heng Ou

Seven Sisters for Seven Days - Michelle Peterson

The Fourth Trimester - Kimberley Ann Johnson

 

If you’re listening in every week and you think the podcast is worth as little as $1 dollar a week to you, I would love it if you could sign up as a Patron supporter. 25% of all donations go towards a charity working to improve maternity outcomes for indigenous women and babies. You can find links to my Patreon page, and more information about the charity your donation supports in the show notes and on my website keepbirthwild.com.au

E26 Chelsea Aldridge | Two Births, Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Antenatal/postnatal depression, Induction, Miscarriage, Homebirth, COVID

In this episode Chelsea shares the pregnancies and births of her two children Frankie and Myles.

She suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum in her first pregnancy and also developed antenatal depression, so she shares a really raw account of how her expectations of pregnancy and postpartum were shattered, and her long road to recovery through her work as a spiral practitioner.

Chelsea’s waters broke at 37 weeks, and she went on to have a fast induced birth in hospital. Frankie needed help breathing at birth so it was a few hours before Chelsea was able to be reunited with her, and she didn’t feel the initial love and bonding that she was expecting, and went on to experience further depression over the following months.

Following Frankie’s birth, Chelsea was really scared to have another baby. She had one pregnancy which miscarried, and then went on to conceive Myles.

Myle’s birth was initially going to be in hospital, but after separating from her husband when she was 30 weeks pregnant, and then Covid restrictions limiting her birth support, Chelsea had an overwhelming desire to birth at home and was able to crowdfund enough money to cover a midwife. She went on to have a beautiful healing birth at home with Myles.

 

You can find Chelsea on instagram @theconnectedcreatress and more photos of her birth and family here https://www.keepbirthwild.com.au/

Sign up as a Patron supporter to the show https://www.patreon.com/keepbirthwild

 

E25 Sophie Nugent | Part 2 - Zoom Assisted Birth, Vaginal Birth After Caesarean, Homebirth, Siblings at Birth

 

At the time of Jim’s conception, Sophie and her family had just relocated to a remote community in North East Arnhem Land, NT. Due to her previous caesarean births, the local hospital would not let her attempt a vaginal birth. She considered other options such as flying to Darwin or Melbourne for the birth, but in the end Covid restrictions meant that she was unable to travel, and in the final weeks of pregnancy she decided to birth at home with a lay midwife on Zoom!

Sophie shares about how Jim’s birth unfolded and how she finally placed her trust in herself and her body, and took back her power!

If you would like to sign up as a Patreon supporter and make a small monthly donation to help keep the podcast going, you can find out more info under the Donate tab, or head straight to Patreon to sign up.

E24 Sophie Nugent | Two Births, Preeclampsia, Homebirth Caesarean, Attempted VBAC, Sleep Deprivation

In this episode Sophie shares the births of her first two sons Bernie and Oscar.

Sophie fell pregnant unexpectedly when she was 21 and had a stressful pregnancy juggling study and tricky living situation. She planned a homebirth with her private midwife and doula. Sophie ended up developing preeclampsia at 42 weeks and 3 days and after a long slow induction in hospital Bernie was born via Caesarean section.

From his very first moments earth side Bernie was an extremely unsettled baby. He screamed for hours and hours of the day and only slept for periods of up to 20 minutes at once - even all through the night! Being a first time mum, Sophie thought this was normal and struggled through years of extreme sleep deprivation.

When Sophie was 10 months postpartum she fell pregnant again, with her second son Oscar. She planned a home vbac with her midwife and doula. After 3 days of labouring at home, Sophie transferred to hospital, exhausted, for another caesarean.

In this episode Sophie shares vulnerably about the hardest times during postpartum, and her ongoing disappointment and grief at having not experienced a vaginal birth.

In the next episode Sophie shares the story of her triumphant vagina birth after caesarean, at home!

E23 Mary Giordano | Two Births, Hospital Birth, Induction, Instrumental delivery, Homebirth, Waterbirth

In today’s episode I am speaking to Mary about the births of her two children. Mary briefly speaks about the birth of her son in hospital where she was induced and experienced complications and birth trauma. She then went on to have a beautiful home birth with her daughter surrounded by her family and friends.

Mary describes herself as a birth keeper, educator, mentor and facilitator of childbearing wisdom. In this episode we also discuss some of the amazing work she is doing in the birth world with different organisations within Australia and internationally, and I have included links to her website where you can find out more about her offerings, and also find links to all of the organisations mentioned in this episode.

Head over to instagram @keepbirthwild.podcast to see some photos from Mary’s birth and find links to her instagram page and website.

 

Art of Birth workshop https://www.naolivinaver.com/mary-giordano.html

Madreluna https://www.madreluna.com.au/

Adventurous Midwives https://www.adventurousmidwives.org/

Birth for Humankind https://birthforhumankind.org/

E22 Jessica Hodgens | First Birth, Waterbirth, Private Midwifery Care

Jess shares the story of her first pregnancy, and how she delivered her son at home into the water. Her son Ned was born with his head in quite a difficult position, almost brow presentation, and Jess shares the final moments of his arrival into the world with such beautiful love and attention to detail.

This is such an empowering birth story and I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I have!

 

I also want to take a moment to tell you about another podcast that I have been loving listening to! Postpartum Stories with Steph is a podcast for anyone who is pregnant, has kids, or might be thinking about having a baby. It shares the real and raw stories about early motherhood, covering everything from breastfeeding, to sleep, to poop! Steph shares a variety of stories from the glorious postpartum experiences to the tough and challenging ones. Its hosted by Steph, a postpartum doula in Melbourne. 

You can find Steph's website at https://www.postpartumwithsteph.com/ and follow her on instagram @postpartum_with_steph for much more goodness and to hear updates about her podcast!

 

You can find some photos from Jess’s labour and birth on my instagram @keepbirthwild.podcast, including an amazing photo of the moment Jess described in her story where she was able to look down and see his head which had already been birthed. It's such an emotive image to see after having heard her story so definitely head over and check that out.

I love hearing your thoughts on the show and leaving a rating or review also helps to get the podcast out to more pregnant people and new families so they can hear these stories and alternative narrative to the way birth is represented in mainstream media. If you have time to leave a quick star rating, or even better a quick review, I would so appreciate it.