Melanie The Midwife

Melanie The Midwife Midwife in Private practice, Host of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast, Midwifery Mentor and Research

Melanie lives in the Blue Mountains with her Husband and two children and has been a midwife in private practice, and providing homebirth services, since 2009. She has a passion for providing minimal intervention care and has respect for the physiological process of pregnancy, birth and the early postnatal period. Melanie loves to see the powerful process of birth unfold and watch families blossom as pregnancy and birth unfolds. Her passion for midwifery led her to complete her PhD, called "birth outside the system", in 2015, and she has held positions in midwifery research, midwifery lecturing and National Policy development at the Australian College of Midwives along side her work as a midwife. Melanie has a degree in Naturopathy and incorporates alternative therapies and nutritional guidance into her midwifery care.

01/02/2026

Some people say waterbirth is dangerous... and you might not be sure about it...
I've been a midwife for 18 years and 70% of my clients have chosen to give birth in water, I consider myself somewhat of an expert waterbirth assistant as and very well placed to bring you this podcast episode this week.

During the waterbirth of a healthy bay, your baby doesn't start trying to breathe when born into water and is still relying on it's placenta and umbilical cord. Use of their lungs for oxygen transfer has not started yet and won't until the baby surfaces to take it's first breathe.

Get the full story on episode 188 of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast
The resource folder is full of all the research papers if you want to read them for for yourself just comment PODCAST and I'll send you the link to the mailing list - they get access to the resource folder

31/01/2026

Episode 188 of the Great Birth Rebellion out tomorrow... all about waterbirth, how to get one and how to keep yourself safe while doing it. Full episode out tomorrow

29/01/2026

Most hospitals have a policy of induction of labour for women with gestational diabetes... and this is a clinically appropriate option for women with UNCONTROLLED diabetes, but if you manage to control your blood sugar throughout your pregnancy then you have managed the risk factor of having diabetes and your baby is not at risk of becoming too big as a result of unstable blood sugar.

Get the full story on ep. 186 of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast - Is your baby too big or too small

29/01/2026

Be aware of the escalation process in your local birth facility. From a clinical perspective hospitals develop escalation processes in order to keep women safe, but when applied as a form of coercion they wear women down... be aware of the escalation process being triggered if you decline something and equip your support team to advocate for you so you don't get exhausted by fighting each new person to respect your choices

Get the full story and more tips for your birth support team on episode 173 of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast - how to give great birth support

28/01/2026

If you think that the maternity care system is cooked and needs an overhaul to become more woman centred and respectful, please hear me loud and clear - YOU ARE NOT CRAZY - you just have your eyes open.

Get this full conversation on ep. 165 of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast

28/01/2026

We're all thinking it... modern maternity care systems are not evidence-based. They are well meaning and staffed by well-meaning people, but their not evidence based.
The evidence about maternity care says:

- Women experience best outcomes and highest satisfaction levels if they have continuity of care with a midwife
- the lowest levels of birth trauma are recorded for women who have midwifery care outside of a hospital
- Vaginal examinations do not improve outcomes for the mum or baby when done routinely
- There is only evidence of benefit for CTG monitoring for women having induction
- Women and babies at low risk of complications have best outcomes when they give birth at home compared to hospital
- Midwives are the ideal primary care providers and doctors and obstetricians should be available for consultation and referral in more complex circumstances

This snippet is from ep. 165 of the great birth rebellion podcast - how to have a long and lovely midwifery career

28/01/2026

In Uganda, the women have to take their own supplies to hospital if they want to get maternity care... if they can't access or afford the supplies, they are turned away. If they arrive and the hospital is busy, they can pay their way to the front of the line, but if they have no money they get less care.

Diane Lockhart, an Irish Midwife, saw these problems and felt a responsibility to help. Here her story and the story of Amani on this weeks episode of podcast, episode 187 - Midwifery Without Borders with Diane Lockhart.

No note book needed for this one, just a menial task that will allow you to float away into Dianes expert story telling about how the Amani midwives have managed to keep every mother and baby in their care alive for the last 9 years.

Welcome to The Great Birth Rebellion… est. 2022> 5 million streams Created and Hosted by Comment PODCAST to join the ma...
27/01/2026

Welcome to The Great Birth Rebellion… est. 2022
> 5 million streams
Created and Hosted by
Comment PODCAST to join the mailing list and get access to the research resource folders

Merch at www.thegreatbirthrebellion.com
Vintage merch still available, new merch coming very soon!

New brand image by

27/01/2026

What to have a great birth?!

1. Listen to episode 185 of the Great Birth Rebellion Episode (Guide to a Great Birth)
2. Prepare your support people so they are on your side
3. Choose a care provider and place of birth that most closely align with your birth intentions
4. Get as informed as possible so you feel confident making decisions at forks in the road during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast is great for this!
5. Try and avoid pain medication - comment GUIDE 👇👇👇 and i'll send you a link to my guide to giving birth without pain medication

25/01/2026

This is a showcase of authentic rebellious midwifery, Irish Midwife Diane Lockhart saw a problem that needed fixing and she is doing what she can to fix it. She is an incredible midwifery example of being the change you want to see. I interviewed Diane in this weeks episode of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast (Episode 187 - Midwifery without borders) about her work in Uganda where she set up Amani Family Birth Centre in a slum in Uganda.

In the episode she shares the details of what is happening in the maternity system in Uganda and what she is doing to provide women with midwifery care. Diane shares that the birth centre has been running for 9 years and not a single mother or baby has died in the care of the birth centre midwives. This is significant when you learn that the maternal mortality rate in Uganda 1 is 49 births.

Listen to episode 187 of the Great Birth Rebellion podcast to hear the full story and how Diane and the other Amani midwives create safety through midwifery skills and honouring physiology in Uganda.

24/01/2026

But wait a second!... this is just 45 seconds of a big discussion about the size of your baby and the reasons for induction... just to be clear - neither myself or the current research is in favour of induction of labour for suspected big babies... even if bigger babies have a bigger chance of shoulder dystocia, the research still says that induction of labour is not the answer or the solution to the problem.

Get the full discussion and research on episode 186 of the great birth rebellion podcast

23/01/2026

Consider birth preparation like preparing for a 100km marathon - it doesn't matter how physically or mentally prepared you are, if your crew and support people are not prepared to support you and they say or do things that shake your mental game, it could sabotage your mental game and birth plans.

Think carefully about who you invite in your birth space and onto your birth crew - nay sayers will bring you down, so fill your crew with people who are on your side. There is an art to being a support person at a birth... Get the full story on how to gather a great birth support team and what they need to do in ep 173 of the Great Birth Rebellion podcast

Address

Blue Mountains
Springwood, NSW

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

0425 280 682

Website

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