Happy Mums & Bubs

30/06/2022

We have a fun catch up scheduled for next week! We're going for a play at Communities for Children. Click here for more information https://fb.me/e/4Hy4BN8H8

08/04/2022

Do you know why the trusty toilet is such a good labour tool?
Or how to create a birth circuit with different stations that are going to help your labour to progress?
Or what even is labour progress?
And what you should do if labour is not progressing?
At what point do you consider interventions?
And how do you decide what is best for you?
How can you work with your physiology once interventions have started?

Honestly the Positive Birth Program covers SO MUCH information!
While there is plenty of time for questions, discussion, and hands on practice, I pretty much talk for 12 hours straight!

You and your partner will finish the course feeling prepared and excited for everything that is to come!

And support doesn’t end when class ends. You are always welcome to contact me with questions, if you need a recap of what we covered in class, if you want some reassurance, and a birth debrief is included.

I absolutely love talking about birth and I especially love it when I have an audience!
I offer in person group classes, Zoom classes, and online classes.
Please feel free to contact me with questions about what is included in each option and what will be best for you.
I will try to not talk your ear off!

Image via .you.

08/04/2022

I think it is important to understand where the maternity bar is set and even more important to understand that you can raise that bar!

The maternity bar is set at the "healthy baby" standard.
Even the definition of a "healthy baby" isn't really exceptional. It mostly means a normal Apgar score. It doesn't take into account how interventions may effect our baby's short and long term physical and emotional health.

In most models of care, the birth mother isn't really considered part of the equation. When the bar is set at "healthy baby is all that matters" your physical health, your emotional health, your birth experience is discounted.
The same is true for our partners and their birth experience.

But you can raise the bar!
You can have a positive birth experience that is respectful, supportive, centred around you as an individual, and that results in a healthy baby, a healthy mother, and a healthy partner.

Birthing mothers are the consumers of the maternity industry.
So we are the ones who can demand that the bar is raised to the level that we deserve.
You can do this by educating yourself - understanding what women centred, evidence based care looks like.
You can do this my seeking out caregivers who provide this type of care.
You can do this by writing birth preferences.
You can do this by hiring a doula.
You can do this by contacting politicians about funding additional midwifery continuity of care options.

It is true that we can't control birth.
But we can always control how we treat a woman who is giving birth.
And we need to raise the bar so that birthing women are always treated with respect, that they are placed at the centre of their birth experience, and that they is supported to make the informed decisions that are best for them.

Image by .

14/01/2022

We are so honoured to welcome Dr Sarah Buckley to the Homebirth Australia Conference this year.

Sarah will be opening our conference with her presentation titled 'Home(birth) is where the Oxytocin is', where she will teach us all about how birthing undisturbed at home enables the physiological process of birth to unfold.

You won't want to miss this session!

Tickets will be available soon, so keep an eye out on our posts for updates!

27/11/2021

“Kissing your baby changes your breast milk. Did you know that the undeniable urge to cover your baby in kisses serves a biological purpose? When a mother kisses her baby, she samples the pathogens on baby’s face, which then travel to mom’s lymphatic system. Mom’s body then creates antibodies to fight those pathogens, which baby receives through breast milk. What?! Amazing, right?”

http://www.mothering.com/articles/10-things-might-not-know-breastfeeding/ 📸: Dusktildawnphotography

05/11/2021

04/10/2021

19/09/2021

HAVE YOU HEARD OF A PEANUT BALL?

Lets talk about techniques you can use with an epidural to increase your chances of a vaginal birth. Once you have an epidural you can not get up and move around, change position as easily or get into positions to allow gravity to help your baby move through the pelvis. So, what can you do instead? Use a peanut ball!

If you don’t know what a peanut ball is you need to check them out! Research suggests that they can decrease your length of labour and decrease your chances of needing a caesarean section too! What’s not to love.

So how to use a peanut ball in labour to do this?

💚Make sure the peanut ball is the right size for the position you want to be in – there are four sizes (the largest one is just for sitting on though, no good with an epidural)
💛Change positions every 30-60 minutes
💚The peanut ball allows your pelvis to open and your muscles and ligaments to stretch in a way that helps the baby move down and through the pelvis