Australian Birth Stories

In today’s episode I interview Amy Osmanhodzic, a hypnobirthing practitioner, birth doula and mother of four. You can listen to Amy’s firth three birth stories in episode 11 but today she chats about her fourth and final birth - a water birth in the presence of her older children.  After moving from Perth to Byron Bay and settling into their new community, Amy started working in a law firm in Lism...

In today’s episode, I interview Hannah Polites. Hannah is a midwife who worked in the hospital system for five years before she fell pregnant with her daughter, Avaliah. She speaks candidly about the pressure and the privilege of being a midwife giving birth and admits that during her first birth, she was acutely aware of the birth process and yet somewhat unprepared for the emotional and mental c...

In today’s episode, I interview Bianca Aiono. Bianca has been an elite athlete since she was a teenager and has always had irregular cycles. When she and her husband decided to start trying, they thought it might take a little while, and after two years they sought some assistance from a specialist. After having intrauterine insemination (IUI), Bianca conceived her first son Maverick. When Bianca...

In today’s episode, I interview Renee. After trying to conceive for two years Renee and her husband went through IVF to conceive their first son. After a stressful two years of trying to conceive Renee felt nervous throughout her pregnancy. Her son Beau was in a breech position and Renee’s doctor recommended she have an elective caesarean. When Renee was being prepped for her caesarean they discov...

In today’s episode I interview Aimee Winchester. Aimee shares the births of all five of her girls who were all born via caesarean section. Aimee gave birth to her first daughter at the age of 20. She knew very little about birth at the time and went in to be induced when she was over her dates. Aimee was fully dilated with an epidural when they discovered her little girl was in a posterior positio...

In today’s episode, I interview Theresa. Theresa conceived her first son at the age of 22 while she was living with her husband in Perth. She had private health insurance, so she called around and booked in with an Obgyn who was available. In her third trimester, they sold their home and moved over to NSW. She quickly found a new Obgyn who indicated he probably wouldn’t be at her birth, but he was...

In today’s episode, I interview Luka, who is a midwife and registered nurse. Luka decided to give birth to her first child through her local birth center under the care of a private midwife whom she had worked within the past. Luka’s labour began when she was 40 weeks and 12 days. She used the TENS machine and stayed active throughout her labour. Her baby presented with his hand near his face, whi...

In this week’s episode, I interview Laura Callea a women’s health physiotherapist. Laura shares her two birth experiences. With a wealth of experience behind her working with pregnant and postnatal women, Laura went into her first birth open minded. After being induced in her first labour, Laura’s cervix did not respond to the induction process and she ended up having an emergency caesarean. Secon...

In today’s episode, I interview Hana. Hana shares her most recent birth of her twin girls, Mika and Bobby. While camping and traveling up the coast with her sister, Hana discovered she was pregnant. At the time, she didn’t feel quite ready for a third child having a 4-year-old and 2 year old, and she worried about how she would cope. It wasn’t until Hana was 13 weeks pregnant, and she had her firs...

In today’s episode, I interview Trishna. Trishna gave birth to her first baby under the care of midwives through the Royal North Shore Hospital. As an avid gym enthusiast, Trishna stayed very active throughout her pregnancy and labour. She continued her F45 workouts, took pregnancy yoga classes and reformer pilates. Together with her partner Trishna took a  Calmbirth course to help equip her for t...

Lou and her husband were very career-driven and didn’t think they would ever have children. When they reached their mid-thirties, they had a conversation and decided they wanted to give it a try. After doing genetic testing and coming off contraception, Lou fell pregnant in the first month of trying. Lou had a history of anxiety, and this began to increase during her pregnancy. She had to modify t...

In today’s episode, I interview Rachel. Rachel fell pregnant whilst living in Bali. She hadn’t planned to conceive, and suddenly she was forced to navigate cultural differences and expectations of her partner’s family. At 12 weeks pregnant Rachel came back to Adelaide to see her friends and family and try and have some space to think about where she’d like to give birth. She decided to stay and ha...

In today’s episode, I interview Jayde Couldwell. Jayde shares her pregnancy and childbirth experiences with all three of her girls. Jayde suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum in all three of her pregnancies. Jayde had her second daughter through Tweed hospital and decided to have her third daughter there as well. After Yumi’s birth, Jayde started to experience heightened anxiety and mood swings. S...

After struggling to conceive for four years, Gemma conceived her first child Flynn through IVF. Her second son Arti was also conceived with the help of IVF so it was a complete surprise and shock when Gemma fell pregnant with her daughter naturally. Gemma suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum in her previous pregnancies; however, this time, it was much worse. She found it incredibly difficult to ca...

Kiah fell pregnant very quickly with her first child, her daughter Luna. She elected to go through shared care with her local GP and went on to have her baby through the local public hospital. To Kiah’s complete surprise, she found out she had gestational diabetes at 28 weeks. Thankfully, Kiah was able to manage her diabetes through diet control. To hear how her births unfolded, tune into this wee...

In today’s podcast episode, I interview Megan Gale. Megan shares the births of her son River and her daughter Rosie. She delivered both her babies under the care of Private Obstetrician Dr. Len Kilman at the Epworth Hospital. Megan tried for several months to conceive her first baby. She admitted that busy work schedules between both her and her husband restricted their opportunity to try so after...

In today’s episode, I interview Hypnobirthing Australia Practioner Shari Lyon. Shari shares her two pregnancies and births of her son Harley and Taleah. After hearing only negative birth experiences, Shari found her self quite fearful of birth when she found her self unexpectedly pregnant. Her mother delivered Shari under general anesthetic due to complications, and Shari was anxious about the ent...

In today’s episode, I interview Rachel Burke. Rachel shares her first pregnancy and birth of her little boy Hugo. Very early on in her pregnancy, she experienced some bleeding while working on a fashion shoot interstate. Panicked, she called her GP and then made her way to the hospital to try and determine if she was having a miscarriage. Thankfully the bleeding began to ease up over the next 24ho...

Nat Kringoudis is a Dr in Chinese Medicine and acupuncturist who has worked in women's fertility health for many years. When it came to conceiving Nat was very fortunate to fall pregnant relatively quickly. She took a calm birth course and was due to deliver her first child at the Family Birth center at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne. At 30 weeks, when Nat was away for work, she went in...

In today’s episode,  I interview Laura. Laura suffered from endometriosis and spent the few months leading up to trying to conceive is very mindful of her diet and lifestyle to regulate her cycles. She went on to conceive her first baby Link shortly after actively trying to conceive. Throughout her pregnancy, Laura became increasingly anxious about her birth and her diet. Devastatingly Laura’s fir...

Heidi had been on the pill for ten years, and a friend had said it could take months to regulate your cycle after the contraceptive pill, so Heidi decided to come off the pill to prepare herself to hopefully conceive in a year or two. After waiting eighteen months, seeing an acupuncturist and modifying her diet, Heidi’s cycle still had not returned. She decided to go and see an Obgyn who ran sever...

In today’s episode, I interview Teresa Palmer about her third pregnancy and birth of her little girl Poet. If you would like to hear Teresa births of Forest and Bodhi head over to Episode 65. Teresa is a self-proclaimed serial pregnancy test taker, and she took several tests daily to confirm her pregnancy from a few days after conception. During the early stages of her pregnancy, Teresa discovered...

In today's episode, I interview Tammi Keirl. Tammi shares the births of her two daughters, who were both born vaginally through the care of midwives at her local public hospital in Adelaide. After months of trying to conceive, Tammi used an ovulation app to conceive her first daughter Ruby.   Tammi had relatively straight forward pregnancies and delivered both her babies with the epidurals. To hea...

Natalie had both her children through midwifery care in Melbourne. Her first pregnancy was quite straight forward and she delivered her first son at 36 weeks without pain medication. Reuben had a severe tongue tie and she was unable to get him to latch. Natalie expressed around the clock and bottle-fed her little boy. He wasn’t sleeping well and she wasn’t able to enjoy him as she was constantly p...

In today’s episode, I interview Brigette Warne. After getting married Brigette came off the pill, which she had been taking for many years in an effort to try and conceive. Shortly after coming off the contraceptive pill she began to feel extremely unwell and suffered from cystic acne, had hair loss and a generally felt shocking. After seeing her GP several times to try and work out what was wrong...