This week we delve into hearing how the care of healthcare workers influences women's decisions and experiences. Spohia is our guest today and walks us through her two pregnancies and births which had incredibly challenging moments. Sophia is vulnerable in explaining the emotional experience following her first caesarean section which was unwanted, and how much she desired a VBAC for her second birth. She takes us through finding out her second baby has Down syndrome and the processes and support they experienced through that time.

Sophia is so generous in the way she speaks truthfully and openly about her experiences and its insightful to hear how the information she was given, and not given, changed her outcomes as a birthing woman.

We hope you find valuable information within Sophia's story and find a way to bring that into your practice and learning.

Hello and welcome to our last installment for 2021! what a year its been and while we have been very quiet for the past few months we have been working hard to get our uni done and also record more amazing interviews for you.

Today we interview Lucy who is studying direct entry midwifery with kids in tow and a rural living situation. Lucy chats through her experiences of study so far, her yoga background and how this can support women through their pregnancies and births, studying with kids, and the undervalued sacrifices and contributions of students. It was such a thrill chatting with lucy and we hope you enjoy it.

Welcome back Making a Midwife family! Today we have a great episode for you today so get your listening ears ready.

Today we speak with Tylah, a registered midwife working in a Midwifery Group Practice in the Northern Territory. You may have seen Tylah on Youtube, Tiktok or even One Born Every Minute Australia. She is a passionate midwife who is generously sharing her knowledge and experiences with all of us. Tylah also works with women and parents empowering them to feel confident in their journey towards an intentional pregnancy, birth and parenting journey. During her time as a midwife she has made it a goal to immerse and educate herself in any aspect that will increase a woman’s experience training in acupressure, calm birth, water birth, complementary therapies such as reflexology and aromatherapy, optimal fatal positioning as well as participating in further education in breastfeeding, perinatal mental health and currently sleep consulting.

Tylah chats through her experiences and the ways in which her work environments have changed and her journey through midwifery.

Tylah’s social media:
Website: https://midwifetylah.com
Instagram: @Midwife_Tylah
TikTok: @midwife_Tylah
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzOlVJNoBjJ14QQOOLsDU4A/videos

Thank you for joining us for todays episode!

WELLLCOME BACK! Wowzers its been way too long! We are so SO thrilled to be back with you for another episode. Meg and I have been working ourselves silly trying to cram in placements, assignments, study, lectures, kids, work, and #selfcare (I'm kidding! that last one will have to wait until we've graduated) and we have so many plans for our return to the podcast!

Today we have the absolute pleasure of bringing you this chat with Dr Liz Newnham! Liz currently lectures at an Australian university and has done some epic research around the midwife's role in promoting and supporting physiological birth. I found out about Liz by reading a research article she had done around the effect of epidural analgesia use on birth outcomes and she generously shares her findings on that with us too. Liz also talks about studying with kids, the importance of having midwives who are also invested in other occupations, and so much more!

I hope you enjoy our return to the podcast!

Welcome back! This week we chat with the wonderful and recent PhD graduate Dr Tanya Capper from Queensland. Tanya shares her journey through midwifery and current research projects looking into workplace bullying. This is a topic many of us might be familiar with as we navigate our way through many different facilities for placement. It was so interesting to hear Tanya's findings! Tanya also shed some light on a project exploring continuity and incarceration during pregnancy.

This week we are sharing Emilie's story for our 52nd episode! Emilie is based in London and has a varied career to date working in high-risk settings, antenatal education and most recently perinatal education programs working with families in the first year of the child’s life! Emilie is excited to tell you about the Swedish method 'Birth Without Fear' and how you can contribute to a woman’s birth experience and support an emotionally safe birth.

Emilie's Links:
Website: https://birthbyheart.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/swedishmidwife/?hl=en
Susanna Heli’s 2021 eBook: ‘Giving Birth Without Fear’ https://www.booktopia.com.au/give-birth-without-fear-susanna-heli/ebook/9781913568245.html

Hello! welcome back Midweek Midwifery family! Its been a while between episodes as we both juggled placement and family but we are back with an episode that is worth the wait. Today's episode features the beautiful Samantha - A proud Kuungkari, Iningai and South Sea Islander Aboriginal woman. Samantha currently lives in Meanjin (Brisbane) on Jagera and Turrbal country and talks through her winding journey to Midwifery which had stops and starts on the way.

Samantha's journey is incredibly encouraging and shows how important it is to stop when your body and your circumstances is telling you it's needed. She chats through some cultural safety questions and what her experience of study has been like.

I was so encouraged by Samatha's wisdom and advice and I hope you find the same!

This week we are celebrating our 1-year anniversary! Thank you so much for joining us on this crazy journey and helping us build a supportive community of students and midwives world-wide. We have shared stories from students and registered midwives and received so many wonderful stories from aspiring students who have taken the leap and applied for midwifery after hearing an episode. To mark this anniversary we have made the intro extra long as we go over the highs and lows of this year and all things Poddy.
We are also incredibly grateful to share with you our 50th episode chatting with the amazing Professor Caroline Homer, renowned midwifery researcher and the immediate past president of the Australian College of Midwives! Caroline will share her journey to midwifery, her work and a little about the college. Join the college today! https://www.midwives.org.au/user/register

Welcome back #midweekmidwifery fam! This we are sharing our episode with Dr Karin Cadwell an American Nurse and health researcher as well as one of the first International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. Also an international public speaker and even an avid knitter, Karin talks all through breastfeeding, that all important first hour and the impact of rooming in. Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to another fabulous #midweekmidwifery Wednesday!

Today we hear from Jess who studied direct entry Midwifery externally and is now halfway through her grad year!

Jess talks through studying with kids and a FIFO partner, how studying externally suited her, the midwife who inspired her to begin her midwifery and also what it was like doing her final placements and now grad year in a large tertiary hospital. Jess is so encouraging in the advice she gives, she describes the grad application processes she went through and talks about what it's like now having students with her on her grad year!

I hope you enjoy listening to Jess' story as much as I did!