Few people can genuinely claim to have changed the course of healthcare but Caroline de Costa could do just that. Not that she would, for her - pioneering change and fighting for women's rights in healthcare is just part of the all-encompassing job of an obstetrician.

With a career spanning decades, Caroline has been on the frontline of ensuring women have active choice over their reproductive health, from fighting for abortion rights in Ireland early in her career, to pioneering access to medical abortion services in Australia. Those rights are still under attack and so to take inspiration from Caroline's work is particularly galvanising. 

Join Kara in this fascinating conversation with Caroline, the first female professor of Obstetrics in Australia, author and trailblazer.

In our final episode for season 6, Kara talks to Dr. Imogen Hines about Induction of labour, specifically planned induction and the surprising reaction it can prompt.

As an orthopedic doctor, Imogen was no stranger to research and so when she found out she was pregnant she didn't hesitate to put that to the test researching the birth that was going to be best for her and her baby. Based on her findings and on her personal situation she decided to book for a planned induction at 39 weeks.

As a public figure, Imogen was expecting to hear multiple opinions on her decision but she did not anticipate the level of negative comments, even vitriol, that would come her way

As well as speaking openly of her own experience, Imogen and Kara discuss induction at length including the ongoing impact of the Arrive trial and being pregnant when everyone seems to have an opinion on your choices. She also shares fascinating insight on the ongoing gender inequity in surgical training and how women continue to be pushed out by unnecessary structural barriers.

In this episode we are thrilled to welcome back to the podcast, Amy Dawes - co-founder and CEO of the Australasian Birth Trauma Association to talk with Kara about informed consent. This was the theme of this year's birth trauma awareness week and Kara and Amy do a deep dive on just why it is so important.

When Amy was last on the podcast she spoke openly about her personal journey of birth trauma and living with levator avulsion. Now, some years on we welcome her candor as she talks about her own life and the directions it is now taking her.

This is a fantastic and important conversation that covers many aspects of why informed consent in healthcare is the cornerstone of supporting and caring for women through pregnancy, labour and birth.

Hayley is a qualified trauma counsellor and mum of two. With her education and expertise she felt well equipped to manage her own trauma from sexual assault, particularly when her first birth was straightforward.

Going into her second Hayley felt prepared and excited. However, in the midst of her labour and birth she found herself disassociating and unable to reach anyone who would be able to help her. Bravely sharing her raw yet insightful story, Hayley teaches us how past trauma can impact pregnancy, labour and birth. 

Alex and Hayley discuss her personal experience of birth after sexual assault but also discuss more broadly the things that healthcare providers can be doing to provide true trauma-informed care to victim survivors.

Tune in to this valuable episode now by listening to Season 7 episode 8 at pregnancyuncut.com, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We encourage you to please reach out if you, or someone you know, need support
Sexual assault support services | Sexual assault (reachout.com)

Family is everything to Renee. 

At 95, she is a living legend, and our oldest guest on Pregnancy Uncut. Renee' s memory is impressively sharp and despite her age, her experiences of her five births remain vivid and profound. Renee now has three grown up children, but she also has two children no longer earthside: she is a survivor of her time, to say the least.

Renee is one of ten (10!!) and grew up in a time where resilience reigned and preventable deaths were part of life. She's lived through a world war, and lost siblings to vaccine preventable disease. Perinatal loss was considered a mishap, at least to some, rarely acknowledged and never discussed or supported.

Her most profound and lasting memories as a young mother are of her still born baby, and subsequent death of another baby, at just a few days old. Sounds and the kind of maternity care she received have never left her.  

Renee generously shares her story, and reflects on how much maternity has changed in the last 100 years and how birth experiences imprint on mothers.  She is a living testament to the lasting and deep impact of loss, and the strength and resilience of a generation. 

Join Alex as she talks to Renee about family, bereavement and the changes that she has seen across nearly a century. 

When his partner Maddy went into labour with their second child, Matt was excited to meet the new addition to their family, but a cord prolapse leading to emergency surgery, saw him instead, alone in a waiting room looking at the seemingly motionless hands of a clock. When Baby Wren was born, she required intensive breathing support, and soon afterwards Matt and Maddy had to make the impossible decision to palliate or transfer her to Melbourne to see if specialist help could save her.

Wren spent 8 days in the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne and underwent cooling. Despite receiving the devastating news that she would not be able to live without a ventilator, Matt describes them as some of the most treasured days of his life, and the special memories they created that captured her last moments.

In his grief and trauma, Matt has been mobilised to bring about change. He is an incredible advocate for bereaved parents, creating spaces where they, especially the Dads, have the support and resources they need to support themselves and their families. 

Join Matt as he talks to Alex about the heartbreaking and precious short life of baby Wren, and how they navigated pregnancy and birth after birth trauma and loss.  

After a complex fertility journey and a birth and post-partum overshadowed by Covid, Isla was hopeful that she was through the complexity and her journey to her next baby would be more straightforward. At first, this seemed to be the case - as Isla naturally fell pregnant with second baby Freddie. Everything seemed to be going well when Isla discovered a lump on her breast.

Thinking it was likely nothing, possibly mastitis or something connected to the changes of her body in pregnancy, Isla couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. She persued it further and, after being sent for scans, was told that her hunch had been right - she had aggressive Stage four breast cancer.

Only 33 weeks pregnant at the time, Isla suddenly had to make all kinds of hugely difficult decisions, not just about what was right for her, but also what was the best thing for her baby and she had to do so fast.

Isla speaks of the enormous support she found in community groups, two of which can be found here:

Cancer Chicks.
https://www.instagram.com/cancerchicksau?igsh=dHMzNHFvNTdjeDd2

Pregnancy With Cancer Support Group. (Note, this is a private group and you must ask to join)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/168089259921374/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

When Candice took her baby boy Emmett home from hospital he had twice failed the standard hearing tests. However, no one seemed too concerned,  her pregnancy had been uncomplicated and everything seemed well. However an outpatient audiology consult that should have taken a couple of hours, lasted nearly a full day and maternal instinct started tingling.  At the end of that day she was told that Emmett had permanent hearing loss on one side and they were referred for further testing and consultation.  

Congenital CMV was listed as one possible cause and there followed a whirlwind of appointments  and tests to arrange to determine exactly what might have caused the hearing loss. Candice and Isaac had never heard of CMV and they took to google, quickly heading down a whirlwind of their own. The symptoms of CMV vary wildly, are often difficult to diagnose and may only present later in life.

Testing confirmed that Emmett had CMV and the next few months were absorbed by days of testing and appointments. Emmett is now a happy boy, developing and learning well - navigating around his hearing loss and Candice is confident that with their support, he will be able to take on the world. With the benefit of hindsight, Candice reflects that there is little she could have done differently, with the precautions to prevent CMV being virtually impossible when living with a toddler and the prevalence of infection being so high.

This episode includes a bonus mini-discussion of the complexities of CMV following Kara's interview with Candice. 

In this episode we side-step from our usual content to hear the considered insights of Dr. Nisha Khot.

Nisha grew up, studied and practiced to become a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in India - where 'a feminist was born'.  After further training and working in the UK she landed on Australian shores, practising and training the next generation of O&G specialists, many (including our co-host Kara) are all the better for it. Working as a consultant, Nisha realised that the injustices she was seeing were not going to be fixed by a magical ‘someone’ and so took it upon herself to do something about it.  As a fierce advocate of equity in healthcare and medicine, she is now the Vice-President of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), and is committed to ensuring the future of the profession has women at its very core .

Join Dr Kara and Dr Nisha as they explore topics close to their hearts and to their practice: the value of diversity, and importance of informed decision-making, and advocacy for gender equity in healthcare.

Pip had always seen herself having a family and as a driven and organised obstetrician she had clear expectations about how, and when, that might happen. But rarely do fertility journeys unfold as we expect.  After an initial miscarriage that instantly her interactions and understanding of the women in her care, she found herself on an IVF journey that would bring heartbreak, complications, twists and turns that she could never have predicted.

Now a mum of four, the family picture belies the journey that Pip and her husband went on to get there. She talks to us about how that journey has shaped every aspect of her, not just as a person but as a doctor as well. Pip’s open and moving conversation with Kara shows how what we see of a person is often only the tip of the iceburg of who they are and the experiences they have had. We carry all our pregnancy experiences in our hearts, those visible to all and those hidden to the outside world.