Soulful Birth Stories

Bec and Lyndon employed me as their private midwife, rented an Airbnb and birthed their daughter Elsie there, at their Airbnb home. Elsie was conceived with the help of IVF when Bec was 40. Bec’s journey embodied informed decision making and asked her to trust in herself and her body. She had an intense and powerful fast labour. She shares how relieved she felt when she held Elsie for the first ti...

Shannon and Luke share their story of birthing their two boys, Will and Cooper. They had obstetric care and a vaginal birth in hospital, with myself as their doula for their first baby and then chose midwifery care with myself, and had an accidental fast free birth with their second baby. Shannon talks rawly about the hard and the good stuff; her struggle with mental health in her first pregnancy,...

Leticia shares her 4 birth stories with us. Her first, an early pregnancy loss at 12 weeks that solidified her desire for motherhood. Her second, Billy, was a challenging but not traumatic birth with the support of her private midwife in the birth centre and a transfer to KEMH. Her third, Emmy, a planned fast hospital birth with her supportive GP and good midwife-friend Kate, and her fourth, Lucy,...

Sinead is a deep, sensitive and powerful woman, wife to Wade and mother to Rosa Jane. She shares about her conscious conception, the tasks of pregnancy which included boundary setting, being with herself, and growing deeper trust in her partner. She beautifully shares her homebirth of Rosa, the crisis of confidence she felt and looking for a way out, before surrendering to the ecstatic process. Sh...

After her first birth Kassie knew, deep within that it wasn’t meant to be that way. Her inner guide, that inner strength told her there was another way. After her empowering second birth her passion to educate women and to change the landscape of how women often enter their first pregnancy and birth experiences was ignited. Sharing her own birth experiences has been instrumental in supporting wome...

Loz is a full-of-life creative, lover of the ocean and her garden and her family. In this episode, she shares about her early miscarriage before her daughter Ochre was born, her planned homebirth and how she decided to not let her homebirth transfer define her birth story, how pregnancy grounded her and helped her slow down, how important it’s been for the integration of her mother-self to have ti...

Welcome to episode 13 with Emily and Guy. Their first babe was a planned homebirth with their midwife in attendance in Queensland, their second was a planned homebirth here in WA but baby arrived before their midwife. Their third was a planned freebirth back over east with no registered maternity care provider.  For their fourth birth, they’ve enlisted my care for another planned homebirth. Emily...

Manon hails from the Netherlands, where midwifery care and homebirth are more common place than in Australia. She and her partner Carter enlisted my care for their first birth together.  I love how Manon describes the journey she took into motherhood, as an opening into herself, and an awakening of the feminine qualities of deep rest, listening in, self care, as well as knowing her strength and po...

Madi and Daniel have two beautiful boys, Hugo and Judd. As you’ll hear, Madi’s story had multiple twists and turns including switching to midwifery care 1/2 way through her pregnancy with her first born, gestational diabetes requiring insulin, an ECV attempt and a breech vaginal labour which resulted in a cesarean birth, and in her second pregnancy low platelets, and an HBAC (home birth after cesa...

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...

This episode the amazing Ash shares her birth story with Billy. Ash and Ryan had planned a homebirth with me, but as you’ll hear, Billy had other plans. Ash shares about the heavy weight of decision making in the last weeks of pregnancy, the pressure to make the ‘right decision’, and how she cared for herself - tuning into her inner knowing, and deciphering what was most important to her, amidst t...

Kate has always wanted to be a mother with a big family. She shares her transformative journey of growing and birthing her two children - Noah and Billie. The emotional and mental challenges of pregnancy surprised her. She felt unprepared for the hormonal and identity shifts . She also shares about the challenge of finding deep and nourishing relationships in her early postpartum.  A few years ago...

Susie is a mother to 3 children, and today she shares her journey with hyperemesis (or HG), also her first two births with the continuity of a midwife in New Zealand where she is from, and her third birth, a fast and powerful homebirth with private midwife Rhonda. Susie also talks about her struggles with breastfeeding and mastitis. These stories are intimate, raw, inspiring - parents sharing thei...

I’m Cath, your host and holistic midwife. It’s raining here today in Western Australia in southern Yamatji country. I actually don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve had rain. It’s beautiful. I’m also a little scared- will this rain bring all the babies at once?! Hopefully not, hopefully they space out every few days. But this is out of my control. I’m excited to bring you today’s interview wit...

Today we have Louise joining us, talking about the birth of baby Florence. She shares about the lesson of vulnerability and I have to say, this birth experience was vulnerable for me too, as Louise and Cody’s midwife. At that time, I had placed a lot of pressure on myself to be ‘perfect’ - that is, to have impeccable practice that was impossible to criticise. An impossible task!  So when we discov...

Today’s guest Hannah wants you to know how healing, beautiful and sacred cesarean births can be. I know that many of you may also feel this way, or know this on some level.  There is a general understanding that our cesarean birth rate in Western Australia is too high for optimal health and wellbeing, and also that women can be left traumatised afterwards, and for this reason there can be a lot of...

Hannah shares about the moment of deep surrender during her VBAC when she realises that this baby will also need to be born by cesarean.

Ben describes the moments directly after their son Jacob was born at home, after their unplanned home VBAC (or vaginal birth after cesarean). This is part 2 of Jemimah and Ben’s story.  In this episode they finish the story of Jacob’s homebirth and share Livvy’s waterbirth story (baby number 3), and how they prepared their other two children for the homebirth. For me, Jemimah and Ben were the perf...

I could listen to Jemimah and Ben talk about their births for days. They are both so knowledgable and have so much to share about their three very different births, their own personal journeys and paradigm shifts, and how they prepared for each birth, each experience building upon the lessons and skills acquired from the last. Each birth can only be shared within the context of the others. And we...

A taster of Jemimah & Ben's two-part (two episode) story coming soon. This preview recaps their quick decision to stay at home to birth their second baby with the support of their midwives Sophie and Rhonda - an unplanned, but welcomed, home VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).

Kristy shares her story - her induction at 35 weeks for preeclampsia, how she cleansed and prepared her body for her second pregnancy, and the homebirth of her second baby. She also discusses her own birth by cesarean, the grief of losing her grandmother at 37 weeks and the eventual dissolution of her marriage in early postpartum. I know you’ll appreciate Kristy’s honesty, her deep self-reflection...

A little preview to upcoming Episode 1 with the wonderful Kristy.