Keep Birth Wild

In this episode Sophia shares the stories of her two homebirths. Her first birth was long and winding, with many visits from bodyworkers and a hospital visit in an effort to spur along labour after her waters broke, eventually ending in the safe deliver of her son Abel after five days. Her daughter, Bowie was born 20 months later, and her experience of labour the second time around is very different, with it being very fast and powerful.

Sophia is interviewed by Indi as part of the handover of the podcast, as Sophia will be taking over as host of the Keep Birth Wild Podcast in an effort to bring back much needed story-telling medicine.

Sophia is a doula working in Naarm (Melbourne) and living with her two children in the bushy hills along the Birrarung. She speaks about her journey into Rites of Passage and Ceremony as a space holder for expecting and new parents. Her deep belief in the healing properties of community lead her to this work and she hopes that the more we speak about birth as a normal physiological experience, the less we have to fear from it.

Sophia Grant - Sophiagrantdoula

Lisa Wraith - Mimosa Midwifery

Robbie - Essence Midwifery

Steffi Arvanitakis - Sacred Ways of Being

In this episode Jess shares the stories of her two births. Both of her pregnancies were unplanned but very lovingly received. Her daughter was born in hospital, and although the birth was relatively straight forward, Jess describes the experience as traumatic and a catalyst for choosing a very different model of care for her next birth.

During her next pregnancy she explored several options for homebirthing, and opted to have the birth attended by a birthkeeper. She describes the whole experience as an exercise in tuning in to her own intuition and exercising autonomy over her choices.

Jess runs a wonderful women’s circle in the Yarra Valley, and you can follow her on instagram @welcometojessland to find out more about how to access her circle and her new offerings as they unfold.

Photos by Mother Mehndi

Ten Moons by Jane Hardwicke Collings

The Down to Earth Birth Book by Jenny Blyth

Newborn Mothers by Julia Jones

The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode Sarah shares the story of her second birth with her son Freddie. You can find Sarah’s first birth story all the way back in Episode 1, so be sure to head back and listen to that one first if you haven’t done so already.

After sharing Freddie’s fast and furious birth, Sarah goes on to talk about postpartum, tandem breastfeeding, and what she envisions for her next birth.

You can find Sarah on instagram @simplifyfit

Martina is a Mum of 3 crazy, fun, loving and uber cheeky kids! She is a midwife, runs Calmbirth courses, and has just completed her IBCLC certification. She offers her full spectrum services through her business, Hey Baby! Birth & Breastfeeding Support.

In this episode Martina shares the stories of her three beautiful homebirths and her breastfeeding journey through her baby raising years. She brings a unique perspective through her expertise in all things birth and breastfeeding!

Martina recommends:

Birth with Confidence by Rhea Dempsey.

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Sarah Buckley.

Give Birth like a Feminist by Milli Hill.

The Midwives Cauldron podcast

The Aware Parenting Podcast

And this Episode of Rockstar Birth Magazine with Sarah Buckley: https://podtail.com/da/podcast/rockstar-birth-radio/ep02-dr-sarah-buckley-undisturbed-birth/

You can find Martina on instagram here.

Support Keep Birth Wild on Patreon here.

Janelle and her husband are farmers, growing avocados, beef cattle and a market garden. She is religious and after many years of feeling that she may not want children, she left the decision to start a family to God, and conceived not long after. In this episode she shares the story of her pregnancy and birth with her son. Janelle’s birth was overall a positive and life changing experience.

Her favourite books she would recommend for expecting parents are Sarah Buckley’s Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering and Rhea Dempsey’s Birth With Confidence.

Jana Woodhouse is a Melbourne based homebirth, newborn and maternity photographer. Her work captures the beauty of birth and pregnancy and the magic of fresh babies earth side. In this episode Jana shares the stories of her own three births.

Her first birth experience was through the caseload midwifery program at Casey Hospital, where despite developing preeclampsia at 38 weeks she was still about to labour spontaneously and have an unmedicated vaginal birth. Jana left that birth feeling proud, but also traumatised by the way she was treated during the birth by hospital staff.

For Jana’s second birth she opted for care through an obstetrician. She describes the thoughtful, hands-off and attentive trust from both her obstetrician and the midwives who attended the birth.

During her third pregnancy, Jana had persistent bleeding and a miscarriage scare. She explored several care options through her pregnancy and ended up having a beautiful birth at home with a private midwife.

You can find Jana on instagram @janawoodhousebirthandbabies

Visit the episode web page at https://www.keepbirthwild.com.au/episodes/45-jana-woodhouse- 

In today’s episode Sarah is sharing the story of her son Henry’s birth. Sarah was under the care of a midwife through the CMP at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth. She had a fairly straight forward pregnancy and birth where she used the Hypnobirthing techniques, but some extra challenges during postpartum. Sarah also speaks to some of the limitations with the CMP model and whether she would opt for that option again for future births. 

Hypnobirthing Australia

Kate Vivian from Bright Mums - Hypnobirthing Practitioner

Community Midwifery Program - King Edward Memorial Hospital Perth

Julie is a herbalist by trade, a homebirther, a feminist, a doula, a self proclaimed ‘non-vaxxer’, and a devout Christian who has found her way out of a fundamentalist faith. In this episode she joins me to share her observations about the roots of conspiracy theories and deliberate coronavirus misinformation campaigns.

We begin with a look into the infiltration of the alternative left by far-right political groups, specifically through the foothold they have found in the existing anti vaccination sentiment. Julie shares her journey to exiting fundamentalist faith, of living in Hong Kong during the SARS epidemic, and of her close observation of the rise of conspiracy thinking and deliberate misinformation that has unfolded during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We discuss our own Covid-19 vaccination choices, and some pieces around living and thriving in a time of increasing global crisis.

It Is For Freedom – Julie’s blog that began as a resource for women exiting fundamentalism and ended up morphing into tackling conspiracy theories and disinformation as well. 

Julie’s story of a journey from legalism to grace:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 

What has fundamentalism & patriarchy got to do with election & Coronavirus disinformation?

Institute for Strategic Dialogue – Powering solutions to Extremism & Polarisation

The Global Network on Extremism & Technology - Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism

Redemptive History and Theology 

Dr Sara Marzouk

 Sarah Stogryn

Dr Aviva Romm on wellness during Covid

 Therapeutic Goods Administration Covid 19 Vaccine Weekly Safety Report

Julie Bell is a mother of four, a doula, herbalist, Christian, feminist, and the creative genius behind Blissful Herbs.

In this episode Julie shares the births of her four children. She conceived for the first time while living in Hong Kong and working in foreign aid, and ended up giving birth in her ancestral homeland, Ireland. Julie’s first birth was a homebirth under the care of a private midwife, who was hands off and allowed Julie to intuitively travel through her labour and birth. Julie’s second baby was born in a shopping mall in New Zealand, after she went into labour with almost no notice and ended up birthing in a breastfeeding cubicle in the parents’ room! Her next birth was again in New Zealand, at home and under the care of a private midwife. There was some complications in this birth and Julie shares about how she navigated a tricky birth and advocated for herself to achieve her homebirth. Eight years later she fell pregnant again, and delivered her fourth baby, and first son, at home in Australia.

Throughout her birth stories Julie has woven many pieces of wisdom she has picked up as a doula and mother. She shares her experiences of freeing herself from fundamentalist Christian faith, of living through the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong, and speaks to her vision of what an alternative maternity care model could look like.

In this episode Rachel shares the story of her son Patricks birth. Rachel had a really straight forward conception and pregnancy and shares some special moments from that time, including when she discovered that she was pregnant and told her very clucky partner Liam that he was finally going to be a dad!

Rachel chose to have a big birth team with lots of family and friends, as well as her midwives, to offer support and wisdom through her labour and transition to motherhood. She shares about the different roles they each had during her birth, and how loved and supported she felt to have all of them there. Rachel takes us through each stage her long labour, and the relief she felt when her baby was finally born. 

As Patrick was being born, Rachel tore quite badly and needed an extended repair, which her midwives were able to do at home. Her description of the love, care, and attention to detail she felt from them during the repair, and her reflection of the way that that type of care, if given routinely, could create a ripple effect and change the world, is breathtaking. 

Rachel also briefly speaks about her experience of late onset postnatal depression and I would like to flag that she briefly mentions suicidal thoughts. If you’re not in a space to hear that part of the story, just pause the episode after her midwives go home and Rachel, Liam and Patrick are alone for the first time as a family of three. 

Link to donate via Patreon https://www.keepbirthwild.com.au/donate