Birthing at Home: A Podcast

Today, I chat with Caroline Burrows a renowned EMDR therapist, credentialed mental health social worker and director of Mindful Living about EMDR.  We talk about what it is, its use in pregnancy especially when used for traumatic or distressing experiences that may also impact the birth experience, its use online and in person, and so much more. EMDR is a extremely well researched therapy, initial...

This is episode 78. Today Charlotte, living on Darug Country and a mum of 4 shares her amazing birth stories.  This is a super special episode because Charlotte is probably one of the few women in Australia in recent times who has been supported by private midwives to birth her twins at home.  Prior to her twins being born at home, she also had an accidental homebirth. She shares her journey to fi...

This episode is a part of the homebirth around the World Series. I chat with Vanessa, a homebirth midwife in South Africa. We chat about Vanessa’s own journey to becoming a midwife and a homebirth midwife, we also chat about the maternity system in South Africa, accessibility and challenges, including the recent changes that criminalise midwives supporting vaginal births after c-sections at home. ...

Episode 77 is shared by Jess living on the land of the Wurundjeri peoples.  Jess shares her two birth stories today, her first birth experience in a hospital which was very traumatic and then her beautiful homebirth.  She also shares her conception journey and her experience of private midwifery car. Having a private midwife for Jess was  was fantastic during her labour and birth of Iris, but was...

Episode 76 is shared by the wonderful Courtney living on the land of the Palawa people in Lutruwita. Today Courtney is sharing her birth story of her fourth baby and second homebirth.  Courtney was the 3rd mum to share her story for the podcast so it was so awesome to have her back! For those who haven’t heard Courtney’s previous birth stories we recap these in the first half and then she shares h...

Episode 75 is shared by L. A first time mum living on the land of the Wurundjeri and Bunurong Peoples.  She shares her pregnancy story and how her frequent engagement with the hospital system due to her debilitating hyperemesis gravidarum influenced her decisions around what model of care she wanted and hoped for.  Ultimately, despite back and forth and advocating for the same, L was unable to acc...

** We discuss trauma and obstetric violence in this episode**  This is episode 74 and it’s shared by Eliza living on the land of the Western Kangoulu peoples.  She shares with us her traumatic c-section in remote QLD, and how for her 2nd baby, initially influenced by lack of access to any other supported birth model, she chose to freebirth and had an extremely healing and magical VBAC. Thanks to E...

This episode is a part of the homebirth around the World Series. In this episode I chat with Paul Golden.  It was a fantastic conversation and I urge women and midwives alike to listen. Paul is a travelling midwife, who has supported women all over the world, but he is also well known in the birth and human rights space.  We talk about Paul’s journey to midwifery and his study of the law and how t...

This is episode 72 and is shared by Rhiannon living on the land of the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation.  Rhiannon shares how her homebirth transfer with her first baby influenced her decision to freebirth her second baby. We talk about the opportunity for inner growth that pregnancy and birth can offer, how she decided on freebirth and her engagement with private midwifery for her antennal and...

This is the 71st episode and is shared by Amy living on Turrbul &  Yugara country in QLD. As you’ll hear more of in this episode, Amy herself is a fraternal twin and was born at home many moons ago. So in a way, she was born to homebirth! Which she did and shares in this episode, with the birth story of  her first baby, Elliot.  Amy shares with us her pregnancy journey, a bit about her own bir...

This is the 70th birth story and it’s shared by Haley mum of 2 living on Awabakal country.  After a traumatic first caesarean with her first baby Nora, Haley eventually chose to hire a private midwife and plan her homebirth and vaginal birth after caesarean with baby Remy.  Haley shares her pregnancy journey, her labour at home and ultimately the decision to transfer into hospital, which ended up...

This episode is a part of the homebirth around the World Series.  In this episode, I chat with Renee, a community midwife or a ‘LMC’ on the North Island of Aotearoa  ‘New Zealand’.  I was really excited to chat with Renee as New Zealand is often looked up to in terms of its midwifery care and homebirth access. Renee shares her journey to becoming a midwife and how the system works in Aotearoa. We...

Episode 69 is shared by Brooke, a first time mum who chose to freebirth her first baby, Mana-kai.  Brooke talks us through her pregnancy, her reflections on mothering and grieving her maiden self and then her very cosy birth of Mana-kai, labouring without electricity due to power outages for much of her labour.  She also shares her post partum journey, chatting about breastfeeding and the challeng...

Episode 68 is shared by Genna who lives on Wurunderji land. After Genna’s IVF journey, she chose to have a homebirth with her first baby, Freddie through the publicly funded homebirth program. She also shares how invaluable midwifery care was during her pregnancy, labour, birth and post partum experience, especially in the context of her significant prior mental health struggles including at the t...

This is the first episode of Homebirth Around The World. A series where I chat with homebirth midwives and they share how homebirth works in their area. From cost, culture, insurance, becoming a homebirth midwife and working as one, this series aims to try and dy-mystify homebirth and raise awareness for homebirth.  In this episode, I chat with Lucy from @lucybuddingwood who shares her journey to...

Episode 67 is shared by Amy who lives on Gubbi Gubbi country in Queensland. Amy shares her two homebirth stories, which includes one in a publicly funded hospital homebirth program and then her second with a private midwife. We chat about her experiences with both models, her episiotomy  and then her fear around tearing, her desire for a water birth and so much more.  Please make sure to share thi...

Episode 66 shared by Tegan in Queensland.  This episode unfortunately, is a roller coaster & I’m so grateful to Tegan for sharing her story. It’s difficult to summarise Tegan’s story into a quick intro, but how’s this - after being accepted and excluded from the local publicly funded program MULTIPLE times in her pregnancy with her second baby, Tegan made the decision to birth at home, unassis...

This is episode 65 and it’s shared by Meg in NSW who shares her experience being a first time mum who chose to have a homebirth.  She shares her journey to finding homebirth, her pregnancy journey, the birth of her baby girl Dylan & then her post partum experience including post partum hameomorrahe and breastfeeding difficulties influenced by a severe tongue tie.  A fantastic episode for anyon...

Episode 64 is shared by Amber who is a mum to two homebirth babies.  Today she shares the fantastic story of the birth of Delilah at 42 + 5 weeks at home, and then the birth of Bette, who was a planned homebirth with midwives, but ended up being an accidental freebirth at home  as the midwives didn’t make it in time!  We also chat about family centred birth and changing the narrative around homebi...

Episode 63 is shared by the amazing Alice.  Alice is the creator of Halo Mumma, which is a free website resource to support those on their pregnancy after loss journey.  Alice herself today shares the loss of her twins Ayla and Millie, and the trauma which this created, not just from the pregnancy, but the induction of labour, post partum, and including a delayed PPH.  During the pregnancy of her...

This is the 62nd episode and it’s shared by mum of 3, Mel from Newcastle who shares her incredible stories with having 2 babies after 42 weeks and planning 3 home births through the publicly funded system.  Mel chose to have a publicly funded homebirth with her first baby, but at 42 weeks, she was coerced into an induction due to the criteria of the program. After a 5 day induction, Oscar was born...

In episode 61, I chat with Emma who is a student nurse and midwife who shares her positive homebirth turned hospital birth story.  After labouring for well over 20 hours at home, Emma was forced to come to terms with transferring to hospital. We chat about her experience of a publicly funded (ie. free) homebirth program, having a doula, her long labour, the emotional journey of accepting the need...

This is the 60th birth at home story! And it shared by Racheal in Victoria, mum to 2 babies both born at home. Growing up Rachael, alike many people, thought homebirth was a bit ‘woo woo’. Meeting her home birthed husband, now paramedic, they began on a homebirth journey for their 2 babies, choosing private midwifery care. We also chat about the emotional experience of the baby when it is born, it...

This is another partner episode in the partners supporting birth at home series. Today Cian, dad to 2 girls, shares his experience witnessing two very different births, a c-section and then a homebirth after caesarean. As with all the partner episodes be sure to share them, as we reflect in this episode, they are powerful and play an important role in understanding, choosing and feeling comfortabl...

In episode 59, Sahara a midwife and IBCLC shares her 3 homebirth stories.  Sahara shares her journey to finding homebirth and choosing to become a midwife. We then hear about her experience in a publicly funded homebirth program during the start of COVID 19 in Melbourne and the challenges she faced — she then shares her two home births under the care of private midwives. We go on some interesting...