Leaving at the right time for the hospital is crucial. But have you ever wondered how the heck you're supposed to know?!. Leave too early? Cascade of intervention. 🙃 Leave too late? Carpark birth. 😬 See why finding the "sweet spot" is huge? 💡😂 In this episode, I'm going to share some tips and frameworks to help you navigate this so you can pick your timing confidently. 💪

Okay mama's, time for a heart to heart. This message is SO freaking important. 🙌 People pleasing is such a common struggle that women face throughout their lives - and it often affects your pregnancy and postpartum. 😔 I've seen & experienced the negative impact of this in my own life, and I've seen it impact my clients. I'm telling you - overcoming the need to please everyone is absolutely crucial to set yourself up well for a beautiful birth and postpartum experience - so let's un...

So last week we heard my lovely past client Amber's beautifully remeptive VBAC birth story (episode 17 if you haven't listened yet!), but today, I wanted to focus on HOW to have a VBAC. Something that should be so straightforward, is unfortunately anything but that. Today, Sammy and I unpack it all and hopefully you'll have a much clearer understanding of what you can do to improve your odds! Enjoy! Hope it's helpful! PS. Please remember that absolutely none of this is to be taken as medical ...

Today, my beautiful client Amber shares her VBAC story. After a not-so-positive experience with her first daughter, she decided to hire me as her doula to help her work towards a beautiful, redemptive VBAC. She knew VBAC's don't just "happen", that they take preparation and commitment. But she wanted to experience birth as the sacred rite of passage it can be, and prove to herself that she didn't "fail" the first time - that she really could do it all along. And that's just what she did...

It's an unfortunate reality that with a due date around the holiday period, women are 3-4 more times more likely to be induced (this was confirmed by a study conducted by the university of QLD). Unwarranted induction of labour can have very significant impact on women's birth outcomes, and I'm afraid, it's not usually in a positive way. That's what the research shows. So it's super important to have a solid strategy for navigating these conversations with your care providers to ensure if indu...

In this episode, I chat to Dr Melanie Jackson about common birth myths that need some serious busting like women's birth experiences depend on it... because they do. Mel is a private midwife with her PhD, host of the amazing 'Great Birth Rebellion Podcast", and a mumma. She's worked for 16 years as a midwife caring for birthing women, and now trains + mentors other midwives. When it comes to birth, she knows her stuff. It was so much fun bouncing off each other in this episode and bustin...

In today's episode, I chat to Ruby Kellaway. Ruby had 5 kids under 4 (yep, you read that right!) & is a passionate chiropractor who has a particular passion for working with birthing women. So much so, she's undertaken study in midwifery & is now considering becoming a doula too... Ruby is a wealth of knowledge & experience, in this episode she talks us through how chiropractic care can be helpful for expecting mumma's, and generously shares with us about all of her (very differen...

We've probably all heard of the oh-so-dreaded "cascade of intervention", but what is it *really*, and most importantly... how can we avoid falling victim to it!?Today, I'm going to tell you. Here's everything you need to know about the cascade of intervention. Enjoy!PS. Time is running out to grab your ticket & secure your spot in my workshop! Jump on this link right now so you don't miss out!

Buckle up, because today I am taking you on a wild ride down memory lane. After so many requests to share my own birth stories, today I'm going to spill the beans on my experience giving birth to my first child Mali. And, arguably, most importantly, sharing the mistakes I made in this birth - so that you can learn from them. I had Mali at 38 weeks, after a very long, posterior labour. And although I had a mostly very positive experience, there was certainly so much I could've done differ...

Today I chat to Tara Menzies. Tara is the creator of the Christian Hypnobirthing app, and a mum to two. She tells us her own birth stories, and through them, highlights the importance of birth preparation, and the difference it can make. Speaking of birth prep - don't forget to grab your tickets to my online live workshop "How to Have an Empowering All-Natural Birth" if you haven't already! You can get tickets & find out more here.Enjoy!PS. As mentioned in the episode, I'm a Christian, bu...

One of the most prevalent (and damaging!) misconceptions around birth out there is the idea that "you can't control anything about birth". This is just NOT true! In reality, there's so much we do have control over when it comes to birth.In this episode, I unpack just 10 of the many things we do have control over when it comes to birth - and why it can be so impactful if you do get in control of these things.I also mention the "How to Have an Empowering Natural Birth" workshop I'm hosting soon...

In this episode we go over some common misconceptions about doulas that cost women big time in their births. It’s probably my most “straight up” episode yet, I drop some truth bombs that may be hard to hear, but are important to hear. It’s all from a place of love, I promise! I’d be very surprised if you listen to this whole episode and don’t find one of these myths that you’ve been believing! This is a perfect episode to share with your partner if you want a doula and they’re on the fence. A...

This episode is a little different! Instead of interviewing someone, it's just me chatting to you guys. We talk about why it's worth considering going for an unmedicated birth - even in a world where we are so often told "you don't get a medal" for it. I explain why (in my opinion), the benefits of an unmedicated birth are actually a lot better than a medal anyway! Then we touch on how to make it happen, in a world that has massively over-medicalised the process of birth, and where a cascade ...

In today's episode, we chat to Elsie. Elsie is the co-founder of Homebirth Victoria, she's a birth doula, host of "Birthing at Home - a Podcast", and most importantly, she's a mumma. We chat about Elsie's experiences giving birth at home, some common misconceptions on home-birth, some of the reasons women choose to birth outside of the hospital system, and all sorts in between. I wanted to add a quick disclaimer that as much as I have a love for home birth and it's many benefits - I have ...

Have you ever wondered what evidence there is about the role of acupuncture for pregnancy/birth preparation? In this episode, I chat to Emma. Mum + acupuncturist. We talk about the evidence-backed benefits that acupuncture can have, and we also talk about our perceptions of birth, the role cultural conditioning plays, physiological birth & how women value it (or don’t value it), true informed consent, our intuition, postpartum, how birth changes you, preparing for birth, we also t...

In this episode, the beautiful Megan Hangan talks us through the early weeks of breastfeeding. Megan knows her stuff - she is an endorsed midwife & an IBCLC working at Northern Beaches Hospital, as well as with Dr Hugh Porter at Sydney Babies, and if that's not enough, she also runs her own private lactation support practice 'Learn Latch Love'. Most importantly though, she's a mumma. Enjoy!

Today I got to chat to Karen McClay, who is the Owner & Director of Calm Birth Australia (which you've probably heard of, it's one of the biggest antenatal education programs in the country). She tells us about how her Dad, Peter Jackson started Calm Birth, we talk about the role that our conscious + subconscious mind plays in birth, the benefits of a strong support system and we chat specifically about doula support, we touch on overcoming emotional obstacles in birth and how important i...

In this episode, we hear from Kate, a mum I had the honour & joy of supporting through her birth and postpartum experience with her first baby, Levi. Kate shares very specifically about what she found it like to have a doula, she shares the story of her beautiful water birth in detail, and chats openly all about life as a new mum and the many joys and challenges that come with it. This is a beautifully positive, uplifting interview that I'm sure you'll relate to, learn from, or both. Enjoy!

In this episode I chat to Lexie Benicky, who is a midwife living & working in Sydney. We talk about the importance of following your intuition, surrendering to the process of pregnancy, birth & motherhood, she tells us about some of her good and not so good experiences working with other doulas, some of the more general highs & lows of her midwifery career, and also some of her stories of the most bizarre things she’s seen and experienced as a midwife. Lexie is a midwife who truly...

In today's episode, we'll be hearing from Peta Arthurson. An IBCLC, and most importantly, mum of two, based in Curl Curl on Sydney's Northern Beaches.We chat about Peta's own breastfeeding experiences, the common breastfeeding concerns that she sees in her practice, some ridiculous advice she hears mums receive, and we touch on the difficult but critically important topic of maternal mental health. Join us in our laughs + tears for this episode... you're sure to get some gold out of it.