Are you homebirth curious?

How can we creatively transform any environment - clinical or private - into a safe, sacred space that honours home, lineage and emotional safety? Claire Holloway is joined by Professor Catherine Chamberlain: proud Trawlwoolway woman, midwife, public health researcher and Head of the Indigenous Health Equity Unit at the University of Melbourne. Cath unpacks the Replanting the Birthing Trees framew...

What happens when you prepare for a homebirth, go into active labour, call the midwife, but they can't come? In this episode, host Claire Holloway is joined by Leesa Burton from Our Birth, Our Voice and Birth Stories NT . Leesa faced last-minute homebirth care changes in both of her pregnancies - first transferring at 42 weeks, and later being left without homebirth midwife coverage mid-labour due...

What does it look like to build a maternity care model that honours true birth choice while protecting midwives from the devastating cycle of burnout? Kelly Langford, co-founder and midwifery leader of MAMA Midwifery Practice, joins Claire to explore how private midwifery can bridge the gap between homebirth and hospital systems. Kelly shares her own contrasting birth stories: an unexpected hospit...

In this deeply moving, wairua-filled episode, host Claire Holloway is joined by Joanne (Jo) Teina - Registered Midwife, proud Indigenous Nurse and Midwife, and Ngāti Apakura keeper of traditional birth knowledge. As a mother of eleven (seven birthed, four borrowed), Nanny to twenty-one mokopuna, and great-Nanny to two, Jo brings a rich tapestry of intergenerational wisdom grounded in Te Ao Māori....

Planning a home birth after two caesareans (HBAC2) often means confronting intense pressure, rigid risk labels, and institutional fear. For many women who have experienced unwanted surgical births or trauma within the medical system, finding the courage to choose a physiological birth at home can feel like swimming upstream against a wave of societal conditioning. In this episode, birth advocate a...

If you are living in a regional or remote community and exploring your birth care choices, this is a must-listen episode. For families living outside major metropolitan hubs, planning an autonomous birth often means navigating vast travel distances, high staff turnover and involuntary relocation. In this episode, Claire sits down with endorsed private midwife Holly Jones - founder of The Family Ro...

Imagine a country where the entire birth landscape has changed within one generation. For the women of the Maldives, this is the current, high-intervention reality of maternal healthcare. Hadhee Jah - a traditional birthkeeper, author of Postpartum Is Forever , and the fierce catalyst behind the Mothers of the Maldives movement - exposes the rapid, devastating erasure of her homeland's ancestral b...

What happens if your homebirth takes an unexpected turn and you need an ambulance? For many families, the fear of an emergency transfer is the ultimate barrier keeping them from community birth. Historically, a lack of specialised obstetric training on the road has created tension between paramedics and midwives, leaving mothers navigating a high-stress, disconnected system. In this episode, host...

What happens when a qualified health professional is left out of public midwifery continuity programs simply because of a number on a scale? In this episode, we sit down with women’s health physiotherapist and outdoor adventurer Jen Nicholson. When Jen fell pregnant, the public system's rigid BMI cut-off disqualified her from birth centre care. This led her to choose private homebirth care to bypa...

This profound yarn explores the definition of 'home' in the context of physiological birth, connection to country, and ancestral wisdom. It delves into the extraordinary life tapestry of Alison Burrell - a mother of twelve (spanning seven births and five stepchildren) - and her journey through pregnancy, postpartum, and matrescence. From navigating a teenage pregnancy to standing in her sovereignt...

Have you ever felt an inkling that birth could be something more than a managed clinical event? If you’ve found yourself looking for a path that feels more aligned with your own body and your own rhythm, you’re in the right place. You’re simply Homebirth Curious. In this introductory episode, host Claire Holloway (perinatal and pelvic health specialist, yoga facilitator and therapist) invites you...