Australian VBAC Stories

It is with deep reverence and gratitude that we share Angela's birth stories with you. Midwife Angela shares her powerful journey through three profoundly different births. Her story begins with the premature birth of her first son, Colton, at just 26 weeks following an antepartum haemorrhage and preterm premature rupture of membranes. Angela recounts the emotional and clinical intensity of un...

In this deeply moving and multifaceted episode, we sit down with Jen to explore her extraordinary journey through six births and five miscarriages, with a diagnosis of hyperfertility. Jen shares openly and honestly about her experiences, the medical complexities and the fierce resilience that led to her reclaiming her birth and deeply trusting her intuition, shaping her motherhood story. Jen leads...

In this beautiful episode we get the opportunity to listen to Freyja's 2 incredible birth stories! Listen in to hear a beautiful recount and reflection around the births of her two gorgeous, big baby boys! Her first birth was a difficult one, occurring amongst floods and during COVID and involving an induction due to insulin dependent gestational diabetes and suspected big baby. Ultimately Fre...

In this very special episode, we hear from our beloved co-host Aimee as she steps into the storyteller's seat to share the deeply personal journeys of her three births - a path woven with loss, healing, and profound transformation. Aimee begins with the unexpected birth of her first baby, Willow - a planned homebirth that turned into an emergency caesarean at 36 weeks due to a placental abrupt...

We’re so excited to bring you this episode with the wonderful Caitlyn, who shares her incredible birth journey and the lessons she's learned along the way. Her story begins with the traumatic birth of her eldest daughter in 2020 during lockdown, which set her on the path to pursue a VBAC with her son.  Despite her hopes for a more straightforward, peaceful experience, her son’s birth did not go as...

We are so thrilled to bring you this episode with the wonderful Cara who shares her three very different birth experiences with us. During her first birth, Cara had done independent birth education and felt able to say no to some things that didn't feel right to her, but found herself in a difficult situation with prelabour rupture of membranes and a slow early labour that eventually led her to be...

We’re overjoyed to bring you the incredible story of Carissa’s three births. She takes us deep into her journey from a planned caesarean with a private obstetrician, to her emergency caesarean in hospital, to her powerful and joyous freebirth with her third son. Carissa hired a private obstetrician in her first pregnancy and was devastated to learn that the myomectomy, that she had previously unde...

Today we are excited to share Emma’s beautiful birth stories, her first baby boy, Eric, born via caesarean after an induction, and her second baby girl, Chloe, born via a repeat caesarean after reaching full dilation during a spontaneous labour.   Her first pregnancy resulted in a pre-eclampsia diagnosis which led to an induction. Emma beautifully describes this birth journey of labouring with a p...

We are so excited to bring you the incredible Zelda's four epic birth stories for our 22nd episode! First things first: We had a few technical struggles recording this episode, so please forgive the occasional glitchiness of the audio quality and consistency. We hope you will still experience the richness of Zelda's experiences as she shares them It's not often we get to hear about VBA...

In this episode, we are so incredibly fortunate to have the beautiful Claire share her birth stories with us. Claire is an absolute wealth of wisdom, and the beautifully articulate and insightful way she shares her journey with us opens up some gorgeous, deep conversations with our co-hosts Katelyn and Aimee that you won't want to miss. Claire takes us through her first pregnancy, where it was...

Today, we are so pleased to be bringing you the beautiful Anushka's incredible birth stories. Anushka walks us through her journey to her caesarean birth with her first son and explains how a posterior baby and long labour contributed to a cascade of interventions, including receiving syntocinon that she had not consented to, that ultimately ended with her meeting her baby via caesarean. She p...

Welcome to Episode 19 of Australian VBAC Stories, and today we’re thrilled to be hearing from Jo who shares her journey to her 2VBA2Cs! That’s two vaginal births after two caesareans. You already know this is going to be a good one.  Jo experienced the very classic cascade of intervention in her first pregnancy and birth journey, and found herself with a caesarean that was unexpected and traumatic...

Welcome to Episode 18 of the Australian VBAC Stories Podcast! Today we are delighted to have Imogen on the podcast sharing her somewhat unusual journey to VBAC with us. Imogen's first pregnancy was a beautiful surprise, but before she could really come to terms with it, sadly, she lost that baby at 7 weeks. However, this experienced had opened up her heart to the idea of having a baby, and her and...

In this episode we have Nadia, an incredible mama of two, sharing her caesarean and VBAC journeys. Her stories are rich with reflection, exploring her first birth journey involving a baby with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and sudden induction leading to a caesarean, and her following, empowering VBAC with the support of her husband, doula and a private OB. Nadia beautifully shares her th...

Welcome to Episode 16 of the Australian VBAC Stories Podcast! Today, on the International Day of the Midwife (5th May), we are so excited to be sharing Kim's incredible birth stories! Kim shares her inspiring and awesome journey to a VBA3C, including 3 public hospital caesarean births and then a VBA3C with a private midwife. Kim's first pregnancy resulted in a little girl born via caesarean due to...

In honour of Caesarean Awareness Month this April, we are bringing you some incredible stories from women whose VBAC journeys resulted in repeat caesarean sections. Today, on her birthing day, we are so excited to share Emma's incredible birth stories! Emma journeyed through a planned caesarean for her twin babies' births, where the presenting twin was breech, through the public hospital s...

In honour of Caesarean Awareness Month this April, we are bringing you some incredible stories from women whose VBAC journeys resulted in repeat caesarean sections. Today, we are thrilled to share Helen's incredible journey from a failed induction after suspected preeclampsia under fragmented care in the public hospital system where she was bounced around between a couple of hospitals and real...

In today's episode, we are thrilled to have Tegan share her journey to motherhood including beginning with back-to-back ectopic pregnancies, followed by IVF conception and a rare diagnosis of Vasa Praevia which saw her on bed rest in hospital for weeks leading up to her first birth, a very necessary planned caesarean. She knew she wanted to pursue a VBAC with her next baby, and after another I...

In this episode, we invite you to listen to Olivia’s powerful story of her two very different births. Olivia is from a large family, and was introduced to birth from a young age when she attended her mother’s homebirth of her younger sibling at 10 years of age. Olivia was diagnosed with oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid) at a routine scan at 41 weeks and was recommended an induction. After being...

In this episode of Australian VBAC Stories, Tiarny very openly and generously shares the story of her two births. With her first baby, Tiarny planned a homebirth with a private midwife. She went into spontaneous labour at 42+5, and ultimately transfered to hospital due to a prolonged second stage, where her baby was discovered to be presenting asynclitically. She ended up birthing via emergency ca...

On today's episode of Australian VBAC Stories, we are thrilled to bring you Emily's incredible birth stories. Emily's first birth unfolds a bit differently to many of us. For a first time Mum, Emily was very prepared and very educated on the system and physiological birth, and knew exactly how she wanted to approach getting the birth she envisioned. However, that vision shifted drastic...

In today's Australian VBAC Stories episode, Olivia shares her incredible birth stories with us including her first caesarean with a baby discovered breech in labour, followed by a breech VBAC with the same Private Obstetrician. Olivia shares of the complexities of breech birth, including breech VBAC with births less than 18 months apart, and also birthing during COVID lockdowns. She provides m...

In this episode, we are joined by Rachel, who shares her triumphant journey of achieving a physiological VBAC against challenging odds. Having undergone a caesarean almost three years prior, she discovered at 37 weeks into her second pregnancy that her medical notes deemed her "not suitable for VBAC." Undeterred, Rachel changed hospitals at 38 weeks, advocating for herself throughout her...

In this episode, we bring you the story of Anna's three births. Anna shares her experience from a scheduled caesarean for elevated blood pressure with a private OB, through an extremely difficult miscarriage to two empowered, informed and supported VBACs with a private midwife, first in the hospital and then, with her third baby, at home. This episode is an absolute goldmine of information and...

Today's episode brings you the stories of three births told by Jess. Her first baby was born via emergency caesarean under a fragmented care model, and she was especially unfortunate to develop postpartum preeclampsia afterwards which added to the struggles of that postpartum. After a journey of self-education, Jess went on to seek out care under the MGP at her local hospital for her VBAC. She...