Despite being a health professional, severe perineal trauma was not something Ellie was prepared for, or even aware of, prior to the birth of her baby. 

Following the birth of first baby, Ellie was taken to the operating theatre to repair her perineal tear. Perhaps this was normal, Ellie recalls thinking. Unfortunately, Ellie subsequently learnt that she was one of the 1-in-20 first time mums who had suffered a severe birth injury known as a third degree tear, or injury of the anal sphincter. What followed was a battle to understand and process her experience, followed by a life-long struggle with the effects of her injury, which impacted on every aspect of her life. As a nurse, Ellie was well placed to navigate the medical system. However what she discovered was a complex, and confusing world of post-partum care, where help was disjointed, contradictory, and difficult to obtain. Forced to advocate for herself, with an injury that is almost always hidden and not spoken of, Ellie now wishes to share her journey to help others understand the lived experience of birth injuries. 

As she moved into the start of her third trimester, Lucy’s pregnancy was going beautifully. Feeling lucky to avoid severe pregnancy symptoms at the start of her pregnancy, Lucy was not expecting to feel increasingly unwell as she attended her 28 week appointment. When the midwife found an abnormally high blood pressure, Lucy suddenly found herself at the edge of a slippery slope that led down into a high risk and complicated pregnancy journey. Diagnosed with early onset pre-eclampsia, and with an ultrasound showing that her baby daughter was growing much smaller than expected, Lucy subsequently spent many weeks in hospital attempting to keep herself and her baby healthy. Feeling like a vessel struggling to grow and feed her baby, and battling feelings of inadequacy as a mother, Lucy describes the difficult and unexpected journey of severe preeclampsia and the subsequent pre-term birth of her tiny daughter into the unknown world of the special care nursery.

In Episode 6, our guest Karina shares the story of her first child, baby Georgina, who was stillborn. Karina recounts the joy and excitement of the first half of her pregnancy, and the moment when her world came unexpectedly crashing down. Diagnosed with an extremely severe fetal brain abnormality, Karina and her husband James were forced to make decisions about their pregnancy that no family ever wishes to make. Karina bravely recounts her experience of navigating the devastating world of severe fetal abnormality and the heartbreaking path that follows in honest and beautiful detail. Thank you Karina for sharing this difficult but incredibly important story of the devastating loss of your loved baby, Georgina.

When you’re trying for a baby, the moment you find out you’re pregnant is one of pure joy. But for some, this early pregnancy joy turns to sadness and confusion. For many, the first weeks of pregnancy are consumed with the no-man’s land of ultrasounds, blood tests, and inconclusive results. Our guest Lucy walks us through the complex and confusing experience of her first pregnancy. Having always believed she would have many babies, enjoy pregnancy and labour naturally, Lucy was devastated to experience the loss of her first pregnancy. Compounding this sense of loss, she endured extensive hospital stays, countless ultrasounds, and ultimately, surgery and the prospect of losing her uterus. Lucy shares with us the impact of her experience both physically and emotionally, and how this ectopic pregnancy continues to scar her experience of pregnancy and birth forever. 

For many, birth and pregnancy is a time for anticipation, celebration and joy. 
But for one in five parents, behind the tired smiles and exhausted faces lies a silent sea of anxiety and depression.

Episode Four cuts through this silence.  We speak with Jo about her unexpected descent into postnatal depression with the arrival of her second son, and her pathway to recovery. 

We chat with perinatal mental health expert, clinical psychologist Hannah Jensen, about one of the biggest developmental leaps  in life, the transition into motherhood.  

We explore the difference between baby blues and a post natal mental illness, what red flags to look out for,  risk factors such as birth trauma, and impact on parenting.  We talk about how to get help.

Most importantly we normalise this conversation and de-stigmatise this experience so our community can recognise and effectively respond to mental illness in and around pregnancy.

Episode 3 explores a mother’s tragic loss of her baby at just eleven days old. Candice bravely shares the story of her second daughter, Billie. She describes her short life, and death, due to a rare viral infection that caused inflammation of Billie's heart.  This is a mother's honest, heartbreaking and unexpected journey into bereavement, her families new normal, subsequent rainbow twin pregnancy, and the establishment of the All for Billie fundraiser for enterovirus research.
*Content warning: neonatal death, baby loss, meningitis, enterovirus myocarditis, grief, rainbow pregnancy.

Episode 2 explores Stefanie's story of birth trauma. Her third birth was all going to plan, when Stefanie suddenly and unexpectedly had a cardiac arrest and life threatening bleed after her baby was born. Her story unpacks her experience of the rare obstetric emergency (amniotic fluid embolism), her time in intensive care, and surviving birth trauma in the aftermath.  She explains how she and her family worked through PTSD and her journey to recover.
*Content warning: Birth trauma, cardiac arrest, near death experience, post traumatic stress disorder

In the first episode, host Doctor Alex Umbers bravely walks us through her own personal experience of recurrent pregnancy loss. Focusing in on one particular late miscarriage at seventeen weeks due to premature rupture of membranes, and what pregnancy loss felt like for her and her partner.  She shares her own challenges as a doctor working in obstetrics,  and the healing journey after and subsequent pregnancies .  *Content warning: miscarriage, pregnancy loss

Our introduction to Pregnancy Uncut. 
Meet your hosts doctors Alex Umbers and Kara Thompson working in women's health. Hear what motivated them to start the project, and what to expect from the first season where they explore what its like when pregnancies do not go to plan.
Topics include infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, obstetric emergencies, birth trauma, perinatal mental health, baby loss.