In this powerful birth story episode, I sit down with a first-time mum who shares her incredible 33 hour labour journey through the Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) program. From labouring at home for most of her birth, to discovering her baby was posterior, navigating intense back labour and eventually facing a vacuum assisted birth and episiotomy afte and raw yet inspiring.

Together, we explore the emotional highs and lows of a long labour, what it feels like when progress is slower than expected, the reality of back labour and the lessons that come from surrendering when birth doesn't go exactly to plan.

Whether you're pregnant with your first baby, preparing for birth, considering labouring at home or wanting to hear a real and empowering birth story, this episode will leave you feeling informed, supported and reminded that a positive birth experience doesn't require a perfect birth.

In this episode we discuss:
• First time mum birth story
• 33-hour labour experience
• Back labour and baby positioning
• Labouring at home before hospital
• Midwifery Group Practice (MGP)
• Natural birth preparation
• Long labour mindset and coping strategies
• The Miles Circuit
• Using gas and water immersion in labour
• Pushing for over two hours
• Vacuum-assisted birth
• Episiotomy
• Birth expectations versus reality
• Finding strength and surrender in birth

Thank you Chloe for sharing your birth story xx

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

Most first-time mums spend months preparing for birth- the hospital bag, the birth plan, the breathing techniques, the playlists but today we speak about what you need to prepare AFTER.

Postpartum isn’t a short recovery period or an afterthought to “just get through.” It is a profound physical, emotional and identity shift that begins the moment your baby is born. Yet, so many women enter it exhausted, unprepared and unsupported expected to simply “bounce back” while healing, feeding and learning a completely new human.

In this episode, we gently unpack why postpartum deserves just as much attention as birth itself. We explore what real recovery actually looks like, why matrescence can feel so overwhelming and how to begin building a postpartum plan that supports you, not just your baby.

If you’re pregnant and preparing for birth, this episode will shift the way you think about what it truly means to become a mother and what you deserve in that process.

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

If you're a first-time mum preparing for labour and birth, this episode is for you!!

As a doula, I've supported women through pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum, and there are a handful of things I wish every first-time mother knew before labour begins.

Not the generic advice you'll find on social media but the practical, reassuring truths that can completely change how you experience birth.

In this episode, we're talking about:
• What labour actually feels like
• Common fears and misconceptions about birth
• How to prepare mentally and emotionally for labour
• The biggest mistakes first-time mums make during birth preparation
• What helps create a positive birth experience
• Why your mindset matters more than the perfect birth plan

Whether you're planning a home birth, hospital birth, water birth or simply wanting to feel more confident heading into labour, this conversation will help you approach birth feeling informed, empowered & supported.

If you're searching for birth education, labour tips, doula advice, or practical pregnancy support for first-time mums, you'll find it here.

Subscribe, follow the podcast and share this episode with an expecting mum who deserves to feel calm, confident and prepared for birth.

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

In this powerful positive birth story, we sit down with a mother who experienced spontaneous labour at 39 weeks and 1 day, laboured confidently at home and birthed her baby girl in the water just hours after arriving at hospital.

With deep self trust, informed decision making and unwavering support from her Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) team, this birth unfolded beautifully until an unexpected complication changed everything in an instant.

Shortly after birth, her baby's umbilical cord tore from the placenta, requiring immediate medical intervention and emergency surgery. Yet despite this dramatic turn of events, she describes her birth as one of the most empowering and positive experiences of her life!

In this episode, we explore:

• The benefits of labouring at home for as long as possible
• How preparation, education and self trust can transform the birth experience
• Using tools such as a TENS machine during labour
• Water birth and physiological birth
• Navigating unexpected birth complications
• The role of continuity of care and a supportive birth team
• Why birth doesn't have to go perfectly to be positive
• Finding empowerment even when things don't go to plan

If you're pregnant, preparing for birth or healing from a birth experience that looked different than expected, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that birth can be both unpredictable and deeply empowering.

Because sometimes the most powerful birth stories aren't the ones that go exactly to plan — they're the ones where women discover just how strong they truly are.

Thank you Danielle for coming on the podcast!

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

In this episode, I’m sharing why I’ve chosen a homebirth again for my second baby after having a calm, empowering homebirth with my first.

If you’re pregnant with your second baby, planning another homebirth or curious about what makes women choose to birth at home more than once, this episode will take you inside that decision-making process in a really grounded and honest way.

I touch on what my first homebirth was like, how it shaped my confidence in my body and birth and why choosing homebirth again feels like the most natural decision for this pregnancy. We also explore the deeper layers of trust, intuition and what it means to return to a birth experience that felt safe, supported, and powerful the first time.

This is a conversation for mothers who already know birth can be positive and are now deciding how to step into it again.

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

In this episode, I’m sharing the raw reality of being pregnant while raising a toddler- the overstimulation, identity shifts and beautiful chaos of preparing for 2 under 2.

This season of motherhood has stretched me in ways I never expected already, I know so many mums are silently navigating the same thing.

We talk honestly about pregnancy with a toddler, matrescence, close age gaps, mental load, motherhood overwhelm, preparing for 2 under 2 and learning to surrender in this season of life.

If you’re pregnant with a toddler, planning babies close together or deep in the chaos of early motherhood, this episode will make you feel seen.

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

In this deeply honest conversation, we explore the duality of motherhood through the lens of three completely different birth and postpartum experiences.

From an empowering unmedicated birth centre birth that left her feeling blissful and deeply connected to motherhood… to a second postpartum marked by rage, anxiety, overwhelm and identity loss… to finally experiencing healing, surrender and true support through a homebirth and postpartum village — this episode opens the door to the parts of matrescence many women silently carry.

We speak about:

• The emotional impact different birth experiences can have on postpartum

• Postpartum rage, anxiety and feeling disconnected from yourself

• The pressure of breastfeeding and changing beliefs around motherhood

• Learning to surrender, receive support and lean into community

• The healing power of being deeply held by women

• How motherhood can completely reshape your identity, values and belief systems

This episode is for the mother who has ever wondered:
“Why did motherhood feel so different this time?”
or
“Why don’t I feel like myself anymore?”

A raw, powerful and compassionate conversation on birth, matrescence, postpartum healing and the importance of village.

If this episode resonates with you, please share it with another mother who needs to feel seen in her experience.

Thank you Kierryn for courageously sharing your contrast of experience with motherhood and birth.

You can find Kierryn at Golden Mama Meals here- https://www.instagram.com/goldenmama_meals/

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

UPCOMING EVENTS

⁠30.05.26 Held: A circle for Mamas (Sunshine Coast)⁠

If you’re pregnant and wondering how to actually prepare for birth, this episode is for you.

Today we’re diving into the different ways women prepare for labour and birth from hypnobirthing and birth plans to hospital based preparation, nervous system work and more but also why so many women still enter labour feeling terrified, overwhelmed or disconnected from themselves.

We talk about:

• why most birth preparation misses the things that truly matter

• the difference between controlling birth vs feeling empowered in birth

• hypnobirthing expectations vs real labour

• nervous system regulation for labour and delivery

• physiological birth, medical birth and everything in between

• common birth fears first time mums experience

• preparing emotionally and mentally for childbirth

• what actually creates an empowering birth experience

This episode is a grounded, honest conversation about pregnancy, labour, motherhood, matrescence and the realities of preparing for birth in today’s world.

Whether you’re planning a home birth, hospital birth, water birth, physiological birth, VBAC, induction, epidural or simply wanting to feel calmer and more prepared for labour this episode will help you rethink what real birth preparation looks like.

If you loved this episode, share it with a pregnant friend or post it to your Instagram stories and tag me so I can connect with you!!

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

UPCOMING EVENTS

⁠30.05.26 Held: A circle for Mamas (Sunshine Coast)⁠

Can two births in the same body feel completely different?

In this powerful birth story episode, we explore the contrast between two unmedicated hospital births- one filled with fear, overwhelm and feeling out of control. Another that felt calm, instinctive, connected and empowering.

Cara shares how going into her first labour “blind” left her anxious and disconnected during birth, despite having a fast labour. She opens up about experiencing a postpartum haemorrhage, the emotional impact of that birth and the beliefs she carried afterward.

But her second birth changed everything.

Through birth preparation, mindset work and learning to trust her body, she experienced a transformational 4-hour water birth where she felt grounded, powerful and fully connected to both herself and her baby.

This episode is for:

• Pregnant women preparing for birth
• First-time mums navigating fear around labour
• Women healing from a traumatic or disappointing birth
• Mothers preparing for a VBAC, second birth, or empowered birth experience
• Anyone wanting a positive birth story rooted in honesty, instinct and physiological birth

Inside this conversation, we explore:

• Why “going into birth blind” can create more fear
• The difference between pain and suffering in labour
• How birth education changes your experience of contractions
• Trusting your body during childbirth
• Unmedicated hospital birth experiences
• Water birth and physiological birth

• Why your first birth does not define you

If you love conversations around instinctive birth, matrescence, physiological labour, birth preparation and empowered motherhood this episode will resonate.

This is more than a birth story.
It’s a reminder that birth can change when you do.

Thankyou Cara for sharing your birth story on the podcast x

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum story here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

UPCOMING EVENTS

⁠30.05.26 Held: A circle for Mamas (Sunshine Coast)⁠

Here’s the truth most women aren’t being told when TTC: you can be doing everything right- tracking ovulation, taking the supplements, eating clean yet still not falling pregnant.

Because fertility is not just physical.
It’s nervous system, emotional safety, identity and energy.

In this episode, we go deeper than surface level fertility advice and explore the energetic leaks that could be silently blocking conception- the ones no one talks about.

If you’ve been trying to conceive and feeling frustrated, confused or like your body is “not working,” this conversation will land in your body in a powerful way.

• Why focusing only on ovulation tracking and supplements isn’t enough
• The hidden ways your energy may be leaking without you realising
• How chronic stress and a disregulated nervous system impact fertility
• The connection between feeling safe in your body and your ability to conceive
• Subconscious fears around pregnancy, birth and postpartum
• Identity shifts: why becoming a mother can feel both desired and confronting
• The impact of past experiences (miscarriage, trauma, heartbreak) on the womb space
• Overgiving, burnout and why your body may not feel resourced to create life
• How to start closing the leaks and calling your energy back

Follow my Instagram for more doula / pregnancy content through the week! ⁠@tanikalace⁠

Follow my TikTok for BTS of mum life⁠ @tanikalace⁠

Apply to share your conception journey, birth or postpartum sotry here

https://tally.so/r/D4ee7Z

UPCOMING EVENTS

⁠09.05.26 Held: A circle for Mamas (Gympie)⁠

⁠30.05.26 Held: A circle for Mamas (Sunshine Coast)⁠