On today’s show we chat with Elise, a midwife and cofounder of Shine Postnatal Services, about her two hospital births. Diagnosed with PCOS, it took two years and a major lifestyle change to concieve thier first child. Elise chose to have a “social induction” at 39 weeks using prostin gel and was lucky enough to have the water birth she desired with no other interventions. During her second pregnancy a cholestasis diagnosis heavily influenced her decision to be induced at 37+6 weeks, and again s...
Apr 07, 2021•33 min
Today’s show is an extra special episode because for the first time on PBA we’ll be hearing from the partners perspective as well. Teisha, a proud Wiradjuri-Yuin woman whose songlines sing from the mountains to the ocean, and Markus, a proud Maori man from Aotearoa, New Zealand, take us on the journey to birth their son on aboriginal land, under a gum and she-oak tree. Although having two drug-free hospital births with her first children, Teisha felt excluded and suppressed by the maternity syst...
Mar 31, 2021•59 min
On today’s show I chat with Danae about her two hospital births. While volunteering in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, Danae was placed in a unit that looked after birthing women. She describes that experience as "stepping into an old pair of shoes", and the inspiration she needed to find her passion in supporting women as a doula. Her first birth, she was induced at 40+6 weeks and although classified as a successful induction, she knew with her second birth that she wanted to work with her bir...
Mar 24, 2021•56 min
On today’s show I chat with the incredibly knowledgable Loz about her two empowering births and what her work as a postpartum doula entails. Loz describes her fist pregnancy as her spiritual awakening, having a deep impact on her in the greatest way. Her waters broke at 38 weeks putting her on the clock for her birth at a birthing centre with a private midwife. Although a beautiful experience, she wanted to eliminate the extra pressures that came with birthing within the system and chose to birt...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Today's show features the beautiful, divine Roxy - my partner's cousin and a fellow Aries sister. Roxy always knew she wanted to be a mum but she had some deep ancestral fears associated with birth that she knew she had to work on to release. We chat about the deep dive she took into learning and living by her cycle, conscious conception and her euphoric labour and birth. Roxy put some serious work into her journey from maiden to mother so there is a vast amount of knowledge we can take away fro...
Mar 10, 2021•54 min
On today’s show I chat with Brylie about her empowering homebirth. After initially planning a hospital birth, Brylie found she didn’t feel aligned with the clinical “ticking all the boxes” type feeling she was left with after each appointment. When she stepped back to think about what she truly desired most during her birth, a woman's nuturing support was at the top of her list. This led her to join a local women's circle to connect with homebirthing midwives and mothers, arming herself with all...
Mar 03, 2021•41 min
On today’s show I chat with Lahni about the births of her three daughters. Lahni’s first pregnancy ended early, just shy of 35 weeks, when her waters broke and she was induced to 'get things going'. Although feeling traumatised by that birth experience, she says it was her spiritual awakening. Choosing to homebirth her second and third babies, she speaks about unexpected anxieties that arose and the contrast between her births. Instagram: @wildflower_journeys Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Bi...
Feb 24, 2021•47 min
On today’s episode I chat with first-time mum, Terri, about her empowering, drug- free, water birth in a hospital setting down on beautiful Gold Coast. Terri’s approach to her birth was of the mindset that knowing less is more, she chose to ignore any traumatic birth stories she was told, and she trusted her innate ability to birth her baby. Instagram: @terrivanderwerf Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, conf...
Feb 15, 2021•38 min
On today's show I have the privilege of interviewing Anita, from The Midwitch Podcast and Instagram, about her two empowering births. Having women around her that only had birth stories filled with trauma and interventions, Anita honed in on her intuition and decided to birth her first child safely at home with the support from a private midwife. After moving states she quickly realised it was financially not an option to have a homebirth midwife present with her second child and she wasn’t feel...
Feb 08, 2021•57 min
On today’s show I chat with a fellow twin mum about the birth of her fraternal boy/girl twins, and her youngest daughter. Kirsten is a go with the flow, cheerful type personality, so it was a welcomed surprise when, after taking Clomid to help conceive, they discovered they were having twins. She went into spontaneous labour at 35 weeks and had the vaginal birth she desired with the use of an epidural. Her second pregnancy she was determined to experience a physiological birth without the use of...
Feb 01, 2021•56 min
On today’s show I have the privilege of chatting to Natalie about her two empowering births. Her first son she birthed at home with the support from a private midwife, and although it was an empowering experience, she looks back and can recognise moments of fear and stress throughout her pregnancy and birth. Two weeks into her pregnancy with her second child, she stumbled across a freebirthing video that ignited her innate intuition and forged the path ahead of her to freebirth her second son, O...
Jan 25, 2021•45 min
On todays show I chat with Sam about the empowering homebirth of her daughter, Isla. After hearing a powerful homebirth story from her hairdresser, she sought out the support of a private midwife to assist her, and her husband, to birth their first child safely at home in their own, peaceful environment. Initially thinking she was much too early to go into labour, her precious girl made her entrance earthside at 38 weeks gestation. We chat about how she dealt with negative comments received abou...
Jan 18, 2021•28 min
On today’s show I chat with Luna about her two birth experiences. After planning her first birth in a birthing centre, a change in midwives led to her having a cascade of unnecessary interventions just as she was naturally about to give birth. Traumatised by that experience, she looked into free birthing when the time was right to fall pregnant again. A shocking cervical cancer diagnosis threatened her chances of carrying a baby as she was told she may not be able to have children in the future....
Dec 28, 2020•50 min
On today’s episode I have the privilege of interviewing Jerusha, one of the co-creators of the new documentary coming out this February called Birth Time. A documentary highlighting the current maternity system and the lack of funding and continuity care for women resulting in unacceptable birth trauma statistics. Aside from chatting about this much needed film, Jerusha, who had been a doula for 10 years at the time, shares with us her own transformative journey from maiden to mother, supported ...
Dec 21, 2020•44 min
Today’s episode I chat with Tina about her two births. Her first was a planned home birth that ended up being in the hospital after an OB diagnosed her with intrauterine growth restrictions, which she still believes to this day was a misdiagnosis. Feeling disappointed by her experience within the hospital system, she went on her own journey of self discovery and expanding her knowledge. When she fell pregnant with her second child, she knew without a doubt that she wanted to avoid the medical sy...
Dec 14, 2020•47 min
Today’s episode I chat with Harriet about her two hospital births. Harriet felt like she was being dragged through the medical system with her first child. She went into labour just after 39 weeks and was caught off guard by how quickly her baby was born. Told by staff she was lucky to have had the birth she did, she looked back on her experience as highly stressful and terrifying. For her second pregnancy, she completed a Hypnobirthing Australia program and found the inspiration and confidence ...
Dec 07, 2020•49 min
On today’s episode I get to chat with the incredibly knowledgeable Holliea about her empowering home birth. At 21 Holliea was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and polycystic ovarian syndrome. After coming off the pill she had no menstrual cycle for three years, eventually being told it would be difficult for her to conceive when the time comes and that her condition was considered “normal”. Heavily depressed and disconnected, she began to seek answers through her own studies. This ignited a passion...
Nov 30, 2020•45 min
On today's episode, Tania takes us through her two incredibly empowering home births. Tania worked as a naturopath in a midwifery clinic where she was constantly surrounded by beautiful, inspiring birth stories. This is what gave her the confidence to bring her babies earth-side in the safety and comfort of her own home, support of her husband and a private midwife. Tania's journey is the greatest example of how strong and capable we are as woman to give birth. Instagram: @naturally.nourished_ M...
Nov 23, 2020•45 min
Rebecca shares with us her incredible journey to motherhood with two extremely different birth experiences, and what it was like birthing during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially terrified of birth, a hypnobirthing course helped her feel connected and fall in love with the process, giving her the vital skill to stay calm when she went into preterm labour at her baby shower, just shy of 35 weeks. That drive led her to create her own business joining her two passions; supporting clien...
Nov 16, 2020•48 min
Today’s episode I chat with Edriana about her cholestasis diagnosis during her pregnancy leading to a planned induction and a natural birth within a hospital. Edriana used the knowledge and skills she learned from a hypnobirthing course to help guide her to the natural birth she desired. She loved it so much, she became a hypnobirthing practitioner to help other women manifest an empowering birth experience like she did. Instagram: @enlightened_birth_and_beyond Website: www.enlightenedbirthandbe...
Nov 09, 2020•35 min
Today’s episode features the beautiful Lyndal talking about her two hospital births. Her first birth she describes as calm but full of interventions. She really wanted a different outcome with her second, and last, child so she hired the support of a doula and completed a hypnobirthing class. Lydnal also briefly touches on her postnatal depression diagnosis after her first daughter's birth and the steps she took to overcome it. Instagram: @lyndalcmagee Doula: @2lifedoula If you think you might b...
Nov 02, 2020•43 min
Today’s episode features an inspiring mother named Brook sharing her beautiful journey to motherhood. She had her first birth within a hospital setting and her second in the bathtub of their travelling home. Brook did a lot of internal work during her pregnancy and really harnessed her inner power during the birth of her son, using the knowledge she learned from hypnobirthing to help guide her to deliver her big, beautiful boy earthside. Instagram: @life.with.essence Mentioned in this episode: S...
Oct 26, 2020•45 min
Today’s episode is focused around fertility. The beautiful Krystal, who started her journey to motherhood later on in life, was diagnosed with endometriosis and found out that she had an extremely low egg count. After failed attempts to conceive via IVF they decided to go down the donor egg path. This is an inspiring story focusing on the types of journeys fertility can take you on and the beautiful reward at the end of that often long, hard road. Instagram: @krystalrubys Mentioned in this episo...
Oct 19, 2020•29 min
Today’s episode features the wonderful Sophia who birthed both her babies within a hospital environment, the second being a healing, calm, water-birth. Instagram: @19_sophia_89 Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour. Positive Birth Australia...
Oct 12, 2020•30 min
Today’s episode is very special to me because it is my incredible doula, Moran, sharing her three birth stories and the enormous amount of wisdom she’s gained in her over 8 years of being a doula. She also touches on some of her mental health struggles after her first daughter’s birth and gives us an insight into life as a doula. Moran features in quite a few of PBA’s birth stories so it gives me the greatest pleasure to share with you all this incredible woman. Instagram: @2lifedoula Mentioned ...
Oct 05, 2020•1 hr 5 min
The wonderful Steph takes us through her two births, the second ending in well, I’ll give you a hint, it’s not a homebirth and it’s not a hospital birth. TRIGGER WARNING: Steph also touches on a miscarriage and her fertility struggles but her journey has a spectacular ending. Instagram: @mrscerqa2012 Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr 1 min
On todays episode, the incredible Michelle shares her three all natural, calm hospital births. Instagram: @michellecaseyyy Baby names: @growlittlewildflower Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour. Positive Birth Australia...
Sep 21, 2020•31 min
Aimé takes us through her two hospital births when she was younger, ending with her third empowering home birth. Instagram: @my_sweet_goodness Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour. Positive Birth Australia...
Sep 14, 2020•40 min
Emma takes us through her incredible (and accidental) home birth that changed her deeply in the most beautiful way. Instagram: @miss_em_maaa Doula: @2lifedoula Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour. Positive Birth Australia...
Sep 07, 2020•55 min
Shana shares her story of a preeclampsia diagnosis during pregnancy and her natural birth within a hospital environment. Instagram: @oursimplebiglife Doula: @2lifedoula Mentioned in this episode: Sacred Birth Affirmations Track This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour. Positive Birth Australia...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 32 min
