Kiwi Birth Tales

In the fourth episode of Dads Series I speak with Clint Roberts about his lovely wife Lucys pregnancy and the birth of their daughter Tui.  Clint takes us through his expectations of pregnancy and birth, the reality of those experiences and how they survived the newborn period. He is honest, funny and down to earth about what it's like to be a Dad and he has heaps of great tips in there for t...

In episode 77 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Zoe about her two pregnancies and births - both with twins! Zoe takes us through her first pregnancy, finding out they were having twins, carrying to full term and a birth experience where she felt like she wasn’t able to make her own decisions leaving her with feelings of Post Natal Depression afterwards.  Zoe then talks us through her second pregnan...

In todays episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Megan about her 2 birth stories. Megan takes us through their long road to pregnancy with 2 failed ICSI implantations then finally falling pregnant with their daughter Lily. Megan was induced and takes us through that experience and into her postnatal journey.  Megan then fell pregnant unexpectedly with her son, she takes us through her feelings s...

In episode 75 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Chloe about the pregnancy and birth of her son Noah.  Chloe takes us through her pregnancy which she loved, going into spontaneous labour at the mall, a planned birth centre birth with a hospital transfer, posterior labour and episiotomy. Her experience is so positive and although this wasn’t the birth she planned for it was absolutely one she loved. ...

In episode 3 of the KBT Dads Series I speak with Dave about the pregnancy and birth with his partner Ash and son Theo.  Dave is honest and open with us about his experience and gives some great tips for Dads and Dads to be, thanks for joining me Dave! A special thank you to Elevit and Menevit for sponsoring this episode of the podcast, head to www.elevit.co.nz to check out their range.  Thanks for...

In episode 74 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Deanna about her 2 birth stories. Deanna takes us through falling pregnant at 17, being diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes at 34 weeks and an eventual delivery with ventouse after a long labour. Hunter her son was diagnosed with sepsis 3 days after he was born and spent 10 days in intensive care before being released and Deanna talks through how that...

In episode 73 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Libby-Jean about the birth of Cruz & Miller.  Libby-Jean talks us through her first birth experience in hospital as they found Meconium in her waters and put her on a syntocin drip. Libby-Jean had an epidural to help with the pain and an episiotomy to bring Cruz into the world.  Her second birth experience was completely different and it was lovel...

I’m so excited to be partnering with Elevit and Menevit to bring you this week’s episode. In episode 72 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Jazmyne about the birth of her daughter Saachi. Jazmyne takes us through their surprise pregnancy, morning sickness, migraines and what she did to relieve some of her symptoms.  She then takes us through the decision to birth in Nelson at her parents house, her 5...

In episode 71 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Renee Norman about her 2 birth stories. Renee takes us through her pregnancy experiences where she experienced bad morning sickness, into her birth stories where she found her first experience quite traumatic and her second birth extremely healing - she wanted to share this with you all as she didn't believe a positive birth was possible after he...

In episode 2 of the Dads Series I speak with Joe (my partner) about our pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience with our son Jai.  Joe takes us through his experience becoming a Dad, the challenges, triumphs and what he loves about parenthood. This episode is brought to you by Elevit and Menevit - I would love for you to show them support over at www.elevit.co.nz  Thanks for listening! @Kiwibir...

In Episode 70 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Mel about the birth of her daughter Mia. Mel takes us through two miscarriages before falling pregnant with Mia, anxiety that this caused and the decision to hire a birth doula to help ease some anxiety. Mel was diagnosed with polyhydramnios during her pregnancy which subsequently decreased by the time she was full term. Mel talks us through finding o...

In episode 69 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Gina about her pregnancy and birth experiences with her two children Benji and Charlotte.  Gina and her partner have had a long road to pregnancy with many rounds of IVF and different approaches to normalising cycles before falling pregnant at age 36. Gina talks us through that experience as well as living in London and being pregnant, giving birth in...

In this episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Mona-Jane about her pregnancies and births in which she has had 3 miscarriages through out her journey to her two children Roca and Elko.  Mona-Jane takes us through her experiences in Hawaii and what it was like to give birth there, then into her experience with a New Zealand homebirth last year. Mona-Jane is a very fit Mum and kept her exercise re...

In this episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Cat about the births of her two children. Cat takes us through her first two pregnancies which were unfortunately chemical pregnancies, and then through falling pregnant with Quaid. She ended up giving birth in hospital where her midwife used a warm flannel on her perineum and she didn't have any tearing. Cat talks through adjusting to life wit...

Welcome to the Mens Series of Kiwi Birth Tales, a space for Dads to share their experiences with their partners pregnancy, birth and also life as a Dad. In this episode I chat with Jay Reeve about the pregnancy and birth with his twin boys Oscar and Hunter. Jay takes us through his journey with infertility, tips for surviving pregnancy, what the birth was like and also how he adjusted to life with...

In Episode 66 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Rebecca Keil who shares her 2 birth stories and her current pregnancy where she is a surrogate for a lovely NZ based couple.  Rebecca takes us through her first pregnancy and birth as a 22 year old, which ended with an episiotomy to help Rocky along. She shares her feelings of vulnerability in hospital and her recovery from birth as well as her breast...

In Episode 65 of Kiwi Birth Tales I chat with Portia about the birth of her daughter Indie. Portia takes us through her pregnancy journey in which she felt great for the majority of the time until in the late 3rd trimester where she developed pre-eclampsia.  At 40+2 Portia when to the Hospital with reduced movements (for the third time) and was induced that day. After a 24 hour labour including tr...

In episode 64 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Makenzie about her two birth stories. Makenzie takes us through her fast labours and births, the second being an unassisted and unplanned homebirth in their bathroom.  Makenzie had never heard of a Precipitous labour before her own and was in shock following the birth, finding support in social media communities with those who had been through a simil...

In this Bonus Episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Claudia Vavasour about all things Fertility Nutrition. As part of the on-going professional series Claudia was kind enough to answer a series of your questions sent through on Instagram, giving us so much interesting information to consider. We chat about the ideal foods to be eating (and not eating) while trying to conceive, supplements and p...

In Episode 63 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Haylee about the birth of her daughter Pippa. Haylee takes us through her journey with multiple surgeries prior to birth causing anxiety around giving birth, Haylee elected to have a Caesarean but had to see two Obstetricians to get this approved which took a toll on her mental health. Haylee went into labour in her 36th week of pregnancy and takes us...

In episode 62 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Kaille who shares her two birth stories. Her first was with daughter Tilly, Kaille discusses her Antenatal Anxiety, switching from a Midwifery Team to private Obstetrician, Braxton Hicks, Meconium in her waters and a fast labour ending with birth in Hospital where Tilly struggled to breathe for a few minutes due to the meconium but was fine not long a...

In this bonus episode of Kiwi Birth Takes I speak with Jess from Wellness by Jessica, she is a Nutritionist, Women's Health Expert & Author who works with Women on all things hormones, fertility, nutrition and health.  In this interview I ask Jess some quick fire questions that often come through on the KBT Instagram account about pregnancy and postnatal nutrition, including post natal de...

In this episode of Kiwi Birth Tales I share my very own pregnancy and birth story with my son Jai. Jai was born at 41 weeks and I take you through my pregnancy experience in different countries, growth scans, discussions with hospital obstetricians and into my spontaneous labour. My induction was booked for 41 weeks and I take you through that experience which ended in a C-Section at my request. ...

In Episode 60 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Bryony about the births of her 2 sons Ari and Archie. Bryony takes us through her first pregnancy experience where she suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, expecting to go to full term Bryony moved from Dunedin to the North Island for an internship but when on a break in Taupo ended up going into labour at 31+3, they were transferred to Wellington Ho...

In Episode 59 of Kiwi Birth Tales I speak with Renee Ball about the birth of her two children - Honor and Hunter.  Renee takes us through her journey to first pregnancy which was longer than they anticipated, at a young age. When they did fall pregnant Renee ended up giving birth to Honor at over 10lbs resulting in a 3C tear in which the doctor told her she would need a CSection if she was to have...