Dr Monika Skubisz

12/10/2025

Language is important…this article eloquently discusses the potential harms of unprofessional language that has entered the Australian maternity arena. The term obstetric violence suggests an intent to cause harm, which could not be further from the truth from how I and most of my colleagues show up to work in difficult circumstances every day. Keep up the good work 🖤

🔔 NEW in the Medical Journal of Australia

Linguistic manoeuvres: obstetric violence camouflages harm and loss of consent from birth

✍️ Harsha Ananthram, Liz Sutton, Rebecca Matthews, Nadine Montgomery, James Titcombe and Ajay Rane

https://buff.ly/wnbz9Ms

08/10/2025

I love a good name theme and this little family kept it Roman - mama Claudia and baby Marcus 😍

24/09/2025

Baby Ivy just wanted to be different - born breech and all tangled up in her cord, unlike her two older brothers! And smiles so sweet she made my ovaries squeak 😍🌸

20/09/2025

Whose grandma is the best?! Lucy’s! Lovely to see this little lady again and admire her cute little personalised jumper 😍

16/09/2025

Another full circle professional moment: Helping mum and dad conceive baby Archer was rewarding, but nothing beats seeing this little man in his sweet little onesie with those lovely big cheeks 😍

11/08/2025

Monday morning gratitude - no better way to start the week than seeing a handsome baby boy with his parents after helping them with years of infertility and caring for them in pregnancy - now that’s continuity of care! 👶💙

26/07/2025

The language around childbirth has become so perjorative in Australia. Lifesaving procedures we have spent decades learning to perform are labelled as interventions. Natural birth has somehow replaced vaginal birth as if to imply it is better than its sister, a Caesarean birth. And then there’s birth trauma and obstetric r**e, frankly repugnant terms used to drive a dangerous ideology that is driving up our maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. I’m not denying the experience of childbirth can be traumatic. I’ve witnessed plenty of what pregnancy and childbirth can look like at its worst. But that, my friends, is the true nature of childbirth and hence why we spend decades training to save lives. So Australia needs a reframe. Women’s and babies’ lives matter. We are privileged to have access to epidurals, Caesareans, hospitals, resuscitation equipment and even the dreaded forceps. Because they save lives. And because outcomes like urinary and faecal continence, sexual function and pelvic organ prolapse are things that a woman living in Australia in 2025 might expect to matter too.

Obstetricians are too often forced to defend ‘interventions’ when they are actually treatments reducing mortality for both mothers and their babies, a leading practitioner says. More at: https://bit.ly/3UubkWJ

20/07/2025

This is the most balanced and helpful article I have read about how to frame risk in childbirth and the challenges facing our maternity care delivery in Australia today, which is driven more by ideologies than outcomes. Let’s learn the lessons of our colleagues in the UK and also NZ. Thanks to the colleagues who alerted me to this piece - RANZCOG President Incumbent Dr Nisha Khot, Dr Melanie Johnson and Dr Sarah Linthwaite

P.S. have just noticed the babies are too clean and their heads too perfectly round for immediate birth shots - thanks AI?! 🧐

James Titcombe – April In quantum mechanics, the famous thought experiment ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ describes a scenario where a cat is placed inside a sealed box with a mechanism that has a…

17/07/2025

Elation, joy, newborn cuddles. A wonderful progression and journey to have been on with baby Isabella and her parents. Well done mama!

18/06/2025

This is a photo of Millie “not in labour” taken by her wonderful partner for us all to commemorate; beautiful baby Mabel was born not long after…well done Millie on all you have endured to create two perfect human beings whilst holding my personally awarded title for making THE best crunchy chilli oil in the WORLD. Thank you 🌶️ 😍

01/06/2025

I found this treasure from a wee while back - the sweet baby Willow, sister to Webster whom I also delivered. Will there be a third baby W?! Wait and see… 😉

30/05/2025

Very proud and privileged to be an Associate Investigator on a highly competitive Ideas Grant from the NHMRC looking into metabolic and immune drivers of recurrent pregnancy loss and recurrent implantation failure. If you or someone you know is going through this, please refer them to our MIRACLE-M study.