Guest - Jess. Join Jess as she gushes to Dayna about her empowering, transformative experience birthing her one and only child, her beautiful daughter Lily. Listen in as she retells the moment she found out about her surprise pregnancy and come along for the ride as Jess's story brings tears, gasps and absolute joy and laughter.

Jess recounts being a young, first time mother birthing in a rural Queensland hospital birth center, and the ups and downs of navigating a huge life circumstance and the changes that came with it. As well as the incredible journey of her "unbelievable" birth story (when you listen, you'll get it ;)

Resilient, open minded, honest and raw. Jess's story is one that will stay with you.

Antenatal education - in hospital x @hypnobirthingaustralia

A listener requests the subject of spirit babies be discussed and Dayna happily obliges as she has had a very personal experience with a spirit baby of hers.

Although not claiming to be well versed in the subject, Dayna does touch on what a spirit baby is, her own personal journey with her spirit baby and bringing her to earth through conception pregnancy and birth and where you can learn more.

Episode request - @_maddy_thebaddie

Medium that told Dayna there were two little souls waiting to be born - @jadeskypsychicmedium

Book about spirit babies - "Spirit Babies: how to communicate with the child you're meant to have" by Walter Makichen

Guest - Victoria. Join us as Vicki shares her journey from a 16 year old first time Mum in the public maternity care system, to a second time Mum back into the public hospital system, to an induction experience in hospital, and finally, her family-centred home birth journey. She explains how she has managed to power through suffering Hyperemesis Gravidarum with all 4 pregnancies and how each pregnancy experience rebirthed a new version of her which effected the decision making she made with each birth. Vicki and Dayna chat about private midwifery, costs and expectations. "It's hard to explain the normality of it all, but how huge it is at the same time" - Vicki. Powerhouse.

Midwife - @theartofmindfulbirthing

Birth herbal goodies - @blissfulherbs

Affirmation cards - @daiisy.est.2020

Due to feedback on part 1 Dayna gets more specific about the topic and addresses some key points.

Here's the literature:

The study and article Dayna directly refers to in the episode - https://www.thewomens.org.au/news/could-delayed-cord-clamping-help-babies-who-fail-to-breathe

A lil' somethin' something' extra easy to read - https://www.hudson.org.au/news/early-cord-clamping-could-save-lives/

Although the definition for delayed cord clamping in this particular study is after 1 minute of birth (and that's delayed?) as opposed to immediately, the findings show that single minute has a positive effect - https://ijponline.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13052-020-00835-2

Research conducted to conclude ground breaking news that "delayed cord clamping increases early haemoglobin concentrations and iron stores in infants", by allowing more time for their own blood to be returned to their body circulation, can be found here -> https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004074.pub3/full#CD004074-sec-0097

There's plenty of more information out there, so keep on researching.

Dayna speaks candidly about her experience flowing into the conception and pregnancy of her second child, Avalon. After experiencing a land hospital birth she delves into the world of continuity models of care and flirts with the idea of water immersion. Retelling her point of view as a "not-yet-midwife" and an "ignorance is bliss" view point, she touches on baby weight, ultrasound scans and low lying placentas. Although still grappling with an unstable relationship and her first experience of debilitating pregnancy sickness, she moves through these hardships with ease. On the other side of all these new and old hurdles and experiences lies a journey that awakened her to the calling of midwifery.

A joyful experience, with wonderful support, the beautiful water birth of Avalon Joy.

Birth place - The Birth Center RBWH

Birth photographer - @ettaphotography

A listener shares her recent experience involving delayed cord clamping and has a few questions that Dayna speaks on.

An opportunity to challenge some thoughts and beliefs surrounding delayed cord clamping.. what do you think?...

Guest Adelle. Adelle joins Dayna via zoom from the other side of Australia to recount her incredible birth story of her second son, following the traumatic hospital birth that was laden with interventions and led to the eventual emergency caesarean that brought her, her beautiful firstborn son. Against the odds Adelle felt empowered to equip herself with more knowledge and an incredible arsenal of support to birth her baby as she had always dreamt of doing! Now having a burning desire to support women in the postpartum space and with a particular interest in all things birth, Adelle hopes the act of sharing her incredible story will give any listener hope and motivation to go out there and achieve the birth they've dreamt of.

Adelle @dellspattni

Acupuncturist RM in Rockingham WA @themamasalchemist

Doula education course @thenakeddoula

Home Birth Midwife (on facebook only) Earthside Midwifery. www.earthsidemidwifery.com.au

In this debut episode of Dear Dayna, Dayna tackles the age old issue of in-law troubles within the birth space.

An anon listener submits a scenario and question for Dayna to answer; what are your thoughts?

What would you do?

Sending love to anon and her family <3

Guest speaker - Tyler Scott. Mother of two boys, certified reformer pilates instructor and student doula Tyler (and baby Jace!) join Dayna to share their birthing experience. Tyler touches on her first birth which she recalls as a positive vaginal birth experience in hospital with an epidural and how that journey impacted her decision making for her next pregnancy and birth. Although satisfied with the outcome the first time, a switch turned up the heat on her discovery of self empowerment, education via Hypnobirthing, divine intuition and patience in herself, her body and her baby. Baby Jace sleeps through the chat but wakes for boobies in time to hear of his "quick" birth via FER and how pumped for supporting other women his Mum is.

Addit: Baby Jace was also born en caul however this isn't discussed in the episode - just an interesting fact.

Mentions in this episode:

Birth Skills by Juju Sundin (book) - @sacredsister_birthkeeper (Tyler's doula page) - Hypnobirthing Australia (Tyler's course with certified Practitioner Dayna from @daiisy_est_2020) - @thelighthousecurrumbin (Tyler is studying to be a doula through this page) - @studiopilates_northlakes (Tyler is a pilates instructor here)

Solo episode. Dayna opens up about her first pregnancy and birth journey as a teen. Recalling the moment she discovered she was pregnant at age 18, Dayna goes on to describe the road less travelled that unfolded ahead of her. Stumbling through GP appointments, strangers and family members negative reactions, ultrasound scans, the Young Parent's Program, a divine "knowing" that she was carrying a beautiful little boy and so much more. Dayna's reflection highlight's gap's in care for young women within the healthcare system and in society, and, champions her resilience to achieve a spontaneous vaginal birth under the circumstance's she was given. The oxytocin flow's as the ability to share this experience with so many people will undoubtedly prompt listeners to realise their worth and deservedness to feel safe, listened to and be supported in their entire journey of pregnancy and childbirth. Although breastfeeding was a very rocky start, Max's feeding journey spanned almost 3 years and will spoken about in great detail in a later episode. Now 14 years old, Max has proven to be such a blessing and it has been a pleasure and pure joy for Dayna to be his mother and guide his growth as a young man. Young mothers can be exceptional mothers too.