Lauren is a yoga teacher, women's circle facilitator and prenatal yoga educator living in Sydney's northwest with her husband James and their two children, Joel, who is nearly four, and Grace, who is just three months old. From the moment she came off the contraceptive pill, Lauren embarked on a deeply intentional journey into her own body, her cycle, and ultimately, her path to motherhood. She shares two profoundly different yet equally positive birth experiences at the same private hospital, and takes us through the grief, the ritual, the surrender, and the extraordinary moments that shaped both.

Today's episode is brought to you by Once Upon, the app that makes creating photo books surprisingly easy.

You can create beautiful photo books straight from your phone without needing hours of spare time or any design skills. You just choose your photos, arrange them how you like, and Once Upon does the rest.

They've also recently added more colours and pattern options for their photo books, so you can personalise them in a way that feels like you and your family.

I've been using it to capture our family memories and what I love most is that it doesn't have to be the big milestone moments. Some of my favourite photos are the everyday ones — the kids playing in the backyard, family dinners, holidays, little moments that I know I'll want to remember years from now.

And there's something really special about having those memories in a physical book rather than buried in your camera roll. The boys love flicking through old photos and seeing how much they've changed.

So if you've been meaning to create a photo book but keep putting it off, consider this your sign.

Download the Once Upon app and use the code ABS25 for 25% off your photo book order. The code is valid until 27 July 2026.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hannah first shared her birth story in a previous episode (episode 402) a home water birth with her 5.1kg son Archie. Now, four years later, she returns to share the story of her second home water birth with baby August, born at 41+2 weeks and weighing 5.2kg. This episode is rich with clinical insight, raw honesty and the kind of grounded wisdom that only comes from someone who has walked both sides of the birth room. Hannah talks candidly about gestational diabetes, pelvic girdle pain, the mental load of a prolonged latent phase, stretch and sweeps, using a breast pump to encourage labour, and a postpartum haemorrhage that was managed beautifully at home. If you are pregnant, a doula or a midwife, this episode will leave you feeling informed, empowered and deeply reassured.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is part of The Fourth Trimester Village, a four-part series in partnership with Bugaboo exploring what it actually takes to navigate those first twelve weeks after birth. Not just physically, but emotionally, socially and practically. Because we spend so much time preparing for birth, but not nearly enough time talking about what comes after.

Francesca Hung joins us to share her pregnacy and birth expereince. From a pregnancy marked by low platelet levels and a tumble down a cliff face at twelve weeks, to waking at 3:30am on Christmas morning in precipitous labour and nearly birthing her daughter on her parents' front doorstep, Francesca's story is equal parts wild, funny, and deeply moving. She speaks honestly about the delayed emotional connection she felt after birth, the brutal early weeks of breastfeeding, and how living with her parents in those first months gave her the village she needed to find her footing as a mother. This is a brilliant episode for anyone navigating the unexpected in birth and postpartum and a reminder that the village isn't just helpful, it's everything.

You can learn more about Bugaboo and their Kangaroo Pram over at Bugaboo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Hana went in for her thirteen-week scan on a road trip through Western Australia, she was expecting to confirm a due date. What she got instead was the shock of her life — two babies. Identical, monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins, sharing a placenta, and completely unplanned. Having already had two beautiful home births — a water birth with her first son Zephyr in Sydney, and a rapid two-hour birth with her second son Dali through the Byron Bay homebirth programme — Hana had assumed her third birth would follow a similar path. It didn't. But what unfolded was something she now describes as one of the most incredible experiences of her life.

Today's sponsor:

If you’re expecting, creating your dream nursery, or looking for premium baby essentials, now is the perfect time to shop at iL Tutto because our EOFY Sale starts at 9am on Tuesday 16 June.

iL Tutto is Australia’s destination for beautifully designed nursing chairs, recliners, bassinets, CoZee co-sleepers, cots, nursery furniture and baby sleep essentials, created to support families from pregnancy through to parenthood and even beyond!

During the EOFY Sale, you can save up to 40% off sitewide, plus we’ve got an exclusive offer just for the ABS audience. Use code ABS5 at checkout for an additional 5% off sale prices.

There are some incredible savings available. Like the Felix Glider Chair and Recliner in Sea Shell is 40% off, and the Maya Electric Recliner & Glider in our best-selling Eggshell fabric is also 40% off. Then, with our exclusive ABS5 code, you’ll save even more. If you’ve been thinking about investing in a nursing chair, bassinet or nursery furniture, this is one of the biggest sales of the year.

But don’t wait too long, the iL Tutto EOFY Sale ends 1 July 2026.

Shop online at iLTutto.com.au and don’t forget to use code ABS5 for your extra savings. * excludes online bundles.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is part of The Fourth Trimester Village, a four-part series in partnership with Bugaboo exploring what it actually takes to navigate those first twelve weeks after birth. Not just physically, but emotionally, socially and practically. Because we spend so much time preparing for birth, but not nearly enough time talking about what comes after.

In this episode, Sophie speaks with Dr Nicole Gale, a specialist GP, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and founder of Juno Specialists in Richmond, Melbourne. Nicole brings a rare combination of clinical expertise and deep compassion to the conversation, unpacking what the fourth trimester really looks like for mothers, babies, and families. From the biology of newborn sleep and the myths around self-settling, to the emotional complexity of breastfeeding decisions and the very real loneliness of early motherhood, this episode is rich with validation, evidence-based insight, and practical wisdom. Nicole also speaks beautifully about supporting neurodivergent mothers in the postnatal period and closes with a reminder that will stay with you long after you've finished listening.

You can learn more about Bugaboo and their Kangaroo Pram over at Bugaboo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our sale is ending soon!

Save 20% off all courses and products with the code: Ready20

The Birth Bundle - unsually $349 now $279

The Birth Class - usually $249 now $199

All prodcuts books and courses are 20% off untill midnight on the 11th July 2026

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I'm joined by Heidi, women's health physiotherapist and the woman behind Women's Health with Heidi. With over a million followers, she's become a trusted voice in pelvic floor health and postpartum recovery.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, and honestly, I think every pregnant and postpartum woman needs to hear it. In this episode, we talk about:

• Why recovery actually takes twelve to twenty-four months and not six weeks
• What the six-week check does and doesn't tell you about your body
• The truth about diastasis recti and why doing the wrong exercises too soon can set you back
• What's actually happening when everything feels heavy and like it might fall out
• Why getting out for a pram walk is genuinely one of the best things you can do for both your pelvic floor and your mental health in those early weeks.

This episode is brought to you by Bugaboo.

Getting out of the house in the fourth trimester can feel enormous — and having the right pram makes a real difference to whether you actually do it. The Bugaboo Kangaroo is designed exactly for that. All-terrain wheels, one-hand fold and steering, and an XL basket for everything you need to bring. It's a single pram now and a double later, with over 20 configurations to grow with your family. Bugaboo's first tandem pram in 25 years, built because Australian parents asked for it. A certified B Corp working toward net zero by 2035.

Head to bugaboo.com to see the Kangaroo for yourself.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jordan birthed her daughter Hali in the water at the birth centre of the Royal Hospital for Women, supported by her MGP midwife, after just three hours and forty minutes of active labour. She talks about managing symphysis pubis dysfunction throughout pregnancy, using a TENS machine at home, labouring on all fours in her lounge room, and how preparation through the podcast, books and birth course helped her go into labour feeling genuinely open and ready for whatever unfolded.

"I still can't believe I did an unmedicated water birth. But it was the most euphoric thing ever."

If you've just listened to Jordan's story and thought, I want to feel that way too, I would love to support you inside The Birth Class.

Inside, you'll learn from Australia's leading midwives, obstetricians, physiotherapists, lactation consultants and doulas across ten evidence-based audio lessons you can listen to wherever and whenever it suits you. You'll also receive nine guided birth meditations, breathing exercises, an eighty-page workbook, a birth preferences template and a hospital bag checklist.

More than 8000 families have completed The Birth Class, and right now everything in the Australian Birth Stories shop is 20% off. Use the code ready20 at checkout.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever felt blindsided by motherhood — the grief, the rage, the identity shift, the loneliness — this episode is for you. I sat down with Melbourne-based perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist Dr Edna Lekgabe to talk about one of the most profound and under-discussed transitions a woman can go through: matrescence. Edna has a gift for making the complex feel manageable, and this conversation is full of those lightbulb moments — the kind that make you exhale and think, oh, so that's what's happening to me.

About Dr Edna Lekgabe:

Dr Edna Lekgabe is a perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist based in Melbourne, specialising in mental health for women across pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. She is also a mother of two and one of the most warm, wise voices in this space.

This episode is brought to you by Bugaboo.

Getting out of the house in the fourth trimester can feel enormous — and having the right pram makes a real difference to whether you actually do it. The Bugaboo Kangaroo is designed exactly for that. All-terrain wheels, one-hand fold and steering, and an XL basket for everything you need to bring. It's a single pram now and a double later, with over 20 configurations to grow with your family. Bugaboo's first tandem pram in 25 years, built because Australian parents asked for it. A certified B Corp working toward net zero by 2035.

Head to bugaboo.com to see the Kangaroo for yourself.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Renako, a Japanese-Australian creative, marketer and mum of two living on the Great Ocean Road, shares two very different caesarean birth stories. Her first, Kieran, arrived via emergency caesarean at the Royal Women's after being induced at 38 weeks for low amniotic fluid. Her second, Nori, was a planned caesarean at the Frances Perry, calm, joyful, and with a birth team that doubled as a photography crew. Renako speaks honestly about fight-or-flight mode, postnatal depression she didn't name at the time, and the slow, intentional work of coming back to herself.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.