Coast midwife

29/07/2025

Melanie The Midwife dropped a bit of a bomb on Insta this morning that got people talking about CTG monitoring. She then handballed it off to me to keep the conversation moving. In case you missed it - this was part of my contribution.

25/07/2025

Wherever you are, you have an opportunity to join us LIVE online for this full, informative weekend.

Online services was amazing! ~ Ashleigh Jeffree

Attending online suited us very well (from Sydney!) ~ Kit Smith

It would have been great to be at the workshop together in person, but appreciate turning it into a digital event so we could still participate. ~
Rebeca Coomes

This course is so informative and reassuring for anyone who wants to have a normal physiological labour. I left feeling like I had a firm platform to stand on. Rhea’s energy and passion are infectious. Her presenting style and pace is incredible, I was engaged and eager to listen and concentrate for the whole two days (not an easy task for a 32 week pregnant insomniac 🙃). Jo was fantastic at keeping all of us online folks included and happy - the way she translated the whiteboard was perfect. I am hugely grateful and thankful to you both 💜 ~ Asia Swida

18/07/2025

01/07/2025

As of today birth at home with a private midwife is an insured activity. But families do not yet have medicare rebates for birth at home with a private midwife (even though there are medicare rebates for women birthing in hospital with private midwives, and there is full health funding for women birthing at home through a hospital program). Today is as good as day as any to write to the federal health minister to ask when medicare rebates for homebirth with a private midwife will be in place. The funding inequity is absolutely disgraceful.

https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLQlwtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHtShUYnqWVbphjhYKmQgCNXagufXUneghG6GIRKHlVWixaZjJLQ99EJFU4UU_aem_S8QF81fSh8V2Q6Wb545Tpw

Learn about Minister Butler and his responsibilities in the Health, Disability and Ageing portfolio.

01/07/2025

01/07/2025

As of today birth at home with a private midwife is an insured activity. But families do not yet have medicare rebates for birth at home with a private midwife (even though there are medicare rebates for women birthing in hospital with private midwives, and there is full health funding for women birthing at home through a hospital program). Today is as good as day as any to write to the federal health minister to ask when medicare rebates for homebirth with a private midwife will be in place. The funding inequity is absolutely disgraceful.

20/06/2025

A breech at my closest hospital would be automatic caesarean!

19/06/2025

In this free masterclass you will learn:

✅ The number 1 mistake I see women make and how to avoid it.
✅ The biggest decision you must make to have a great birth. You make it sooner than you think.
✅ 3 strategies you can employ during your birth to keep control and avoid unwanted interventions.
✅ The biggest failure of the maternity system and how to best prepare to overcome it
✅ PLUS if you attend live you have a chance to ask your questions during the Q&A.

Click the link and register today

12/06/2025

11/06/2025

Every so often, a group of paediatricians write and publish an article in a medical journal about the fact that some parents decline vitamin K for their newborn baby.

Generally, they express their concern and the overarching message is that these parents are making the ‘wrong’ decision, thus professionals need to use better tools to persuade them down the ‘right’ path.

Vitamin K is effective, they say.

And they’re right on that point.

If we gave it to every baby, they say, we would prevent almost all cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding.

Right again.

I’ve read the same research that they have.

But the next bit of their argument is where they and I differ.

Because I’m all about parents having all of the information so they can make the decisions that are right for them.

Which includes not just the short-term benefits of interventions, but the wider picture.

That includes any medium and long-term consequences (which is very important when it comes to things like induction, and antibiotics for group B strep) and also the gaps in our knowledge.

In other words, the questions that we don’t have answers to.

This is a key issue with vitamin K, and also with Anti-D/RhoGAM.

Because when proponents of western medicine find something that works, they tend to want to just give it to everyone, and they stop asking questions.

This closes off the paths that might lead to better, more nuanced options.

The paths that might help us to target interventions better, rather than making blanket recommendations and then trying to coerce compliance from those who – rightly – have concerns about this approach.

If you’d like to understand the bigger picture on vitamin K, without coercion in either direction, see https://www.sarawickham.com/vk

There, you'll find links to my popular book on this topic, and also my information hub, which contains several free articles to help those wanting to understand the pros and cons.

I hope you’ll find it useful.