Welcome back to Soulful Birth Stories. I’m Cath Tan, holistic midwife and your podcast host in Geraldton on Southern Yamatji Country in Western Australia.
I’ve had a few weeks off from recording interviews and so it was wonderful to jump back in and speak to Fern, she shares her powerful story of birthing her two children, Kora and Mack.
Fern is only one month postpartum and we had to pause a few times for her to tend to her new babe. I hope some of his delicious newborn sounds come through in the recording for you.
One of the gifts of sharing birth stories is how they help to educate others, and one of the challenges of sharing birth stories is how they might be perceived by others who are still healing from their own stories. The tragedy is that many stories that may be helpful or that offer alternate narratives can be censored whether they’re stories of ‘easy’ births (I say that in quotation marks) or homebirth transfers, or surgical births.
My hope is to provide a platform that doesn’t label births as positive or negative but rather tries to explore the transformational quality that birth offers us. What was learned, what opened or closed within from the experience, where to now, who am I now?
I hope you Enjoy Fern’s story. And if you have a story you’d like to share, please reach out. I’d love to chat with you.
These stories are intimate, raw, inspiring - parents sharing their birth experiences - the highs, the challenges, the growth. How did they prepare, what was unexpected, what do they now know?
Join Cath Tan, holistic homebirth midwife in Geraldton, Western Australia as she speaks with local families about their transformational birth journeys.
'Stories have always been powerful ways of sharing information and wisdom; soul maps for significant life events we humans traverse. I hope you'll find these stories educational, uplifting and comforting.' xx Cath
Rhonda Bradley, Privately Practicing Midwife byyoursidemidwifery.com.au
Kate Cadd LC and midwife IG @motherbloommidwifery
Ina May’s books that Fern found so helpful and inspiring:
Spiritual Midwifery
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
Ina May’s Guide to Breastfeeding
SheBirths Antenatal classes online course - shebirths.com
Fern hired her TENS from: https://www.facebook.com/ArcticMoonPlacentas/?paipv=0&eav=AfbudGUQPcajG1TPOceDVoQTRrNl7qBnEPyAZgD9LnfQJGAvSz1c3Tbq08wEd5OWRuU&_rdr
Muka ties (umbilical cord ties)
https://ourtaiao.co.nz/products/muka-pito-ties