In this episode Karen explores with Lily Nicoles the importance of good nutrition for Pregnancy. They discuss not only what good nutrition  and “Real Food” means but ways in which pregnant women and people ensure they are eating well for themselves and their babies. Karen and Lily also talk about gestational diabetes (GDM) and ways in which those who are diagnosed with GDM can use their diet to help reduce the impact of a GDM diagnosis.

Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, researcher, and author with a passion for evidence-based nutrition. Her work is known for being research-focused, thorough, and sensible. She is the founder of the Institute for Prenatal Nutrition®, co-founder of the Women’s Health Nutrition Academy, and the author of three books: Real Food for Fertility (co-authored with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack), Real Food for Pregnancy, and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes. Lily’s bestselling books have helped tens of thousands of mamas (and babies!), are used in university-level maternal nutrition and midwifery courses, and have even influenced prenatal nutrition policy internationally. She writes at https://lilynicholsrdn.com. When she steps away from writing, you can find her spending time with her husband and two children — most likely outside or in the kitchen.

This episode is all about exploring the wonders of the Female pelvis. Karen and Fiona share their passion for the Pelvis and how it adapts in birth. They go on to discuss how birthing women and people can prepare their pelvis to create space for birth, because after all, birth is all about creating space.

In this episode Karen discusses different Fetal Monitoring options ,and the research behind them, for labour with Kirsten Small, a retired Obstetrician, researcher and educator.

Kirsten has a passion for ensuring that women and birthing people have all the information they need to make informed decisions around their choices for monitoring in labour.

After listening, if you would like to take a deeper dive with Kirsten into this topic we recommend that you have a look at Kirsten’s course “Fetal Monitoring: The Basics” which you can find through her website https://birthsmalltalk.com.

If you are a Birth Professional we highly recommend that you look at her more comprehensive courses “Fetal Monitoring for Birthworkers” or “Fetal Monitoring for Maternity Professionals”, both of which can also be found on her website https://birthsmalltalk.com.

In this episode, Karen and Bashi are having a raw and frank conversation about informed consent and birth.

It is our hope that by honouring and hearing those women who have experienced trauma in our maternity system and by having important and yes at times, confronting conversations such as this one, we may be able to reduce the incidence of preventable birth trauma for future women.

It’s important to acknowledge there are many Doctors and Midwives who work in our maternity system who are very woman-centred and value informed consent.

If at any time you are feeling triggered by what is being discussed, please feel free to stop listening and we will see you next time. 

Bashi Kumar-Hazard is an Australian competition and consumer rights lawyer and the principal of B W Law, a legal practice established to support and assist women and children. She is also the chair of the international organisation Human Rights in Childbirth and works tirelessly to advocate for women’s rights and birthing people worldwide.

In this episode, Bashi and Karen discuss the outcome of the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry and the recommendations handed down in the report. They cover some important and at times big, topics including stories of birth trauma. If you feel that you may be triggered in any way by listening to this episode, please feel free to move on to another episode of our podcast.

If you are someone who has experienced birth trauma there are amazing organisations that you can reach out to for support such as Beyond Blue, The Gidget Foundation, Panada, Cope and Lifeline.

In this episode, Karen discusses the two different approaches and perceptions of pain in labour. These are the medical approach where pain in labour is seen as dysfunctional and something to be ‘fixed’, and the holistic (midwifery) approach where it is seen as a functional discomfort that is purposeful and therefore important to ‘work with’. It is a fascinating conversation that we hope will plant many seeds that will continue to change the way we think and feel about labour and birth for the better as a culture.

Join Karen McClay as she talks with Dr Sarah McKay about her new book “Baby Brain: The Surprising Neuroscience of How Pregnancy and Motherhood Sculpt Our Brains and Change Our Minds”.

Karen and Sarah take a fascinating dive into what the research is showing us about the neurological changes that occur within a woman’s brain as they travel through pregnancy and motherhood, while at the same time demything the cultural assumption that ‘baby brain’ is a negative side-effect of this transformative time.

Join Karen McClay and Dr Marina Weckend as they discuss Marina’s research into the natural pauses of labour and the importance of normalising these plateaus or rest periods.

By seeing these natural pauses as normal fluctuations in labour Marina hopes that we can reduce the time pressures placed on women and birth people during birth and to reduce many of the potentially unnecessary interventions in our current maternity system.

For more information about Marina’s important work you can visit her website https://www.marinaweckend.com/Research/

WEPAUSE Study Link to share your own experiences of pauses in childbirth (survey active from March to August 2024): 

Welcome to another episode of the Calmbirth Conversation Podcast. In this episode, our Calmbirth Director Karen McClay talks with Emma Park. Emma is a Functional Nutritionist Clinician and Clinical Educator and is an industry leader in the field of gut health and the microbiome in the First 1000 Days of life.

Karen and Emma discuss the importance of the microbiome for pregnant mamas and people, and their babies, and how we can maintain and create an optimal environment for a healthy microbiome during pregnancy birth and postpartum. This is particularly important for those whose microbiome is already out of kilter e.g., they have a history of vaginitis, candida infections (thrush), recurrent UTI’s, GBS and mastitis.  Karen and Emma also discuss the impact that antibiotic use during pregnancy and birth, and caesarean births have on the microbiome and what these mamas and birthing people can do to help their and their baby’s microbiome recover.

If you would like more information on this you can have a look at Emma’s “The First 1000 days” course, or download her booklet, both of which can be found here: https://www.thefirst1000days.com.au/

And because stress is one of the biggest influences on a healthy microbiome, come and join us for a Calmbirth course because we are all about helping you to change your relationship to stress through knowledge and tools that will not only help during your pregnancy and birth but will continue to be an asset for the rest of your life. You can find a Calmbirth Educator near you here: https://calmbirth.com.au/

If you enjoyed this podcast episode please share with your friends, and tag us on our socials @calmbirth.

Dr Sarah Buckley is a GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning. She is the mother of four home-born children and currently combines motherhood with her work as a writer on pregnancy, birth, and parenting.

She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, where her research is focused on oxytocin and the autonomic nervous system in labour and birth, and the impacts of interventions. In episode 17 of the Calmbirth Conversation Podcast, I talk to Sarah about oxytocin and its impact on birth.

Dr Buckley’s work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, including scientific, anthropological, cross-cultural, psychological, and personal. She encourages us to be fully informed in our decision-making; to listen to our hearts and our intuition, and to claim our rightful role as the real experts in our bodies and our children.

She is an author and some of her bestselling books are  Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices,