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Midwife Joy and I recorded last year I actually got sidetracked with this track and took me a while to get it all back together, and what a delight to finally find it again! This conversation was so amazing. Joy become pregnant at the age of 19 and at the time was living the ideal nomadic life in a bus. We talk about her bus birth, her steps into midwifery and how she trained with traditional midwifes. She lives on a boat! She is amazing and I need to write no more, dive into the podcast! Its a long one but such a beautiful journey to share….

Resources
The Birth Attendants youtube video:  https://youtu.be/P1Ngtl_x0go
Connect with Joy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birthwithjoy/?ref=br_rs
Website: http://www.birthwithjoy.love


 
 
 
 
 

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What if we looked at the birth experiences so graciously shared with us in absolute awe of how amazing women are in birth? Jessie’s story is one of these incredible experiences, where she tuned in to her safety and autonomy.
For the next hour you will be podcast blessed with Jessie and her family’s journey, finding out how birth does not always have to be something we endure, survive and see as a painful event that should be over with as quick as possible. During this podcast Jessie talks about her conception and prepping for the birth. Look at the resources below – you will be gifted with the most beautiful video of Jessie birthing her baby in a way that makes her feel safe and nurtured.

What happened with this video? The media got to it! One of the most obvious issues we are facing at the moment is the suppression of women and their right to have the pregnancy and birth within which they feel ‘safe’, ‘supported’, and in tune with their bodies. Birth is not a ‘one size fits all’! The media reaction to this video was full of many so called ‘experts’, so much talk about unnecessary things and distraction from being able to view this birth with absolute pure elation and non-judgmental awe. We don’t talk about any of this, mainly because I don’t subscribe to that stuff and also because I had so many better things to explore in Jessie’s story than what interpretation the media wanted to make.
Here is the most important part: Jessie’s message from this experience was the equal importance of the mental and physical health of the mother. That resonates so clearly! How many times have women been left with “at least’ you have a healthy baby”? Jessie wanted to share this video with the world because she felt so empowered by watching other women share their experiences. This is Jessie gifting back.
So so much gratitude to you, Jessie, as you are gifting back so much inspiration to us all!
All Photos: Port Douglas Wedding Photography & Designer Portraiture Australia

Musings from Jessie
“It was just like the stars aligned, everything was happening and we trusted the process.”
“The respect, appreciation, trust and gratitude you receive in your body during pregnancy is life changing.”
“I really felt like I was listening to my baby during the whole pregnancy.”
“’It was really important to surround my birth space with everything that made me happy.”
“For women to have access to watch birth videos is such an amazing resource.”
“Empowered women, empowering women – this is such an important support circle to have.”
“Women are amazing, we are capable of so much more than what we may believe.”
Resources
Hypno-Babies
Book – Down to Earth Birth – Jenny Blythe
Full Birth Video: https://youtu.be/ZsFlwJMwkm0
Our Right of Reply to the Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01vg1F0CfGg&feature=youtu.be
BirthTUBE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/livehomebirth/?source_id=488777274815586







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Welcome to an epic and absolutely essential podcast to listen to. I decided not to split it up and you can enter in and out of this beautiful journey with Katherine and I. So why are we feeling that home birth is no where in a space to celebrate in Australia and worldwide? This story will unravel some of the mysteries of why women are still subjected to an absolute barrage of political, business and oppression driven birth culture. This story is a hard reality of a woman that wants to be supported by her midwife and birth team and how the system takes charge to make sure there were as many hurdles as possible. Katherine is a beautiful connected soul, and her story now is a gift in ours. Take the time to read her blog if you can (links in the show notes) She has compiled a list of amazing resources. Now the audio dips in and out of some parts, yet the story and Katherines beautiful articulation trumps that! So with that welcome to the story and be open to the medicine. 



THIS IS KATHERINES BLOG BELOW – Find it at – http://katherineeden.com/speaking-the-unspeakable-not-celebrating-homebirth/

Speaking the unspeakable; why I’m not celebrating homebirth.
If this post triggers you or brings up any strong feelings please reach out and speak to someone.
You could call Lifeline , PANDA or Beyondblue
Today I need to be very vulnerable with you. I started writing this post during homebirth awareness week. But I was not, and will not be celebrating. We have since seen some incredible speeches from some inspirational women about the crisis of birth, both in this country and around the world.
I NEED TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST AND SHARE SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN BUBBLING WITHIN ME.
My heart hurts. It aches. It aches for me, for my baby, for my family, for my fellow birth workers and for all the women and babies who have been affected by the current climate of homebirth. I want to say something controversial to you;
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF CELEBRATING HOMEBIRTH
Don’t get me wrong, homebirth is, and has always been, my only choice for how I want my babies to enter the world. To me it just feels like my complete natural instinct to support the physiological birthing process and birth where I feel most safe. For me that is at home with a Midwife. Homebirth is incredible and we know from countless stories and an abundance of evidence that homebirth is both safer in terms of physical safety as well as providing increased emotional safety and birth satisfaction (more info here). It is our biological norm. When you tell me homebirth and continuity of care are amazing and worthy of celebration you are preaching to the converted.
This is not to discount women who have had wonderful experiences in the hospital. It’s just that at this time we need to start getting more serious about the reality of birth. We know homebirth is safe and incredible and yes we need to continue reminding those who don’t know. We need to remind, and take more action against those who disempower or take away a woman’s control or experience because they are not evidence based or because they work from a place of fear. Yes, we need to continue to have this discussion. Yes, we need to celebrate the amazingness that is homebirth. BUT this CANNOT and MUST NOT be the ONLY discussion!

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Could you ever imagine your whole house set up with cameras? A film crew sleeping near by and all anticipating the moment they are called in? Coming into a space so sacred, so intimate and so powerful to a primal woman’s right of passage…. Well Emily has gone above and beyond with gracious love to invite this whole experience of the birth of her fourth baby. I am so excited and so deeply honoured to bring this podcast to you before this film’s release on Mother’s day, 2018. What is the film all about? What was it like for Emily? This is your scoop here! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this story and you will too! I have no doubt you will want to watch this epic and beautiful film!

We begin our podcast with Emily talking about her own birth: We can see here how Emily has grown into not having fear of birth. All of Emily’s babies have been birthed at home. We talk about her first birth with a midwife during which baby was born in around 6 hours; This was not what Emily was expecting for a first birth! We navigate to Emily’s next birth: same house, pool and midwife, and an epic quick birth at 1.5 hours. Emily describes how she navigated this next transition into her motherhood. During these conversations, we talk about the birth climate in the area.

Emily’s third birth was a different location, a longer birth this time, and Emily wanted to cultivate the longer transition moments. She worked and learned from Whapio and the holistic stages of birth (see resources). This baby was born with a nuchal hand and Emily recalls reaching down to baby as he was coming out and feeling her baby’s little hand hold hers!
So from listening to Emily we have a good understanding about how powerful this woman is and how powerful this film will be to many.
We then speak about Emily’s fourth baby and the film, and Emily speaks so honestly and beautifully about her miscarriages in between. The calling was there for her next baby, the film was agreed upon, and this brought up many interesting and intense feelings for their family. Listen to how Emily navigated this with the upcoming film and what it felt like each time she went through the experience of miscarriage.

We talked about the film now and it was exciting for me to ask so many questions about what it was like to have so many cameras and people present during the birth, how it started, what Emily recalls; My questions went on! I loved how the whole crew of mostly men were in absolute awe of this process, not trying to fix it, wanting to be a part of it and letting it happen; Does not sound common practice, right?
This episode is a beautiful dive into something so intimate and sacred that Emily and her family have so generously shared with the world. This is the voice we need. This film is the healing we want.
Musings from Emily
“I was my mothers first baby. I was very wanted and consciously created.”
“I never had the concept that birth was something to be feared.”
“As my baby was coming out I reached down and I could feel his little hand, it held onto my finger.”
“’I have the most wonderful women come into my life.”
“During all of my births I never had anyone reach in and bother me. I never really knew what a huge deal that was until looking back and hearing other women’s stories.”
“My film crew were in no rush for the birth to happen; This made them perfect witnesses, as they were just happy to let it be.”
“My fourth postpartum was the most blissful that I ever had.”
“If everyone could be this excited about a birth happening, what it could do for women!”
“One of the best parts of the film is the birth / after birth scene. This part has a strong potential for changing the philosophy of what we think about birth.”

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Homebirth Consortium Australia [HCA] is a newly formed working group made up of representatives from local homebirth groups around Australia. HCA’s aim is to show their support for homebirth midwives and fight for changes to government policies so that midwives can return to working more autonomously and within their full scope of practice. By supporting our homebirth midwives, we support home birthing families and accordingly aim to protect homebirth within Australia.


 
Media Release for Mothers For Midwives March on May 5th2018
With International Midwives Day on May 5th, it is an opportunity for women around Australia to thank the professionals who held their hands during the most important day (or night) of their lives: their baby’s birth day.
It is estimated there are over 32,000 registered midwives, with around 28,000 midwives employed by public and private hospitals in Australia. However, there is also a seriously shrinking population of midwives who assist women to birth at home. Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that in 2014 there were 287 midwives attending homebirths as a primary carer – this not only includes Privately Practising Midwives (PPMs), but midwives attending homebirths that are publicly funded by the government through the 14 hospital-led homebirth programs. The latest data shows that in 2015 that number fell to 241and that number has certainly shrunk dramatically since then as regulations have stifled the health professionals who work in private practice, and who home birthing women rely on to maintain safety.
Amantha McGuinness from Homebirth Australia had this to say:
“Ever increasing regulation and the relentless vexatious reporting of PPMs has led to a decline in the number of midwives supporting homebirths, with those remaining in practice often feeling marginalised, unsupported and unable to practice in a way that aligns with the midwifery philosophy of being “with woman”. Many women, particularly those in regional and rural areas, are unable to access homebirth at all. Despite the extra regulation, women are still birthing and midwives are still working without intrapartum insurance for a homebirth with no valid solution in sight. The new requirement for two midwives at homebirth is also impacting on women and their birth options. Women in many areas of Australia who want a homebirth with a midwife are now faced with the choice to travel great distances to access midwives, or birth at home without a midwife at all. This begs the question: are all the regulations actually making birth safer, or are they just reducing and restricting the options of birthing women?”
With a decreasing chance of “normal birth” and an increasing caesarean ratein Australian hospitals, the choice to homebirth is not one that is going away. But with less and less homebirth midwives to assist women during the prenatal, birth and postnatal period, there is a danger that these women, many of whom are casualties of an underfunded, understaffed, fragmented and broken hospital system, will choose to birth at home anyway, but without the safety of a midwife in attendance. Indeed freebirth is said to be on the increase.
Professor of Midwifery Hannah Dahlen says “We have undertaken several studies into the issue of freebirth and it appears to be increasing in Australia. Women tell us the main reasons they freebirth is they are unable to find a midwife in their area or can’t afford to pay for them. More and more women are fleeing mainstream maternity care after previo...

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Wise women are all around the place in all stages of the life cycle and in all forms of nature. Vickie is one who I was deeply honoured to have on the podcast. This story from Vickie is quite an amazing story of strength, love, hope and possibility where Vickie speaks about walking and navigating the birth and death paths. Vickie’s life has been a colour of experience and has guided her to grow into the exemplary woman she is right now. The story begins when Vickie was the young age of 18, when her first daughter was removed in Australia’s forced adoption program in the 1970’s. The story continues on from here…..

Vickie and I head back to when she was 18, she had her first job and a trophy of a boyfriend. She then discovered that she was pregnant in the year 1969; those were not the times for someone unmarried to be pregnant. A wedding was arranged yet her husband to be disappeared. Vickie was moved into a convent for unmarried mothers, but she was unaware at the time that there was a government policy forcing religious organisations to coerce girls into giving babies up for adoption. Vickie was looked after in this place, however she was pressured into adopting out her baby. Vickie was amongst many young girls at this time and birthed and saw her baby only briefly before she was taken away. Vickie was nursed at the convent for two weeks and was then sent back home where she pushed all of her feelings aside.
Vickie was told to, “Get on with life.”
Moving on, Vickie talks about the birth of her son Jake which resulted in her becoming very interested in the mechanics of birth. She birthed during the time of women being shaved, having enemas and birthing on their backs. Vickie devoured books from authors including Grantly Dick-Reed and Leboyer, however nothing prepared her for her next birth experience two years later when she birthed still-born twins. Upon leaving the hospital, a nurse said, “There, there, plenty more where that came from.”
Again, Vickie was told to get on with life.
We talk about Vickie’s other children, how her life traversed around and how she came to the work she is doing today. We talk about the adoption and process of Vickie reconnecting with her daughter, Gillian, and especially connecting with her children while knowing they had a half sister. During this process, Vickie was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder; the unpacking begins. Let’s remember that there was a government policy in place in Australia at this time that would practically force adoption of babies on young mothers like Vickie.
We then talked about Vickie’s reunion with Gillian; this part is amazing… Listen..
Vickie’s work in birth and death shines out in this story and we shine on some of this amazing, wise woman wisdom. The last 20 minutes of the podcast involves the beautiful interpretation of the collective gifts that Vickie brings into being a Doula. 
Musings from Vickie
“Let me see my baby.”
“Birth has to be better than this.”
“What is a long labour?”
“’When does labour start,’ will be forever a fought question.”
“Holding Jake for the first time was amazing, I never wanted to let him go.”
“Dealing with grief, not just the individual events.”
“When you get to the top of the ladder, you need to make sure the ladder is against the right wall.”
“Acceptance and understanding of the uniqueness of each woman and her birth.”
“There is no cookie cutter approach of being a Doula.”
“Having the wisdom to really understand what a woman wants.”
“When I work with women I always ask them what their own births were like.”
“I see that birth and death are the same door, you are just going another way.”

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Freebirth, or birth outside the system, is returning to our communities. With the increased pressures and costs and reduced accessibility of privately practicing midwives in Australia, more and more people are deciding to take full responsibility for their body and birth. This is where birth outside the system, freebirth, unassisted birth, or whatever it needs to be labelled, works well for many. Natalie and I connected after her interview for the 7.30 report aired on the ABC in Australia in late 2017. The 7.30 report included an interview with Hannah Dahlen who spoke about changes to the insurance for privately practicing midwives in Australia. Both of these interviews spoke about the increasing risk for women, however, when Natalie and I spoke, I wanted to hear her full journey – HERstory. Listen in for a story from a young woman, wanting to change her life and grow into a mother. With her voice, Natalie seeks to serve the community to find themselves and their own stories in pregnancy and birth.

Natalie begins her talk with the growth of her self as a person. With a history of sexual abuse, Natalie used methods of escapism for a long time before coming to the realisation that she also had a problem with alcohol. Natalie chose health, she chose the path to healing, and then she became pregnant! Her life changed.

Natalie talks about the first pregnancy and feeling into what her body was telling her; what it was like to trust and believe in her body. Natalie talks about her journey within the system during her pregnancy. She had an obstetrician that pulled the ‘your baby will die’ card on her when he wanted to do a stretch and sweep. This process triggered Natalie, feeding in to her history of sexual abuse. We talk through her awareness at this time and how it upset the pregnancy and her emotional state heading into labour; she felt fearful, alone and deserted.
Into the birth, she found some amazing midwives that trusted in her birth process, trusted in her breathing and most importantly, stuck by her. She also describes that the midwives kept the space clear of men, a very importance factor in this birth given her history of sexual assault.
After 23 hours, birth happened after a release from the bowel. Natalie describes this as a big release. Babe was born and handed into her arms and Natalie transitioned to mother.
Post birth they noticed tachycardia and her boy was taken from her for a while. Natalie talks about this process; She talks about how a male paediatrician was holding her baby in the NICU and how this felt for Natalie. Natalie knew her baby was fine, yet he was taken from her and she was left with some resonating feelings, one of which was women fearful of having a voice in the old patriarchal system, fearful of having their babies taken away if they speak up.
Since this birth and leading up to her next birth 9 years later, Natalie became a Hypnobirthing practitioner. She learned so much from her clients and seeing an ‘accidental freebirth’ opened up her mind.

We talked about molar and partial molar pregnancies, a topic which I wanted to delve into a little more as I personally had an experience of a partial molar pregnancy. Natalie describes the miscarriages in between before she become pregnant with her next babe, Cyan.
For this birth, Natalie knew in her visions that she was going to birth at home and her partner would be the only other person present.

The birth was how she imagined, and if you check out the link below for the 7.30 report you can see some footage of this. After this birth story, Natalie tells of an interesting story of a placenta down the toilet and consuming her placenta there and then to alleviate a potential haemorrhage. We talk here about instinct and how this method has worked in the wise women ways...

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🌀This is a small snippet of the amazing folk that brought their wisdom to the 32nd Home Birth Conference in Sydney, Australia. I got to sit with some of these people and find out what messages they brought to the conference, what they were seeking, their thoughts on the state of the maternity system in Australia, their feelings around men at birth, how they feel we can best support homebirth in Australia and, most importantly, what they planned to bring back to their community.
As a student midwife I often feel unsure about my journey; the clouds of doubt often surface as I question the integrity of the system and my place in it. The many women I have come across at the conference and during the podcast series have been working so strongly to advocate for women, birth and human rights, and yet injustice is still happening. Many stories of this injustice have not been told, and many still are silenced while business as usual carries on.
After this conference I feel myself again asking: What is our call to action? What would it look like if all of these amazing midwives, who are currently struggling within the system, stepped away from the repression, over regulation and intimidation of their integrity? Do they have to be brave to do this? Is it better to play the game? Or is playing the game further adhering to the ‘dutiful girl’ role?
I don’t know the answers, all I know is that I have these questions. A part of my role in this lifetime is to be a messenger and I feel that this is born from a history of women being persecuted and denied education. I have an impulse for change, cracking open the shell and releasing the old, and bringing in group awareness. I see this as larger than myself, and my deep quest for truth and meaning seeks a new awakening; a new way of doing things for humanity.
I applaud the conference for getting these people together, and yet I wonder: What is our call to action? What can we do to support each other rather than expending our energy on continually adhering to the absolutely ludicrous restrictions placed on midwives.
What would a system look like if it had noone to regulate?

Musings from the Conference
“The vision for me is that home birth is normal, most accessible and accepted way to birth.” (Amanda Trieger, Naturopath and Doula) 
“All women should have a safe space to come together.” (Amanda Trieger, Naturopath and Doula)
“Women need to return home to the earth to birth.” (Natalie Rose, Student Midwife)   
“As a student midwife I am a little afraid that being registered would limit my ability to work in authenticity.” (Natalie Rose, Student Midwife) 
“If we can drop down from our minds into our bodies, we realise we are not seperate from each other.” (Natalie, Student Midwife) 
“We use risk so often, perhaps we should look at the needs of women.” (Beth Sandstrom, Midwife)
“Women having a more empowered position in society would be a good start.” (Ella Kurz, Midwife) 
“I come with the knowledge that the women taught me about birthing.” (Maggie Banks, Midwife)
“We have the opportunity in NZ for midwives to behave the way they need to behave to support women.” (Maggie Banks, Midwife)
“If a male obstetrician has a great interest in a birthing woman, then the best thing he can do is get her connected to other women.” (Maggie Banks, Midwife)
“Midwives are an immensely powerful group, they could say no collectively and bring immense change, yet this is about courage and support.” (Maggie Banks, Midwife)
“We need to get women and doulas to recognise the emotional manipulation that can happen. In some circumstances,

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🌀While ‘birth’ and ‘death’ may feel very distant from one another, they are in fact so close together that life would not occur without them. As a birth keeper myself, I am completely compelled to learn more about death, and the more I connect the richer the tapestry of my life becomes. I start to weave life with a brighter thread. I become aware and open and increasingly more accepting of the death path. So, when I connected with Amy from Little Silk Wings, I felt so connected to the work she was and is doing. Amy is supporting Doula’s to support death, and in turn reaching out to the wider community to bring birth and death back into awareness. This work is imperative for the processing of grief; its important that we talk about death because, like birth, death is a right of passage. Death is becoming one of my favourite subjects and I just loved this story with Amy. In this story, we speak closely about Amy’s own experience, with her son being very close to the death path, and how Amy navigated this experience. 🌿
I am not going to apply any trigger warnings here because this story shares the gifts and the potions of how we can come together and support the death path. Please share this and check out the event Let Me See My Baby in the resources below. 
So, we begin the journey with Amy heading into her three birth stories. Amy describes her first pregnancy as being the entry into the world of birth and advocacy for women. The pregnancies, as Amy describes, were rather straight forward and from in between the first and second pregnancy, Little Silk Wings was born.

Amy talks about her doula journey and supporting families for the best outcome possible. During the unfolding of her journey, Amy found a lack of understanding and support for when baby is unwell; it’s not the issue of people not wanting to support the mother and family, it’s simply the lack of understanding on how to provide support. Amy trained with Still Birthday in Canada and then, indirectly, came into a support role for doula’s called into bereavement.

Amy in her first birth with her doula.
We then talk about her third birth, when Amy would have liked to give birth at home but homebirth was unaffordable. Amy and her doula jokingly talked about a freebirth on the road, and what happened? A freebirth on the side of the road! Amy talks about the whole event and the quick birth that just did not quite make it to the hospital. Everyone felt calm and OK about the situation, an ambulance was called and Amy was in hospital for a few hours then back home again. Amy describes that she never could visualise her birth in a hospital.
 

From here the journey took a change of direction. Amy describes heading home and having a beautiful dinner and then sleep. The next day Amy started to feel that something was ‘not right’ with her son, Gabriel. She found him to be limp and just not quite right and, having been there twice before with her daughters, knew that something was different. On day 3 Gabriel started to vomit a little, the colour seemed not quite right and Amy says she was advised to try to be positive. An ambulance was called and then they left not long after saying, “He is fine.” Amy was still concerned and took him straight to hospital and her concerns were right; little Gabriel had mal-rotation of the bowel.


Recovery after the surgery – Amy describes – “His face was swollen and he had a machine breathing for him. He had cords coming out of him in numerous places and had a big, red slice across his tummy. They had put his little white beanie back on, I was thankful for that.”

The surgery process was massive: Amy describes being left in th...

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🌀Want to find a real depth into the value of continuity of care? This episode is with Aimee Sing, the current editor of Birthings magazine, an e-magazine released by Homebirth Access Sydney. Aimee takes us through a very informative journey, from miscarriage with bleeding episodes and working through trusting her body, having a placental abruption and a home birth transfer to caesarean, to then having a home birth after caesarean with her second baby. If you really want to understand the deep processes in the fertility and pregnancy journey then this episode is for you! Aimee is a beautiful story teller, and shares her journey in a way that outlines the importance of continuity of care. Her experiences are shared with the utmost respect to each individual birth and the gifts that the family received. This is a real, in depth story fueled with love through which you can tell Aimee is spreading the importance of continuity of care!
Learn more about the important work Homebirth Access Sydney is doing by supporting homebirth families and increasing awareness to better our access to this service in Australia. https://homebirthsydney.org.au




This story below is written by the hand of Aimee… 
Our baby boy’s birth story really starts with his big sisters birth. After researching and planning a homebirth and finding our perfect birth team we were so excited about meeting our first baby! My pregnancy was really asymptomatic, I felt well and happy but I had some minor and some major episodes of bleeding due to a subchorionic hematoma (SCH). Still, we kept planning our homebirth and counting down the weeks before we would meet our baby. At 36+4 weeks I woke to a gush which, once I checked, I realised was actually bright red blood! I rang my midwife and said I was bleeding a lot and thought I was having a placental abruption to which she advised we head to the hospital and she’d meet us there. Our birth plans were tipped on their head and I ended up ha ving an emergency caesarean section to deliver our baby girl, Willow, safely. While for many women a homebirth caesarean (HBC) can be traumatic, for me I was really blessed in that I was upset and mourning the birth experience I had so hoped and planned fo r, but I had no trauma related to the birth at all…the hospital stay afterwards on the other hand was horrendous and I vowed never to expose myself to that sort of treatment again if I could prevent it !






In the months and years following my HBC I continued to research everything I could about placental abruption. I had many tests to try to figure out why I’d had the placental abruption, but there was no reason discovered . While this was a blessing it was also really hard as I had no reason to ‘blame’ and acc ordingly nothing to ‘fix’ to prevent it in future . The only small bit of information that I felt might explain the placental abruption was that a lack of protein (malnutrition) can result in one, and I’d gone entirely off meat and didn’t substitute it for anything throughout my pregnancy, so I started to up my protein intake for a subsequent pregnancy.






I researched everything I could about vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) and home VBAC (HBAC) , and I searched for anyone who had birthed a baby at home af ter a prior abruption , but to no avail. I watched HBAC videos and read their stories, I spoke to my midwife and women in my community and online and eventually I decided that, provided we were blessed with another pregnancy, I would be trying for a HBAC ne xt time. It took my husband and I 18 months to really decide that we would try for another baby (I was terrified of losing a baby,

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🌀Lets go on a journey here, this is a beautiful story of birth told from the words of a mother that has encompassed her work and life with the gifts that each child brought her. Meet Julia, specialist in the body from a background of anatomist to working now with women in pelvic mapping and Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®. We head on an interesting journey here and learn extensively about what each birth can teach us and how we can embrace the journey and find ways to support others in our blooming mother path. Julia was an absolute delight to listen to, her voice resonated a divine message of wisdom and she spoke her stories thus to show the intrinsic and intuitive nature of us as human beings. Find a nice cuppa for this episode and snuggle into some wellness podcasting!
We began with Julia’s interesting journey from starting Reiki as young teen and then transversing through her studies in human science. Fascinating how Julia describes listening to her callings in life. From here we talk about her mothering journey. As the modern (young) age of 24 Julia come into their pregnancy and her and her partner went along the path of the birth centre, the discussion leads into the space of the shut down process during this pregnancy and what that looked like for her. Julia felt in hindsight that she was not ready and fearful. Julia, working with this feeling found out that baby was in breech position, she had to leave the familiar and comfortable birth centre space and head into the hospital. Cesarean was booked and we walk through the process for Julia as a young woman experiencing baby coming through the veil, very quickly and very big to process.

With Julia’s next birth, she had a university degree under her belt in human science, this young family spent allot of time travelling and adjusting to a new phase of their family life. We talk about the next birth being a planned C Section. This birth being a planned experience offered more of a leeway into the journey and offering insight where Julia was heading with her work and her own personal growth.

So not long after this birth Julia conceived again. This pregnancy was a head down baby and Julia was looking at letting the baby decide on this birth. Her doctor was supportive, the hospital not so much and Julia talked about the fear processes that come to her during this time. Already she has a midwife that handpicked her wanting to support her at the birth in the hospital and helped Julia with the navigation of the system. We entered into the space that Julia went into feeling labour for the first time, the labour once she released her blockages went along very fast.

We talked about Julia’s growth in her work (see the resources for great info) she come to the sense that there was strong messages to her to have a homebirth. Julia describes the birth as incredible, the midwife arrived at around 9cm, this was described as the most connected, empowered birth. Baby was born into the water. Julia describes baby as smiling when he come out. They had a lotus birth and describe the experience being home this time.

Having your first baby births you into becoming a mother.

From these inspiring journeys we talk in depth on how Julias work is reflected from these journeys. Julia is practicing Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy® and also Pelvic Mapping (see resources). This is where we deep dive into mensuration, body shame, pelvic mapping, exploring the womens mysteries. This is the essence of who Julia is today!
 
From Julia
“I know the very second that my body shut down and closed”.
“New parents need more support”.
“I always said that I will let the baby decide how to come”.

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🌀Ever wonder how a birth worker with over 12 years of births experiences her first journey into motherhood? Sharing this episode with Jerusha Sutton Birth Photographer and birth worker has been an absolute oracle of wisdom! This is a first time mammas birth journey including a pregnancy of co-creating a documentary, Vipassana meditation at 30 weeks, pelvic mapping, homebirth preparation and a complete mammoth blessingway that had her labour started not long after! Jerusha interprets the whole experience so beautifully and I guarantee you will be floating after this story! 💫 If you are looking to enrich yourself with a positive birth story then this is it. This podcast understands the layers of pregnancy, birth and seeing how Jerusha’s journey in 2006 started her on a pathway to her heart centred birthwork.
We begin the episode by setting the scene into the beauty of birth work. Jerusha began as a Doula after travelling the world and fulfilling her acting profession, however while having those moments contemplating on the hills of Europe she realised this was not fulfilling her. Jerusha attended a birth before she went overseas and this had resonated in her mind so much that she had to pursue this. She come back home and found the word ‘Doula’ 10 minutes later this changed the course of her life and a birthworker was born! Supporting women in birth Jerusha found to be just right for her, something about that connection to our linage perhaps! (Images to follow Tania Boyd)

Jerusha talks about the first birth experience as a Doula, this experience she describes as big learning experience for a young Doula (we talk about he importance of a mentor). It was a big experience and this certainly gave her insight into her gifts. We talk about Jerusha’s next adventures when they all moved to London. Jerusha engaged very much in postnatal work whilst living in the UK, we talked about how much the demand is not available in Australia for postnatal work and how important this time period is. Jerusha’s describes that Australia may have the ‘get on with it’ attitude! (Images to follow Anna Todd Photography)

So we get into the story of Jerusha’s transition from maiden to mother, she describes the pregnancy as just beautiful. Jerusha sourced her birth team and this also included the woman that initially invited Jerusha to her first ever birth! During her pregnancy Jerusha engaged in Vipassana at 30 weeks! This experience we talk in depth about especially how this can prepare you well and truly for labour. This birth prep is definitely no retreat as its hard work, yet as Jerusha describes it was for her a beautiful way to connect with baby, just think 10 days in silence with baby. Jerusha knew this would be incredibly uncomfortable and painful yet one of the most rewarding experiences to go though. Next we talk about Pelvic work in pregnancy and Jerusha talks about having a pregnancy session in Melbourne with vaginal exploration and mapping out the area. This is very interesting work and this work is factored of the great expertise of Jenny Blyth (see podcast episode 39).




The birth experience started to happen in the thick of organising the yet to be releasedBirth Time documentary. Jerusha (as many first time mums) was convinced when the baby was going to come, after 42 weeks! So she organised her blessing way, engaged in the labour and birth conference and looked forward to knowing that there was at least a month to go. We discuss her blessing way and how this was a beautiful way to honour the linage of women in Jerusha’s life.

Labour began at 38 weeks and they had to ship out her mum and dad who was visiting in the house and begin the process! We have a great insight into the process and how Jerusha ...

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Sometimes we recognise one moment that shifted our whole being into what we never knew could exist, like something was waiting in that very second to serve us with one of the biggest awakenings in our life. How does that shape us?  Sunni Karll presented one of those moments in my life. Her book Sacred Birthing, shifted me from thought to process this book was gifted in the most amazing circumstances after an acupuncture session by a wise woman that cleared so many blockages and opened up possibilities. And here was this book just waiting on her shelf for someone to love, and that someone was me!  I was ripe and ready to put my deep calling to spiritual midwifery and serving women into practice, to truly explore one of the most transformative life events we can choose to encounter. YES you too can make a difference,
Fast forward, and here I am talking and having the deepest connection with this wise woman, and this episode, I guarantee will sit with you. Sunni joins the show from California, where she is tickled about her recent publishing of Sacred Birthing’s 2nd Edition, and also a new exciting book coming soon!
So we begin to reflect with Sunni in her birth journeys in the early 70’s. Sunni had no idea that the birth trauma she herself went through was something that would ultimately play out in her first pregnancy. Her first baby was born with intervention and Sunni could not understand many things after this birth, she left this experience knowing that it could be better.

We intertwine the conversation with her next pregnancy journey that was essentially a free birth at her home in the safety of the bathroom in the dark with her husband at the time sleeping downstairs. What shifted Sunni to want to birth at home, now remembering we are talking about the 70’s where information and resources was not so readily available. Sunni describes it as a reaction to the first birth, she tried to source midwives yet there was not any available. She birthed and describes the experience as feeling safe and the gift of a presence around her, everybody was asleep and the rain was pattering on the window frame. Her husband then come in right as baby come out, caught baby and gave her to Sunni!
The first edition of her book was published in 2003 and we talk about her new book that was released in May 2017. Sunni talks about how consciousness has changed and uplifted, and how she grew up and thus the information in the first book had to grow up along with her. The second edition according to Sunni offers much more clarity from her following 14 years of birth work.
We hear from Sunni about her next transition in life from mother to grandmother, she was at the birth for two of her grand babies thus far. Interestingly Sunni reflects on her emotions during this time.
We talked in detail about Sunni’s time in Hawaii, birth was an event for the parent’s community, and how the whole event is based around a field of ‘trust,’ no matter how many people are there. Sunni describes seeing rows of spiritual ancestors when baby comes! We talked of the goddesses and gods in the culture and how that looked in relation to birth.
We talked in detail about Sunni’s time in Hawaii, birth was an event for the community and how the whole event is based around a field of ‘trust’ no matter how many people are there. Sunni describes seeing parties where baby comes! We talked of the goddesses and gods in the culture and how that looked in relation to birth.
Sunni and I talk wisdom, midwifery, Doulas and HOW can we support each other. Lessons and gifts and some great advice for birth workers. 

From Sunni
“In my book I talk about our firstborn as a sacrificial lamb,

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Doula’s, they are becoming more and more well known in the realm of maternity care. I had no idea what a Doula was until I was pregnant with my first child in 2010, and I thought I was rather aware! So now that I am one, I just love them, and in particular one very well loved Doula Angela Gallo. Why? How can we not feel drawn to the radiant energy that Angela throws out, her life experiences have brought her to this work, to serve, to advocate and to honour a woman in this life changing journey. This podcast, we both delve right into the journey of Angela, we talk about her life changing births, how she navigated her experiences and what lessons come from this. We talk birth workers, midwifery, photography, Mexico and more! Climb aboard for this inspiring episode and see the story behind the woman that is extending her self to change the way we perceive and act upon brith and maternity care.

So we begin this episode with Angela’s first pregnancy, this is where it all began. Angela was then, a self described fiercely independent and mobile creature and could not see how children could fit into that… So this is where most of us can agree, pregnancy forces us to re-evaluate and change so many things about our life, perceptions and how we truly see the world we know it. Rebirth some call it!
Angela talks about the pregnancy and how she was so fascinated with each and every day she describes feeling connected and so humbled by the process that her body was going through. Now at this time Angela’s husband was flying in and out from work, this is where the concept of a Doula was discovered as Angela was away from family. Her Doula was a lifeline and provided her with confidence, resources and all that she needed to have this good outlook into the approaching birth.
So 40+5 Angela went into labour, the labour was 45 hours, long and stretching the challenges of the transition from maiden to motherhood. Angela describes feeling supported, even though the birth was (in her thoughts) intensely medicalised. Yet at the 35 hour mark the epidural bought much relief to her  and some needed rest. After 3 hours of pushing, Angela describes the sensation of the shell of the past leave her as her daughter Ruby was born. This birth really shaped the word Doula in Angela’s mind, things were happening, she was pushed to the physical limits and found this so profound, that she knew that this was the path to help women achieve these experiences, fill the gaps and explore the full spectrum of Doula work.
We talk about Angela’s first experience as a Doula, with a young baby, we look how Angela felt after her training and how she spent the following years planning and seeing how it all works for her. These years were difficult. From there we talk about the life of a Doula and the toll it can take on the relationship front. We both concur how this has come up in both our lives, both seeking the support for Doulas in the family and community networks. I mean with many things it looks so much different when we are supported. This a great piece of the interview where we really extract the essential needs to support birth workers together. Meaning, we are all essentially in this together and Angela’s work is a credit to that.

We hop into the next pregnancy. Angela describes feeling wild! The due date was the same as her daughter Ruby. Yet at the scan they discovered it was a non-viable pregnancy, Not long after this Angela become pregnant again with Odin. This again was not far off Ruby’s birthday. Angela describes organising her birth team and we head into the birth at 41 weeks. The birth took some twists and turns with the birth pool blowing up and ambulance arriving when Angela wanted perhaps for it to not come.

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The body moves when we birth inside and out we are dancing to the beat of the earth the woman roars and we become mother. After this interview with the amazing Talulah from Making Sacred, I felt all my senses heightened, I felt in awe of this journey and a closeness to all mothers, women, in what ever form. These four birth stories will truely take you on the road of transformation. Finding out how important we are in this process is crucial and Talulah shows us in each of her journeys, that, no matter what, support, care and love to the birthing mother is vital for us to grow. This podcast dives deeply into the cosmic womens mysteries and each with its own lesson that you will be sure to see the gifts that birth can bring.
Look at the name Talulah and it signifies water. Look at Talulah near water and you will see why! Talulah and I connected via the Eight Seasons Journey with the School of Shamanic Womancraft. She is guiding our group in all the relevant womens mysteries, collectively together we are supporting and nurturing our truths. There is no wonder that I wanted to share her journeys, for as the podcast revels itself, so will Talulah water divinity.

We begin with her first birth journey with her now 14 year old boy Taj. Talulah talks about her family dynamic of a linage of shame for having babies out of wedlock, a pattern that brought a interesting outlook for Talulah growing up. Turns out they discovered she was pregnant just days after her engagement! How the healing path works! Talulah and her partner were after a home birth yet could not afford the cost. They booked into the birth centre. Labour progressed and the journey began, they headed to the birth centre and it was closed! So they got admitted to the labour ward and after a internal examination they found an anterior lip. And as you can image this can go either one way or another depending on many things. Talulah was advised not to push for two hours and she describes this as a tough time as all she wanted to do was push! Once she was given the green light she pushed out baby Taj in 15 minutes! After this they noticed tachycardia Taj ended up in NICU for four days. Talulah talks in the podcast about how the stay was for her emotional and physical self and what her reflections and lessons were from this birth.
After this birth, Talulah just felt that every one needs a trained birth attendant at their birth. So she went on to do her Doula training while she was pregnant with her second baby. At this time home birth opened up to this family again and they were ready, however during her doula training lots of fears come During her doula training she learned and absorbed allot of information, yet realised that this made her realise what could go wrong. She held this information in for a long time and it all come out at 41 weeks which was a big release! Lessons here, that pregnancy will bring many things up for us – talk and find that safe space to let it out. Talulah went into labour at 42 weeks and baby was born well into water 4 hours later. With breathing difficulties after the birth they decided to go to the hospital after baby was struggling and began to turn blue. They ended up having another NICU stay with baby Eden, he recovered well with no real explanation as why. We talk about the way she was questioned and treated at the hospital because she was a home birth transfer. Talulah felt she was not supported and lots of questions were raised about her birth choices. All in all Talulah felt fortunate that they had access to the hospital and things worked out the way they did.

We talk here about Talulah’s Doula work and birth hypnosis. Mixing up with her life as a Ballet teacher, Talulah talks about the first time she worked as a Doula, I feel many of us Doulas can relate to the way she described the feeling of ...

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Ever wondered what happens in the mind of a psychologist while giving birth? I do! You gotta love the mind in birth. This show delves into an induction process with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes with a real positive outlook on this birth. How would you feel when facing this? This show we are joined with Dr. Erin Bowe, even better Erin is also a Hypnobirthing practitioner! Lots of developments and changes in this story. Also hear how Erin helped integrate her dogs with a new baby in the house. This episode is great insight into parenting, Hypnobirthing, emotional birth language and how you can better frame a process such as induction. Erin wanted to really share this story to inspire others that you can do it!
We had a lot of laughter in this episode and Erin begins to show us some background into her growth as a Psychologist. Erin talks about her early miscarriage and how they managed to become pregnant quite soon after. Erin knew the feeling that this was right and things were going so well with the pregnancy until she rocked up for the GD test, the diagnosis was positive. Erin offers some good insight into the reactions from her surrounding community on gestational diabetes and what a body should look like. Erin got a little peeved with this so she actually went and wrote an article (see resources)! Great vent!

So heading into the last past of the pregnancy, things were travelling well and Erin was testing daily with the diagnosis. Not so much emphasis was placed on this which helped Erin enjoy the pregnancy. So close to the 41 week mark an induction was booked, with all the intention that Erin would birth well before then. The day rolls around and things had to shift, acceptance of this had to be made. Erin really found some strategies to relax into this process and start to look forward to the induction. The path of least resistance was chosen.
Now before this Erin was interested in the Hypnobirthing method, so instead of just doing the course she decided to go the whole way and train as a practitioner! Erin got so into this training she really felt that if she did not have this during the induction it may have looked a whole lot different.
So the morning of induction Erin was up at 5am. And this is what she remembers to pull her into a great headspace. The sky was pink, rose candy pink as Erin describes and with this Erin said ‘today is the day that I am going to meet my little girl’. She was excited, and this set the outlook going in for the induction process. So the induction process began and things were progressing well and Erin felt supported by the midwives. 10am and Erin was already to go inward and change her breathing. The support from her husband was all that essential spectrum that Erin needed, the familiarity was such a comfort to Erin especially when she suspected that she was heading into transition.

Things moved fast and well and Erin can credit the Hypnobirthing in these stages. She describes her self as being rather quiet. Then during the stage of pushing baby Erin becomes vocal and identifies with her voice during this. Silly songs come to Erin and we have a good laugh at the timing of Johnny Cash ‘Ring of fire’!
Baby was born not long after, with a few manurers with a nuchal hand she come into Erin’s arms and Erin’s first words to baby were ‘happy birthday’ she then went to thank everyone in the room for coming! We talk postpartum here and how things shaped for Erin in the intermediate time following birth.
We have the important talk on Erin’s work and focus on birth trauma, this is a great discussion into how we can better support women physiologically and emotionally.

From Erin
“It’s amazing what works out in life when you are hopeful and positive”.

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🌿 When we look at serving women in the sense of a traditional midwife what do we see? Our modern version of a midwife is perhaps rather distanced from the true ‘with woman’ perspective. Traditionally ‘call the midwife’ was in that literal sense; birth, death and in between, the midwife, red tent, with woman and the feminine. This podcast I am so delighted to talk with this amazing woman Jenny Blyth. Jenny is a co-founder of Birthwork, Author and producer of some amazing materials covering all things maternity care. Jenny talks about her 40 years experience and how by picking up a copy of Spiritual Midwifery in 1980 may have changed her life.

Jenny begins her story by talking about the pregnancy and birth of her first daughter some 37 years ago, as you can imagine things were very different back then. Jenny saw home birth as a very new concept while in the Sunshine Coast area of Australia, yet she knew that she wanted something more than what was offered. The first appointment she had with was completely supported by her doctor showing empathy and understanding in the fact that she wanted to birth at home. Jenny, during her pregnancy also found a copy of Ina May Gaskin’s book Spiritual Midwifery. This book was only in publication for a few years, fresh off the shelf and Jenny found this may have paved the way to where she is today. So Jenny planned home birth, they planned this at her mothers place that had a phone and was closer to the hospital. However, things eventuated in a different light, baby become before they expected and they were not at her mothers place so they drove straight to the hospital and had baby with 2 hours. Now think of birth in the 80’s you usually stayed at the hospital for at least a week. However Jenny was home within a few hours. They felt safe and comfortable to go home. Really interesting to hear this journey for her first birth.
We talked about death and birth and the creations of the altered states around this. Deep connections, with baby is profound and this travels to the realm of death to. Being supported in this space to really feel into these altered biological states.
Next pregnancy for Jenny saw her learning massage and body manipulation training. She was finding that around the community there was not much acknowledgement and support around the body experience and the amazing nature of what birth could bring. With out trying to throw her own experience into this Jenny talked to many women. Jenny witnessed her first birth as an assistant with her friend and how this extended into her next birth journey. This birth had a lot of masculine energy with three men present. Jenny describes this as being comfortable with this and it was a wonderful experience.
We talk about Jenny’s journey apprenticing with a home birth midwifes around the mid to late 80’s. Jenny was learning skills from this midwife that she could use to better prepare women in their pregnancy journeys.
Third baby saw another birth at home and this time Jenny felt very fine for it to be just the children and her partner and she was completely OK with this. Her five year old daughter at the time held the torch for Jenny while she birthed, having siblings at the birth was well remembered by Jenny as a profound experience. We talk about her daughter now with her own children and how being a part of ‘normal birth’ has shaped her perceptions into her own birth journeys. Jenny talks about the deep emotional impact of seeing her daughter grow her baby in her womb and being present at her birth.

We talk then about Jenny’s birth projects books and film Birthwork, Down to Earth Birth Book, The Big Stretch and A World of Birth workers. Birthwork was the first publication that was really about all the experiences that Jen...

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🌿 I truly know there is no coincides in life, there is a sure reason that I have another story back to back to show how variable our estimated due dates really are. If you have not listened to episode 35, then go check it out after this amazing story. I love sharing these journeys where a family have taken responsibility of their decisions, are supported around that, listened within and birthed their baby at 42.5 weeks. Even better this story is a first time mother, and, typically its the first time mothers that will fall into the anxious time after 40 weeks, especially when that word inductions comes to play. This story is a lovely, sweet gentle birth journey very inspiring for first time mothers! Kristen is also a mental health worker, focusing her work on sexual trauma, we have a conversation at the end here on the correlations of abuse and trauma and pregnancy and birth.
We begin this story with the family dynamics. Kristin is still in her baby bubble, with Harvey being only 6 weeks at the time of recording. They had a long journey into trying to conceive, after seeing fertility specialist and having a range of tests they found out they were pregnant! We talked here about how they may have been trying to much and were not enjoying the process, so they took a different approach and begin to book trips away and bam 💥 enter baby!
Kristen’s pregnancy went relatively well, she found a great relationship with her midwife. She and her partner Mitch attended a calm birth course, they found this to be exceptional in embracing pregnancy and especially for her partner Mitch to understand the process. We talked about what it looks like to choose home birth as first time parents, discussing Mitch’s  and Kristen’s experience of birth prior to becoming pregnant. Kristen described all the hesitations they had, how they researched and come to the place of being confident that it was their decision. So they felt confident in their process.
So 40 weeks rolled over, Kristen was feeling rather good. Apart from the phone calls and messages asking if the ‘baby has come yet’ , she was going about her day as normal as you could. She was well nested with the bits and bobs you can do for a home birth preparation.  So 41 weeks arrived and the questions started coming to Kristen about what she is going to do being so far over already. This changed allot for her and started to really go inward away from the people that were asking and giving out pressure. Kristen talks about the difficulty of wanting to sit with her instincts yet having the anxiety creeping in of other people around her, she stopped going for walks and responding to many people.
So 42 weeks! Kristen talks about her mother going into labour at 42 weeks. Kristen went for a scan at the 42 week mark and every thing was looking AYE OK. Kristen describes walking out of the scan feeling the same elation as when they found out they were pregnant, she felt relief. Convinced that she was going to have her baby before easter she spent some time talking with the midwife again about what things would look like at 43 weeks. They made a plan, after 43 weeks Kristen will book in for induction. She got home that day and got right into the things that she never said she would do, Kristen was ready to try and get things moving at 42.5 weeks,  she was home bouncing on an exercise ball, drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating pineapple and cooking a hot curry!

That evening she woke with dull pains, the excitement hit and she knew that this was now happening. She could not sleep so sat up all night and by the morning things fizzled out. They took a beautiful walk in the village that morning and described this as a great experience for them both. They come home and things picked up again, she tired to sleep,

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🍃 How do we all approach our EDD, I am sure most of us coming on and past this time find the upwelling of anxiety, talk of inductions, cesarian sections and missed out opportunities for home birth. Also the feeling of being ‘over it’ is common, first time mothers may find this unbearable and then all of a sudden you can slip into to major worry. Step in Jessica! This episode is so so inspiring! Have a look at what the 40 to 44 weeks look like, see how Jessica truly went within and used the guidance from her midwife and hospital staff to make sure she and baby were on common agreement that the time will come.

First we talk about Jessica’s first birth experience, talks about a very intense induction experience that was 10 days after her due date. Jessica after this birth went through postnatal depression and also took her at least 6 months to bond with her first born. This experience guided Jessica into more birth options heading towards her next pregnancy. Jessica decided that home birth would be the best option for her and the family so with her next baby she birthed at home at 41 weeks. Her next birth saw a 1.5 hour labour at home at 42 weeks. Can you see something forming here?
Jessica in the first trimester went through some horrific morning sickness and was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravardium not much worked, she had to basically ride it out, Jessica described loosing 9 kg in the first trimester. Jessica at 32 weeks had a lovely blessing way which was all about the mother and nurturing her into her pregnancy journey and into her birth. She had some really cool things done for her including beads, affirmations and massage and collective wisdom of wise women!
40 weeks arrived and so did the school holidays, Jessica somewhat knew that she was not going into birth anytime soon, and the school holidays was a very inward time, especially for the randoms that love to ask when the baby is coming. So 42 weeks come also and Jessica was still very much in the ready when you are time, walks on the beach and constant chat with her ‘belly dweller’.

43 weeks and Jessica suddenly woke with a few ‘why’s’ – Why am I still pregnant, Im still trusting but this is no good! Jessica was feeling massive, bladder was aching and she was ready to have a few ‘tanty’s’! . Jessica describes it the more you remove the attachment of my fault, my body does not work etc etc the gentler the experience can be on your body. Jessica had a biophysical profile done during this time, this was suggested by her midwife, the results were great. No signs of distress, no loss of fluid. Jessica decided to get a photo printed and put this on the side of the birth pool. She consented to a stretch and sweep coming onto the 44 week mark. This increased the Braxton hick type contractions for a brief amount of time, however was not really bringing anything on. She was visiting the chiropractor every second day and she found that there was this point at 44 weeks that she was really over it all and decided that she needed to ‘Just be with it’.
Jessica woke in the morning at 44 weeks, she had a rock hard belly and was really now over being pregnant! She had this day where her partner went grocery shopping with the kids, she met a friend and had a good little cry about everything that was coming up. After this she felt very calm and ready to birth her baby, sounds like a big release happened. On the way home her midwife phoned and told her the hospital would not give her a elective cesarian and they wanted her to come in and have an induction with her waters being broken, now if you can remember this is birth trauma about to be triggered. Jessica decided this was not safe for her. So enter the midwife with what could be one last draw card Clary ...

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Midwife Jo Hunter shares her amazing birth journeys, this episode is inspiring for those wondering about private practicing midwifes and their role in the community. 🌿 Jo talks about her inspiring births then her amazing journey to becoming a midwife, advocate and now filmmaker! We hear detail about #birthtime – New upcoming Australian documentary on birth & more. 🍁 Great episode for birthworkers, midwives, students and most definitely pregnant mammas that need some inspiration and information! I feel after listening to this that we need to get out there with our voice and help those women that want to make supported and informed decisions about their maternity care.

What can I say, this show is certainly heading into some important territory. Jo and I begin our chat with a love story. Jo met her husband in London and they made quite a big decision to move to Australia. Then, not long after they were pregnant with their now 21 year old daughter. Jo knew birth was normal, in fact, she even quizzed all her family about birth from a very young age. So when it become her turn, Jo knew that she wanted to make this experience in the most supported place possible. Now 21 years ago we were not surrounded by instant information on brith and being a parent, so Jo did her research with books! One of them was Ina May’s guide to Spiritual Midwifery. And many other great resources like Sheila Kitzinger that were around at this progressive time. So they decided that the birth centre was the place to be for this first baby to come earthside. Jo went into labour and had a hard time removing her self from the toilet seat! Sounds like this is a common safe space for many labouring women, with her  husbands help and an interesting car ride she was on track to the birth centre. For a first born, this was a very quick labour and Jo describes the experience as wonderful. Jo devised a birth plan and in this she requested physiological third stage, the midwife potentially did not understand this and read this a no Syntocin only, and she began cord traction. Jo ended up in hospital with haemorrhaging and required blood transfusions. Jo talks about her feelings after this experience, not in a sense to blame or to be traumatised, yet bummed that it headed this way after a peaceful birth. Jo said ‘Im going to do this properly next time, no one is going to touch that cord!‘ From there on Jo knew she wanted to become a midwife, yet she still had some more babies to make!
So pregnant again a few years later, Jo was risked out of the birth centre because of the last haemorrhage. She deiced that labour ward was not really for them. So they saved all their money for a home birth and this is where Jo felt the most cared for. (A home birth 20 years ago cost $1500 in Australia, now you are looking at $5000 to $7500 where is that money going? Insurance, regulation…) They formed a great bond with the midwife and baby was born into water in the matter of hours. Jo recalls being worried about the cord and placenta for a moment, yet with the gentle guidance of the midwife the placenta was birthed and there was no significant blood loss. Her young daughter was present at this birth and Jo recalls loving the normality of this and the noises that she made around the home. Next time around come pretty quickly for Jo, only 4 months after birth she was pregnant again. Yes you can get pregnant while breastfeeding in the first 12 weeks! Jo’s births seem to form a pattern of very fast births, baby was born before the midwife come in only a few hours. This was a seamless, fast and easy birth! Fourth time around, and, definitely the last Jo describes the feeling of knowing in her pregnancy that this was the la...