Almost 1 in 5 babies spend time in the Special Care Nursery (SCN) or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Australia. For the mothers of these babies, postpartum is very different to what they planned or hoped for and there’s often a distinct grief that accompanies the stress of having an unwell or premature baby. We can encourage new mothers to organise meal trains and lie down at every opportunity but we also need to make space for those who are sitting for hours on end in hard hospital chairs, heart aching for their baby and juggling hospital and family life.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

424 Postpartum | Brylee, hydrops fetalis, foetal medicine team, amniocentesis, thoracentesis, caesarean birth, NICU

A Podcast of Mothers' stories of childbirth. Weekly interviews with mothers giving their first hand accounts of child birth in Australia. Designed to help educate and inform first time pregnant women, parents wanting to have better subsequent births and birth enthusiasts who love to hear and tell birth stories. An entertaining and heartfelt resource for pregnancy, labour and delivery and postpartum.

Kids & Family

Parenting

In today’s episode Ashlee details her long fertility journey including her choice to have gastric sleeve surgery. She conceived baby Luca on her first IVF transfer and chose private obstetric care alongside the support of a student midwife.

471 | Ashlee, one baby, gastric sleeve surgery, IVF, placenta previa, private obstetrician, student midwife, iron infusion, PPH, breastfeeding

In this episode Abby shares her third pregnancy and birth story. She opted for shared care with her GP, a decision that really suited her busy family life and offered her continuity of care with someone she trusted. Her third trimester was challenging - she had significant pelvic pain which prevented her from exercising, she moved house and her iron levels were really low so each day was punctuated with significant fatigue.

470 | Abby, three vaginal births, gp shared care, public hospital, pain-free birth, physiological birth, breastfeeding

For Gen and her baby Robbie, a variety of challenges created the perfect storm of unsettled sleep habits. She takes us through her first year and the three different sleep supports she used. She admits that she still feels conflicted about the choices she made but she’s also comforted by the fact that she’s got a healthy baby and she’s now a physically and mentally healthy mum.

469 Postpartum | Gen, breastfeeding, unsettled sleep, mother and baby unit, sleep consultant, sleep training, sleep school

Gen shares every aspect of her fertility, pregnancy and birth experience in this honest and hilarious episode

468 | Gen, infertility, miscarriage, IVF, hyperstimulation, private obstetrician, induction, epidural, vacuum-assisted birth, episiotomy

Gemma shares her unexpected pregnancy with twins. She shares the emotional rollercoaster of disbelief and excitement and the impact of the twins on her planned model of care for the pregnancy.

424 Postpartum | Brylee, hydrops fetalis, foetal medicine team, amniocentesis, thoracentesis, caesarean birth, NICU

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