DiscoverBirth Choices
Birth Choices
Claim Ownership

Birth Choices

Author: Alice Godfree and Elysia Hansen

Subscribed: 0Played: 0
Share

Description

The Birth Choices podcast uncovers the choices available to you in pregnancy and birth. By showcasing personal stories of birth choices — interviewing women and birthing people about how they chose and experienced their model of care, and speaking with experts in each of these domains, we aim to leave you feeling informed, able to make autonomous decisions, and ultimately confident in your innate ability to birth. 


https://www.instagram.com/birthchoices_

10 Episodes
Reverse
In this episode we speak Fiona Hallinan and Agia Nenke, midwives and internal pelvic release practitioners, about the role of the pelvis in understanding labour and birth, the role of soft tissue and the impact of tension, perineal massage (or more relevantly, perineal kneading, and what not to do!), spinning babies and how to best support women and babies bodies to work together and minimise trauma both emotionally and physically when doing the birth dance.Fiona and Agia speak beautifully ab...
In this episode we hear from co-host Alice and her husband Dave about their road from birthing in a private hospital under private obstetric care, through the grief of two miscarriages, to then birth at home via a publicly funded homebirth program. Alice looks back on her first vaginal birth, which she emerged from feeling victorious, now through the lens of greater understanding of birth and the role that her model of care and place of birth played in influencing the dynamic in the birth spa...
In this episode we speak with obstetrician Dr Natalie Elphingstone about her obstetric training and how that contributes to a certain dominant philosophy of birth, her road to “doing” less and learning from and collaborating with midwives and doulas, the question of obstetric care for “low risk” or uncomplicated pregnancies, homebirth, curating postpartum support, and your choices in caesarean section. As you can see, this is a juicy one, and a must listen for all entering the maternity setti...
In this episode we speak with Karli Smith, a doula with a background in international human rights law and humanitarian aid, who now spends her time supporting women and birthing people on an individual and broader systems level in advocating for rights in maternity care. We speak about the role of doulas in pregnancy, birth and postpartum, the power and magic of birth and having someone hold you in your vision for birth, the importance of informed consent and autonomous decision-making in bi...
In this episode we hear from our very own Elysia, as she and her husband Andrew give us a snapshot of their first three birth experiences — the first two in integrated birth centres in the UK, the third in a Melbourne public hospital, before delving into what led them to choose homebirth for their most recent birth of baby number 4, at home via a publicly funded homebirth program. We discuss the cultural and social influences on your choices around how and where to birth, as well as the ...
In this episode we welcome back Dr Hazel Keedle to discuss all things vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC). We speak about her research that collated in her book, Birth After Caesarean: Your Journey to a Better Birth, what informed consent looks like in this space, the benefits of relationship-based care, the four contextual factors impacting on women’s experiences of VBAC, and how the ripple effect of a positive VBAC can echo through communities and pass down through generations. Links:- Bir...
In this episode we speak with postpartum doula, Jules Meyer of @flo.to.grow, about her experience of the “cascade of intervention” in her first birth following induction, her journey of preparing for a vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC), the ongoing advocacy required through her pregnancy, and birth, and how it felt to birth her second baby vaginally, both in those minutes and hours post-birth, and now, weeks into her postpartum. She reflects beautifully on the shift from being what she tho...
In part 2 of our mini-series on care provider choices we speak with Dr Hazel Keedle, lead researcher on Australia's largest survey on women's experiences of maternity care, the Birth Experience Study (BESt). We discuss the findings explored in a few key papers emanating from the responses of 8,804 women to that survey, including key findings around “what women want if they were to have another baby”, as well as the strengths and and limitations of different maternity models of care accessed b...
This is Part 1 of our care provider choices mini-series. In this episode we walk you through the care provider options available to you for pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. We discuss care under the public system - from fragmented general care, to caseload/MGP continuity models, publicly funded Homebirth, and shared care with a GP or private midwife, as well as care from private midwives and private obstetricians. Choosing your car provider matters, and it shouldn’t just be a case of whe...
Welcome to our introductory episode for birthchoices — the podcast. Meet co-hosts Alice and Elysia who introduce themselves and discuss their plans for the podcast — a platform to share digestible evidence and stories from families, as well as insights from experts, about the range of choices available to you in pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Comments 
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store