The Positive Births NZ podcast

"When I started opening up about my story a lot of people put their hands up to say it had happened to them as well. There's not much information out there and I never thought I'd ever have a miscarriage, so when it happened it was a shock." Gaia shares with us her difficult miscarriage and how it impacted on her physically, mentally, emotionally and how she wishes she'd done...

In this episode we are not talking about a positive birth - but we are talking about a very relevant and relative topic that is familiar to so many women. Miscarriage. After chatting to so many mums on this podcast and hearing many of them share the fact they’d had a miscarriage I wanted to reach out and ask, who would be open to sharing their miscarriage experience.? What if mothers could share t...

“It’s an indescribable feeling” says Tammy about the achievement of being able to catch all three of her babies, all three born in the water. We hear about Sophie's quick and smooth waterbirth at the hospital 10 days past her due date. For Bodhi’s arrival Tammy was out an about doing important things and making a speech when she started labour, this time she had a water birth at home. Then we...

As someone who'd always been fearful of birth and worried about the pain, Danielle made the decision to do some positive preparation which helped her to get into a better mindset. She did a lot of mental, emotion and physical preparation which resulted in feeling 95% excited by the end of her pregnancy. Her labour she describes as "hot and heavy" as it started strong, and progressing...

Strength, courage, teamwork, a beautiful labour at home and a baby in a very unusual position – breech posterior with a twist trying to come out thy first. This is a huge story and obviously there’s a trigger warning as this is not a straight forward birth experience for Sarah and Al. But this story definitely has some most incredibly positive aspects to it which is what we are shining our light o...

A big baby, a pregnancy that went until 43 weeks and shoulder dystocia. Sounds like a nightmare, but oh noooo this was very much a positive birth experience that Emma wants to inspire other mothers with. "Every baby comes in their own time, some are ready earlier, some are ready later" are the words that Emma's midwife reassured her with as she crept past that 42 week mark. Poppy was...

Jaimie connected with me in her 3rd trimester of her 2nd pregnancy after recognizing there were some emotional challenges and anxieties she wanted to work through which stemmed from her first birth experience – a birth where she felt she wasn’t really in the drivers seat. She shares briefly the details of that first birth and then how her and partner Lincoln practiced and used the tools they now h...

Katherine shares her two birth experiences to Poppy and Emme. Please note that her first birth is not a positive birth and if you do NOT feel it would be helpful to listen to a disempowering birth experience please skip to around 25 minutes. We discuss briefly the details around Poppy’s birth, followed by a miscarriage, then move into Katherine’s pregnancy to Emme. After coping with a difficult pr...

Pearl generously shares so much juicy detail about her pregnancy and birth - there's a lot to share about the early stages of her pregnancy, the surprise of it, some funny moments, the rollercoaster ride of emotions as they received conflicting information about baby's safety, the potential impact of the IUD that was in place. Pearl was exceptionally well informed and wanted to do everythi...

Jorgia shares with us her unexpected labour at 33 weeks and subsequent challenges and the journey that followed. Throughout her birth she asked lots of questions, stood up for herself and said no when she needed to - even though she was alone for a lot of it. Our chat together covers a range of topics around the whole birth and time in NICU. Trigger warning: topics that are included are: lockdown...

"I enjoyed the induction process" is what Jess says in this episode. This is quite possibly the most amazing induction story I've heard so far, this is a wonderful story to listen to if you are worried about requiring an induction. Following an incredible story of conception and a few mental and emotional hurdles in her pregnancy Jess found herself in an exceptionally challenging pos...

After a challenging first birth Jane decided it would be best to get her head in the right space for her second baby. She used the Positive Birth in NZ book (with tools and audio tracks) and listened to this podcast to feel more like she could surrender and flow with her birth. She believes that letting go of resistance towards the sensations in labour made a huge difference to her and at NO time...

Grace admits there was some anxiety for her around birth which led her midwife to recommending the hypnobirthing course in her pregnancy to help. She enjoyed a smooth pregnancy until 41 weeks when there was a bit of a 'hiccup' which resulted in a learning curve for Grace as to how other people can affect the way she feels. After declining an induction she trusted her gut, went with the flo...

To celebrate 50 episodes of the podcast at the same time as I turn 50 who better than to have on the podcast than my mum talking about her pregnancy and birth experience to me! We travel back to 1973 where things are quite different! Different attitudes, thoughts, feelings, beliefs. Different ideas, systems, support and very different baby gear! Mum shares her memories of my arrival, her thoughts...

Mindset coach Sara always knew she would be a mum, and when she found herself mid-30's without a partner took matters into her own hands and found an incredible donor to provide her with her baby boys. She shares with us her conception journey, thoughts about birth, her plans and how her first birth did not go to plan. Our chat includes induction, epidural and tongue-tie experiences. In her second...

Gaia made a decision to decline routine testing and scanning in her pregnancy and received midwifery care only until 28 weeks. After this point in time she did not have an LMC, but continued her journey in trusting pregnancy, birth, her body and her intuition. Gaia talks about her previous miscarriage experience, how she made her decisions for this pregnancy; what was it that inspired her to freeb...

Midwife Candice shares the birth of her first baby Mildred. Please note: this story does differ from all other episodes on the podcast in the fact that Candice didn’t do any type of hypnobirthing work with me. Candice had listened to all the podcast episodes in her pregnancy and reached out to me when baby Mildred was born to ask to share her story. She said she’d had a positive birth, and I belie...

If you're looking for a pregnancy and birth story that is very straight forward with absolutely no complications and no curveballs this is one to listen to!! Rosalyn had come to her pregnancy with a positive mindset already - she had NOT been previously exposed to a huge amount negative stories. She came to hypnobirthing to find a set of extra tools to be able to use increase her confidence and mi...

Our second chat with Taylor is about her recent home birth to baby Elle. If you haven't already heard her first birth story you can find it as 'Taylor's hospital birth to Isla' Taylor shares with us the differences in this pregnancy, about her getting to 42 weeks and still no baby and what it was that got labour started for her.  She explains what hypnobirthing tools worked for her, and why s...

Ganna's journey to pregnancy was affected by tokophobia - a fear of pregnancy (and for some women, birth too).  Her birth also involved changing all her plans as she developed pre-eclampsia and needed to be induced. However, she shares how she navigated her way through the pregnancy and birth with the use of a variety of tools. I love how she used her mindfulness, and the affirmations – she t...

Following a traumatic time of her first birth, Rachael decided to get some help with her mindset in preparation of the arrival of her second baby. She reached out to me for some hypnobirthing and hypnotherapy to help release aspects of her past birth and to prepare for a more positive experience. As she says it helped her break through a mental block and feel better about a "fresh start" and...

Homeopath Eugenie shares her two birth experiences with us - and how her initial fear of birth led her to doing the Hypnobirthing course. After the second hypnobirthing session she decided she wouldn't have a fully medicated birth anymore, but went on to plan and successfully achieve a straightforward home, waterbirth. A birth where she felt complete bliss in meeting baby Josh and the feeling that...

Birth is "the most rewarding challenge you'll ever have" is what Rebecca expresses when thinking back to her two children's birth journeys. In her first pregnancy journey with Harvey she shares her experience with not being able to find the right midwife and then the feeling of having to fight the system (and saying no to induction) to get what she wanted.  She talks about how she felt hypnob...

Abby says it was planning, preparation and practise that got her through her birth and what gave her a positive experience. So she shares with us what type of preparation she did in her pregnancy – she practised with her favourite tools a lot and you’ll hear how this worked and how it paid off for her in her birth. She believes the time and energy she put in allowed the affirmations to be “there”...

This episode came about because Elizabeth (who lives in the US) had found this podcast during her pregnancy. After her baby girl was born she contacted me to say it had been so helpful for her to prepare for her birth and would I be willing to share her birth story? Yes of course I was. Despite the fact she really desired a totally natural birth you’ll hear Elizabeth ended up having a heap of inte...