It would be reasonable to assume that the care one provides is the care one would be happy to receive. But this is not what new research reveals. Today on Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond Annalee Atia speaks with Sharon Stoliar - researcher, academic, midwife and Mother. Sharon received her Bachelor of Nursing in 2006 and Graduate Diploma in Midwifery in 2008 from UTS. She later obtained a Master of Public Health and Master of International Public Health from UNSW. Her recently published research aro...
Aug 31, 2022•1 hr
Today our host Rose is chatting with Catherine Bell about the need for better maternity care for rural women, consent and communication in maternity care, the need for rural midwives and policy change, and more. Catherine Bell is the Birth Cartographer and creator of The Birth Map, an innovative approach to birth preparation. She is undertaking her PhD to evaluate the potential of The Birth Map in facilitating communication and decision making in maternity services. As a community activator, she...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Today's episode is with Klyne Love, who shares generously about her experience with single motherhood throughout floods, housing crises and a lot of grief. Despite being a heavy topic, Klyne has a spirit of hope and optimism and holds a beautiful vision of a more mother-centred world, reflected in the work she does with mothers. Single motherhood has taught Klyne so much about herself, about care, community, wellbeing and complex social and cultural issues relating to how we look after each othe...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Jerusha Sutton is a doula, birth videographer, actor, and recently, one of the faces behind the documentary 'Birth Time'. In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks with Jerusha about life since Birth Time; what's happening in the Birth Time movement and where key researchers are at with the aligning Birth Experiences Study. Enjoy this conversation and find Jerusha through @jerushasutton www.jerushasutton.com.au @birthtimeworld www.birthtime.world...
Aug 01, 2022•52 min
Welcome to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond! Today we bring you a special podcast recorded in May 2020 for World Maternal Mental Health day. Birth Trauma Awareness week 2022 just concluded with a powerful theme this year on Birth Injuries. Our panel discussion raising awareness of maternal mental and other health issues with experts and mothers is as timely and relevant as ever. We hope you enjoy todays long form discussion. For questions and comments on this podcast email us at hello@pbbmedia.org Ou...
Jul 25, 2022•2 hr 8 min
Dr Ella Kurz is a midwife from Ngunnawal Country in the ACT. Today we chat through her work in maternal and child health research at the University of Canberra, as well the term 'parturescence' she coined in her PhD to refer to the opportunities for transformation made possible through childbirth. Ella was awarded the Stephen Parker medal for outstanding thesis for this work. She recently co-edited the anthology What We Carry: Poetry on Childbearing (Recent Work Press, 2021) and authored My Moth...
Jul 04, 2022•52 min
Allison Davis joins us today from New Mexico, USA. Allison is a counsellor, educator and researcher of maternal mental health. Today we discuss the ecological domain of matrescence - learning to approach the challenges and struggles with a viewpoint of growth and transformation. We look at how our evolution can mirror the evolutionary processes of nature and how we can align ourselves with nature's desire for growth. Allison's work focuses on the development of mothers' psycho-ecological growth ...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Today's guest is Sarah Smits, who joins us from Lake Atitlan in Guatemala where she is learning traditional Mayan practices. Sarah is a home birth midwife, lactation consultant and body worker who incorporates her experience of travelling the world and learning about traditional midwifery practices, to provide holistic care to women and families, whilst supporting other birth workers on the path of reclaiming birthing wisdom as women’s wisdom. Today we discuss home birth midwifery practice, trad...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Hi out there to our listeners, its Annalee. It is Tuesday, 8th of March in 2022. We are bringing you a special bulletin on the catastrophic flooding in Northern NSW, Australia. In the early hours of Monday 27th February, a little over a week ago, heavy rains causing what was already severe flooding, took a fast turn and created what has been deemed by some scientists as a ‘rain bomb’. The scenes across Northern NSW have been nothing short of harrowing and the community response as a result a pow...
Mar 08, 2022•50 min
Lissie Turner is our guest today on Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond. Lissie is a mother, blended family parent, foster carer, grandmother and an accomplished radio host and producer in the music industry. She is the creator of several renowned Yoga and wellbeing programs and spaces including The Yoga Shack along with her Husband Shane, both of whom avid surfers. Lissie is also a fellow Vagina (as we are lovingly called by the producer of the Vagina Conversations, Zenith Virago) and is working on her...
Jan 12, 2022•46 min
Midwifery in Private Practice, Mothers & Babies 2021, March of Midwives and deskilling in Maternity Care In this episode of Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, we catch up with privately practicing Australian Midwives Astra Joynt and Sunae Reilly. We chat deskilling in midwifery and the maternity care profession, the latest Mothers and Babies report from the Australian Institute of Health Welfare, March of the Midwives in the UK, vexatious reporting in Midwifery and what it takes to be a Jedi Midwi...
Dec 23, 2021•53 min
This is a special edition interview coming from the SheBirths podcast ! In this conversation, Annalee Atia from Maternity Choices Australia and PBB Media speaks with Nadine Richardson about how adverse times can further inspire us to commit to being responsible in advocating for our choices in Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond. This is not a 'how to' guide, rather a reminder of human rights in healthcare settings, specifically in the pregnancy, birth, and parenting realms. These times are confusing f...
Nov 30, 2021•1 hr 22 min
During this pandemic, there has been a huge increase in the demand for home birth in Australia and private practicing midwives are being flooded with calls from women and birthing people looking to birth outside of the hospital system. However, the regulations and education pathways for private practice midwifery are yet to change, and issues around accessibility and affordability remain. So how did we get here? When the research continues to show that home birth is the safest option for birth p...
Oct 12, 2021•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, Oni Blecher interviews Eva Rose. Eva Rose is an internationally renowned Norwegian birth photographer, videographer, documentary filmmaker, doula, and by virtue of all of these things; an activist for many birth issues. Eva is a third generation photographer, and in 1999, when she was 19, Eva Rose started her career in birth photography for a magazine called ‘Pregnancy’. Eva has wholly dedicated her life to being with birth. She’s been showing the wider public the intimacies of ...
Jun 02, 2021•1 hr 23 min
It’s 21st May, 2021 and some months back I caught up with Tori Heath, mother of four with a background in psychology, who has worked in child protection and executive recruitment. We meet to recount the story of her first birth experience. At the time, Tori was a young, fit and healthy pregnant woman, growing up in outback Australia on a 14,000 acre farm, heading to girl’s boarding school in Sydney for high schooling. She later stays on in Sydney for University, eventually meeting her husband an...
May 21, 2021•25 min
If you are someone that understands how important maternity care and the perinatal period are for mother, baby, family and community health and wellbeing, tune in today to learn about vital new research into mothers experiences of maternity healthcare and childbirth in Australia and find out how you can support the study reach more people and become an even more powerful force in improving experiences and healthcare. Today on Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, Oni Blecher speaks with Dr Hazel Keedle r...
Apr 27, 2021•33 min
In March 2021 Totonaca Indigenous birth companions Montse Olmos and Mayte Acolt started a petition titled 'Removing Rebozo Teachings From Doula Trainings'. It was a call to the international birth community and large training organisations, to stop their participation in the cultural appropriation and misuse of the sacred textile, the Rebozo. In this conversation Montse and Mayte generously share on the cultural use, meaning and place of the Rebozo in their Indigenous communities and in traditio...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 49 min
In this conversation, Oni Blecher speaks with Dylan Smith. Dylan Smith is a certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and holistic health educator based in Sydney, Australia, where he runs and operates the Vital Veda clinic for patients and for those who love to nourish themselves with precious herbal elixirs. Aimed at uncovering the root cause of ailments, Dylan shares wisdom through podcasts, teaching programs and travels the world to teach patients to effortlessly integrate foundational techniques int...
Apr 06, 2021•52 min
PBB Special Bulletin/Interview with Alecia Staines, Director of Maternity Consumer Network If you are tuning in from Australia, this is an important message to women, people, families and community members accessing maternity healthcare services. A federal election is coming up and your voice is needed in improving maternity care! Welcome to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, I’m Annalee Atia with a special News Bulletin for Australians listeners today, Tuesday 30th March. I’m speaking with Alecia Sta...
Mar 30, 2021•26 min
In this podcast episode, Oni Blecher speaks to Rhea Dempsey about her recent book launch of 'Beyond the Birth Plan, Getting Real About Pain and Power'. Rhea Demspsey is a childbirth educator, counsellor, doula trainer, and birth attendant, having attended more than one thousand births in hospitals and home settings over the past 30 years. Rhea runs birth preparation workshops, pre-natal classes, personal birth counselling sessions and speaks in presentations and seminars around Australia and int...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 35 min
In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks with Etienne Peirsman. Etienne is a biology and physical education teacher who has been involved with emotional training, encounter work, primal healing and meditation since 1974. He began teaching craniosacral in 1991, and founded several craniosacral institutes in Belgium and the Netherlands. He is the founder and director of PCSA (Peirsman CranioSacral Academy) in both the Netherlands and New Mexico. He is also the originator of the CranioSacral Professiona...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Nicole Moore, founder of Nappy Free and Birth Into Being Australia, speaks about her passion for nappy free or elimination communication for babies. Recorded by Sally Cusack in March 2019. Presented by Kirilly Dawn at 99.9 BayFM Byron Bay on 24 June 2019. Guest: Nicole Moore https://www.nappyfree.com.au/ Copyright 2021 PBB Media All rights reserved. www.pbbmedia.org...
Feb 14, 2021•28 min
In this episode, Kirilly speaks with Rärriwuy Hick, Yolngu woman, actress, artist, storyteller and the founder of Our Kids Belong With Family - a campaign which she started on 13th February 2017, after her nephews were forcibly removed by Territory Families without following their own kinship protocols or notifying immediate family. In this episode we speak of themes of child removal, the Stolen Generation, the NT Intervention, abuse and violence by the colonial state. Please listen with care, a...
Feb 11, 2021•1 hr 4 min
In this interview, Oni Blecher speaks with Jin Ong. Jin Ong is an Osteopath, Psychosomatic Therapist, Personal & Practitioner Coach. Jin lives and works with her partner and children in the beautiful lakeside town of Wanaka, New Zealand. In the recent years, Jin has moved from practicing solely as an osteopathic practitioner toward training individuals and practitioners on psychosomatics. Psychosomatic awareness is based from the theory that your stored emotions may result in adverse physica...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 12 min
What does birth sovereignty, and decolonising the maternity care system, look and feel like? How does the current patriarchal birth culture impact First Nations women and marginalised communities? How can we re-imagine a birth culture that centres and supports women and birthing people? And how can we all embody the change we wish to see? This episode is a recording of a live panel on 'Birth Sovereignty' by PBB and hosted at the Returning on Bundjalung Country in November 2020. PBB presenter, Ba...
Jan 25, 2021•57 min
“If your c-section is high that means that you’re not supporting people in labour, that’s just a fact.” - Dr Neel Shah A cesarean section, or c-section is the most performed major surgery on the planet, it is also the most controversial. In the many years since they have been introduced, mortality and morbidity rates - the rates which this intervention has been introduced to lower, have increased and women are more likely to die in childbirth in this generation, than their mothers. Today on the ...
Jan 18, 2021•47 min
In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks with Hugh Milne. Hugh Milne is a third-generation Scottish osteopath and now craniosacral teacher and educator through his self-founded education body, ‘Milne Institute’. He spends most of professional time teaching visionary craniosacral work internationally. He was born in 1948 and received his professional training at the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy in London after which going on to receive a rich and colourful variation of experiences and...
Jan 05, 2021•56 min
Around the country and indeed around the world hustling and cajoling, therein the complex webs of healthcare and community lie dedicated individuals and organisations working tirelessly to improve services. There always have been and I suspect, there always will be. When it comes to maternity care it’s no different. Primarily comprised of women and also some men, the improvement maternity services require For this episode of the Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond show, Annalee caught up with the rema...
Dec 15, 2020•55 min
In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks to Muse Lokajickova. Muse practices revolutionary care for the generative systems also known as evolutionary gynaecology. Muse has 15 years of hands-on practice weaving tools from western herbalism, indigenous medicine, and classical Chinese medicine. Her practice is built on her unique methods of uterine repositioning, internal pelvic floor manual therapy and holistic gynaecological care that follows the guiding force of the heart and nervous system. Through ...
Dec 13, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Fiona Katauskas is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author of “The Amazing True Stories of How Babies Are Made’, a children’s book about conception, and childbirth that is relevant to our current social word. Fiona once studied politics at the Australian National University, and travelled extensively, working in overseas aid and human rights. After that, she became a full time cartoonist, with work appearing in a wide range of publications, like Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, The ...
Nov 22, 2020•1 hr 1 min
