Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond

Katelyn Commerford is a busy mum to three young children, a doula, a Next Birth After Caesarean (NBAC) guide, co-host of the Australian VBAC Stories podcast.  And if that wasn't enough, she's also the President of Homebirth NSW and the Co-ordinator of Homebirth Australia, and it's in this capacity that she speaks with us today. Homebirth with registered midwives has never been widely available to...

Oni Blecher spent twelve years preparing for motherhood from the moment she witnessed one of her sisters giving birth.  This event led her into exploring the many facets of women's work, in particular birth, where she served as a doula, and maternity services advocate, facilitator of the Earthed to Birth pregnancy and postpartum circle, presenter for this podcast, commenced training as a midwife a...

Leila Armour is the Founder of Village for Mama, a project for bridging the gap in postpartum care by fostering a supportive and nourishing community for new mothers. In this episode Leila, so very generously shares her experiences of not one, but two twin pregnancies in the 40th week of her second twin pregnancy.  We hear how she navigated the complexities of navigating the maternity care system...

Wendy Jackson , mother and retired midwife with 30 years' experience in the UK and Australian maternity care systems, has a lot to say about the massive cultural, social and political issues that surround the world of birth.  Main topics covered: the importance of honouring and protecting the postnatal period/4th trimester, also known as matrescence, women need to know the realities of the materni...

A continuation of our series on the proposed ACM/RANZCOG legislation that will require that only trained registered professionals can "manage" the process of birth. https://ranzcog.edu.au/news/ranzcog-acm-call-on-health-ministers-to-end-freebirth-deaths This time Sally speaks with Katherine Eden, doula, birth advocate and mother of two boys based in South Australia.  Eight years ago when birthing...

We hear from Tessa Kowaliw (pron. ko-VAH-liyev) about birthing in South Australia since the enactment of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Restricted Birthing Practices) Amendment Act 2013, which regulates who can "manage" women's births.  Tessa has 16 years a maternity services consumer advisor in a wide range of roles, but shares her views here as a well informed...

Sally speaks with Oni Blecher, former host on the Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond radio show and podcast, and committee member of our organisation, PBB Media since 2018. Oni has been a student of birth since she witnessed the birth of her niece 12 years ago, taking her to study midwifery, birth doula care and craniosacral therapy that she provides for mothers and their babies, and facilitating pregnan...

Sally speaks with Alecia Staines, Founder and Director at Maternity Consumer Network about the South Australian legislation that the Australian College of Midwives and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have called to be enacted across the country.  This legislation seeks to prohibit "unlicensed and unregulated persons from undertaking the management o...

Sally speaks with Dr Catherine Bell, Maternity Choices Australia and Founder of The Birth Map about the South Australian legislation that the Australian College of Midwives and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have called to be enacted across the country.  This legislation seeks to prohibit "unlicensed and unregulated persons from undertaking the man...

Sally speaks with Dr Bashi Kumar-Hazard, lawyer and Board Chair of Human Rights in Childbirth International about the South Australian legislation that the Australian College of Midwives and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have called to be enacted across the country.  This legislation seeks to prohibit "unlicensed and unregulated persons from under...

Today, Oni Blecher interviews Sally Cusack. Sally Cusack is a mother of two teenagers based in Northern NSW. She is the co-founder of PBB Media and now runs PBB Media’s weekly free baby and toddler clothes swap and drop in centre, best known as the PBB Hub which was born from the flood relief outreach hub. Sally been a member of Maternity Choices Australia since 2010 where she is currently Company...

Today, Oni Blecher speaks with Zoë Rose Gameau to hear Zoë's breech birth story. Zoë is a mother of two girls and lover of nature. She lives with her daughters in a tiny studio home nestled amongst the trees and streams of the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.  Her current work is in creative development as Executive Producer at a sustainable film production company, Green Thumb Media.  In the p...

Today, Oni Blecher speaks with Fiona O'Shaughnessy. This is the third part in a series discussing the issue of the proposed changes to privately praciting midwives insurance in homebirth. For more info and a background to this issue, please listen to the previous 2 episodes with Fi. They are short episodes and worth a listen! Fiona calls for letter writing to local MPs in this episode. Please see...

Welcome to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond: Contemporary Conversations where stories, science, traditions and new ideas meet. I’m Oni Blecher and your host today. Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond Media, our development team and contributors pay our respects to indigenous elders past, present and emerging.  We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, the Arakwal people, the Minjungbal people and the...

Today Oni Blecher interviews Jenny Blyth.  Jenny has supported parents in natural birth for over 40 years. She is an independent birth educator, bodyworker, Associate Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy, Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer, Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner & Trainer, & Internal Pelvic Release Work Practitioner & Trainer. Her particular focus is on body preparation for birth...

Today Oni Blecher speaks with Anna Watts. Anna is the Founder of Celebration of Birth , and has been guiding women and their partners through the journey of pregnancy and birth for over 30 years. Anna believes in honouring and celebrating birth as a ‘rite of passage’ for mother, father and baby, supporting empowered birthing choices and strengthening the spiritual connection in pregnancy and birth...

Today, Oni Blecher speaks with Fiona O'Shaughnessy. Fiona is a mum of 3, doula, childbirth educator, independent consumer representative for the Northern NSW LHD and a consumer advocate, representing the charity Hygieia Health. She's speaking to us today in her capacity working with Hygieia. This is an update episode from our last episode with Fiona titled 'Proposed Changes to Homebirth in Austral...

Today, Oni Blecher and Naomi Jannsen both speak with Dr. Oscar Serrelach. Naomi joins us as a guest interviewer for this conversation with Oscar Serrelach for the upcoming Postpartum Conference hosted by Well Supported Mother.  Dr Oscar specialises in postnatal depletion and his medical expertise centres around optimising Mothers health and wellness. “He deeply believe that if Mothers are well, fa...

In this epsiode, Oni Blecher speaks with Edie Barltey. Edie is a Sexologist and Art therapist with a background in psychotherapy. Edie has also complted her doula training and has assisted birth. Her approach as both a therapist and a human being is open minded, non-judgmental and heart centred.  Edie’s work aims to normalise conversations around sex and pleasure and the social and cultural discou...

Today I speak with Sali McIntyre and Naomi Jannsson. Sali is an antenatal educator, author midwife, Arvigo practitioner and teacher, and mother of four adult children, all born at home. She also runs Heart and Soul of Wellness which is a wellness centre in Murwillumbah where she runs pregnancy and postpartum groups, amongst many more offerings.  Naomi is a traditional medicine practitioner, with o...

In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks with Fiona O'Shaughnessy. Fiona is a mum of 3, doula, childbirth educator, independent consumer representative for the Northern NSW LHD and a consumer advocate, representing the charity Hygieia Health. She's speaking to us today in her capacity working with Hygieia.  Hygieia Health is dedicated to the sacred work of birth and the impact it has on the physical, e...

"This is so needed!" PBB weaving love into our community In this episode, Annalee and Sally, two of the founders of PBB Media and former presenters of our show, get together to discuss the history of our Outreach Hub, how it started and how it has evolved over time and all that it has to offer our community. The PBB Outreach Hub offers free baby and toddler clothes every Friday from 10am at the CW...

In this episode, Oni Blecher interviews Tallulah and Xanthe. Both are Bachelor of Midwifery students in the final year of their studies.   Tallulah grew up on Bundjalung Country and was immersed in a community that favoured an integrative approach to healthcare and wellness, Tallulah felt an innate pull to participate. Along her journey, she felt a deep calling to support women and families, natur...

In this episode, Oni Blecher interviews Naomi Jannson. With over 20 years of experience as a health professional, Naomi weaves a wealth of expertise from diverse healthcare settings to provide clinical care and education.  Naomi inherited a strong relationship with Traditional Medicine from birth, growing up within a Traditional Medicine household and now practising as a second generation Chinese...

In this epsiode, Oni Blecher speaks with Amanda Banks, co creator and producer of the new film Born at Home. Empowered by the homebirth of her second child in 2020, Amanda, together with long term dear friend Eleanor, set out to create a film exploring Homebirth in QLD. Amanda is mother of two children, both born at home. She has always had a passion for health which led her to works as an Acupunc...