Birthing at Home: A Podcast

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. It was great to speak with Vanessa and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!...

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 her serendipitous surprise, a fourth baby, and the birth story of Henry. This is a beau...

** 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 Eliza for being so open and seeing the value in story sharing. We do talk about 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 postnatal care, and of course her two birth experiences that were extremely different!&nbsp...

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 resulting in a second caesarean. Haley’s story really is incredible, whilst we laugh a ...

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 challenges of her prolapse. Resources: How to Belly MapVideo of Belly MappingI cou...

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 becoming an indepedent private midwife in England and how homebirth works generally in Engla...

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, unassisted. We talk about so much in this episode too, like GBS diagnoses, antibiotics, gut health,...

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 homebirth and birth. Resources Evidence on post dates baby written by Dr Rachel Re...

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. For her second baby, she planned another homebirth with the the publicly funded prog...

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, its transition to life outside the womb and the impact of social media on perceptions and underst...

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 tangents in this episode and we also talk about loss and also the trauma associated with a p...