Pregnancy Uncut

Young and head over heels in love, Sarah was thrilled to welcome her first baby into the world with her loving husband by her side. To the outside world, they looked like the perfect young family. Inside their home it was a very different story. Challenges arose after difficulties around breastfeeding with inverted nipples. Determined, Sarah persevered. However as the emotional and practical help from her partner began to ebb away, the challenges became greater and greater. When her second child arrived in quick succession, Sarah found herself trapped in a controlling and disrespectful relationship. This story explores the subtleties of domestic abuse, a singular violent episode, gaslighting and Sarah's recovery from depression and mental breakdown. We are aware of the chilling statistic that one woman a week is killed in Australia by their current or former partner. Underneath this statistic, are thousands of women who are trapped in emotionally abusive, controlling or coercive relationships, whose very means of survival, sense of self, and capacity to leave have been stripped away. Sarah’s story is a powerful voice of one woman who shall no longer be silenced. 

Being young, fit and healthy, Gabrielle naturally thought her first pregnancy would progress smoothly. Having never known anyone who had experienced or spoken about miscarriage, Gabrielle’s world was rocked by the loss of her first pregnancy. Despite being surrounded by people in New York City, she felt completely alone. Where were the people who understood, the women who had been through something similar, to be with her and to hold her? This was to be the first moment that led Gabrielle to start Gather - a Collective Space for Women, on her return home to Melbourne. Gabrielle also takes us through the subsequent births of her children and how they inspired her to undergo a complete career change and retrain as a Birth Doula . Gabrielle shares the story of her massive postpartum hemorrhage following the birth of her first child, the disconnect in her care experience in her second birth, and finally the healing experience of her third birth. Covering everything from mother guilt, to the importance of the postpartum period, to the beauty of matrescence. This is a story of the birth of a Doula. 

When Holly decided that she wanted to have a baby, her journey to parenthood was anything but straightforward. Holly discovered that she had the ‘Infertility Trifecta’. Unable to conceive naturally due to an ovulation disorder, Holly was also considered ‘socially’ infertile as a Queer person and as a single woman. Undeterred, Holly embarked on the arduous journey of IVF and single parenthood by choice. Holly shares with us the joys and challenges of solo parenting, as well as the trials of navigating the infertility and hospital systems as a queer single person, in a system that is designed at every step to assume the pregnant person is one half of a traditional family unit. 

Holly also shares with us her experience of contracting COVID-19  in 2020 and passing the virus onto her partner, a trans man with cystic fibrosis who was nine months pregnant. Holly and her partner were placed into mandatory isolation in hospital with their children, and were not allowed to leave their rooms, even to visit each other. Her partner gave birth during this time in hospital and they made medical history as the first non-caesarean COVID birth in the world. Holly shares the trauma that persisted after her diagnosis of Covid, and the stigma of contagion that followed her and her partner out of hospital, drawing parallels to the history and politics of ‘Queer Fear’ and the stigma of infection. 

Kaillee was only 25 weeks pregnant with her much wanted IVF twin pregnancy when her partner Chris started to feel unwell after a trip to the supermarket. It was 2020, in the very early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. Kailee was working from home and taking every precaution possible to avoid exposure to this new virus and keep her babies safe. By the time Chris’ results came back seven days later, Kaillee felt the first symptoms of infection emerging. As Chris got better, Kailee rapidly declined. Gasping for breath, and feeling like she was drowning, Kaillee found herself in an ambulance being rushed into the hospital. Her babies had stopped moving normally as they struggled to conserve their energy, as the oxygen flowing through their placenta became increasingly compromised. Before being rushed to ICU and intubated, Kaillee recalls saying goodbye in her mind to her babies. ‘Keep my body alive for them’ she begged her partner. In case I don’t wake up to meet them. 

As a senior paediatric and Special Care Nursery (SCN) nurse for 16 years, Gemma knew all there is to know about looking after premature and unwell babies. But when she discovered she was pregnant with twins, she was suddenly faced with the possibility of having her own complicated pregnancy and preterm babies. Twins pregnancies are at a significantly higher risk of being born early, with around half of twins arriving less than 37 weeks. One in ten sets of twins are born very early, at less than 32 weeks gestation. In this episode, Gemma tells her story of her twin pregnancy, complicated by threatened premature labour, decreased fetal movements, and placental complications, which led to the emergency preterm birth of her baby boy Lennox and baby girl Pippa. Gemma then takes us through her experience of the SCN journey as a mother, and how it differed from being on the other side of the clinician / patient divide. Gemma shares her insights into what it is like to have two babies in SCN, the challenges of feeding and caring for two premature babies, and what she has learnt to guide her as she continues to look after families with their own premature and unwell babies. 

When Greg's son Riley was born, Greg's life felt complete.  Together with 3yo daughter Olivia,  Greg and his wife Catherine enjoyed a blissful few weeks in their newborn bubble getting to know their beautiful boy. But on Day 27 of Riley' life, something changed. Riley was suddenly less interested in breastfeeding and had developed a slight cough. The next day, in an abundance of caution, his parents took him into hospital for a check up, feeling confident he would be home that same day. Only four days later Riley had died. Whooping cough, an insidious, but wholly vaccine preventable disease, had claimed baby Riley's life. At only one month old, Riley was too young to be vaccinated. His devastated parents discovered shortly after that a vaccine for pregnant women had been recently recommended in other countries to protect newborn babies in-utero, however this was not yet available or offered in Riley's pregnancy. Incredibly, Greg and his wife Catherine dedicated themselves to bringing the Whooping Cough vaccine to pregnant women across Australia, creating awareness of vaccine preventable diseases, whilst keeping the memory of Riley alive.

Greg shares with us the time he spent with his newborn son, the nightmare of his sudden illness and hospital stay, and  how, as a bereaved father, he navigated the all-consuming grief and breakdown that can only come from losing a child. 

In Episode 4 we welcome Dr Carmen Brown, who shares her personal story of pregnancy complications. As an Obstetrician herself, Carmen has seen it all before. But when complications arose in her own pregnancy, and Carmen found herself on a tiny airplane being repatriated in an emergency air transfer to a larger hospital, and facing the preterm birth of her son, Carmen discovered how different the experience can be when you are suddenly on the other side of the doctor-patient divide. Carmen takes us through her experience of placenta praevia, bleeding in pregnancy, and the trials of an extended hospital stay in pregnancy.

After sharing her personal story, Dr Carmen explores an issue in pregnancy care that is close to her heart. Dr Carmen is an expert in all things women's health, and she has a particular interest in one incredibly important and often overlooked aspect of maternity care; the shocking health disparities that exist along racial lines.  Dr Carmen outlines the extent to which structural and systemic racism contributes to devastating health inequities experienced by women of colour all around the world. Carmen describes how unconscious bias permeates our health spaces and the impact this can have on women's wellbeing, their experience and their survival. Dr Carmen identifies ways these health inequities can be recognised, women can be empowered to identify and challenge them, and health outcomes can be improved via advocacy and structural change. 

In Episode 3 of season 2, our guest Katy shares with us the unimaginably difficult journey of her three pregnancies afflicted with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG). Like so many conditions affecting women throughout history, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, has historically been dismissed as a personal weakness. At best it has been undertreated, at worst women have been blamed and ignored. Whilst these dark ages are hopefully behind us, there is no doubt there is a long way to go in understanding the debilitating impact that nausea and vomiting, and in it’s extreme form- hyperemesis gravidarum - can have on women and their pregnancies.  We are so grateful to Katy for sharing her story of her dark days of battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum. The overwhelming physical and emotional impacts of severe, persistent and debilitating nausea rendering any mundane task impossible for nine long months is difficult to imagine. Katy shares with us the pregnancy story of her two beautiful children, and of the story of her traumatic first pregnancy that ended in heartbreak. Thank you Katy for sharing your story and adding your voice to this rare and little understood condition. 

Following on from hearing our guest Jess discuss the challenges she faced feeding her baby Noah in Episode 2,  we have included this special bonus episode chatting to an expert in all things breastfeeding, our Lactation Consultant Amber. Amber provides a beautiful and balanced approach to the challenges of feeding our babies. Amber shares with us her expert tips for breastfeeding, and ways to approach challenges such as cracked nipples, formula top up, and mastitis. Amber is a brilliant LC whose motto is, above all else, be kind. Be kind to other mothers, be kind to each other, and most of all, be kind to ourselves. We hope you enjoy this special World Breastfeeding Week bonus episode of Pregnancy Uncut.