Becca O'Leary Midwife

09/01/2025

Something I’ve dreamt of doing for years! This whole course was filmed when I was 23 weeks pregnant with Maddie 💗

After countless hours of learning and perfecting my online antenatal course, my website is finally live and the courses will be LAUNCHING 4th Feb 🚀🎉 I am SO proud of what we’ve created.

Go check it out & share with anyone you know who is pregnant! We have full & mini courses available so there’s an option to suit everyone 🥰 Our early bird discount is available NOW - get $50 off when you sign up to our comprehensive antenatal course before the 4th Feb 💸

www.mylittlekiwi.co.nz

08/12/2024

My whole world in my arms 🫶🏻

12/11/2024

🌸 Meet Maddie 🌸

Our wee girl treated me to an early arrival at 38+5 weeks & another blissful home birth. She’s settling in like a dream & has one very proud big brother doting on her. Our hearts couldn’t be more full! 🥰

29/10/2024

My heart could explode every time I think about these two meeting 💗💥 M hasn’t shown any interest in my bump… literally says “no mummy put it away” if I lift up my top 😆 But he is utterly obsessed with babies at the moment so here’s hoping he loves his own brother or sister just as much 🤭

25/07/2024

💭 Ever wondered how big your baby’s tummy really is? Lets break it down 👇🏼

🍒 At birth a newborn’s tummy is tiny, approximately the size of a cherry or marble. Therefore, newborns must feed frequently - between 8-12 times within a 24hr period! Colostrum is the name of the first milk mothers produce. It is low in volume but rich in nutrients & antibodies. You may have heard colostrum referred to as “liquid gold” - this is because it is usually golden yellow in colour. The first poo babies pass is called meconium which is sticky & black in colour. It is important to watch closely for hunger cues that indicate your baby is wanting to feed 🥰

🌰 By days 3-4 baby’s stomach has grown to the size of a walnut. This is commonly when breastmilk starts to ‘come in’. This often occurs following a period of cluster feeding, whereby baby stimulates the breast more frequently, increasing the volume of milk to meet their needs. Breastfeeding mothers may notice their breasts feeling fuller & the colour of their milk becoming more white. Babies poo will also start to change from meconium to a dark green colour & may have a birdseed-like texture. This is called transitional stool.

🍑 By 1 week old, baby’s tummy has increased to the size of a small apricot. They can now consume up to 60ml of milk per feed. Generally babies will become more alert by this stage & start to wake themselves for a feed. They will still need to feed frequently, at least 8 times within a 24hr period. As the volumes they consume continue to increase, their poo may start to turn yellow.

🥚 Between 1-6 weeks old baby’s tummy reaches the size of a chicken egg. They will consume anywhere between 80-150ml of milk per feed & this may depend on how often they are feeding. Some (not all) babies naturally start to stretch out their feeds, reducing to approximately 7 feeds within a 24hr period. By about 2 weeks postpartum, breastfeeding mums will produce mature milk.

Breastmilk is supply & demand driven meaning the production & regulation largely depends on feeding/pumping patterns. Your supply will adjust accordingly to baby’s needs if they are breastfeeding on demand 🥰

17/07/2024

Kia ora & welcome 👋🏼

I thought it was about time I update my ‘about me’ post 🥰 My name is Becca & I am currently an LMC midwife working in Hamilton, NZ. I also teach antenatal classes weekly at one of our local birth centres. I grew up in Ōhope beach but now live on a dairy farm in the North Waikato with my husband Alex, our (almost) 2yr old son, Miller & baby #2 who we are expecting to arrive in late November. Our little boy was conceived via IVF & born at home 🏡

When this baby arrives I will be finishing LMC practice after 7 years of working with some amazing families. I will however still be very much involved in this space! I have just founded My Little Kiwi Antenatal where my online antenatal course will soon be launching! If you want to keep up to date with the other massive projects MLK has in the pipelines then head on over & give us a follow 👀🥝 https://www.instagram.com/mylittlekiwi_?igsh=MWE3ZHlzdXMwdmV4MQ==

I have a holistic practice & whilst I am very passionate about & trust in the natural process of birth, I also won’t hesitate to recommend & support medical intervention when it is clinically indicated. Everyone deserves a positive birth & one of my biggest goals in providing antenatal education is to reduce the incidence of birth trauma 💜

I believe every woman should feel supported, informed & in control of her own birthing experience, no matter what path that takes. I aim to instil the same confidence I have for birth in the families I work with - helping them enter labour fear free, educated & empowered by providing evidence based info on all possible scenarios you may encounter. My only wish for you is that you have YOUR best birth 💫

Outside of my work as a midwife I love cooking & baking, getting creative, spending time with friends & family, & anything water related or adrenaline inducing (hence why I have thrived in my on-call job 😂). I do however balance out this high stress energy with my love for yoga.

My DMs are always open & I love building connections through this platform! 💕

Becca x

28/03/2024

20/12/2023

And that’s a WRAP for 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣🎉

After I returned from maternity leave in July, Georgia & I decided to take a small caseload to ease back into oncall life. We’re so excited to start back with a full caseload next year & we’re already fully booked up to August! 🤯

All our babies that were due in 2023 have arrived so we thought we’d do a recap on these past 6 months 💜

🌟 We cared for 25 incredible birthing mamas who had a total of 26 babies (1 set of twins!👶🏼👶🏼)
🌸 23 women laboured. 5 of these were inductions.
🐝 19 had vaginal births
🦋 6 had C-sections. 5 of these were emergencies & 1 was planned
🍄 7 birthed in a birth centre & 4 of these were in water
🏡 2 birthed at home as planned
🚑 Of the mamas who birthed in hospital, ALL were for a medical reason

We welcomed…
1️⃣4️⃣ Girls 🎀
1️⃣2️⃣ Boys 🧸

We also cared for 7 beautiful mamas who sadly miscarried & said goodbye to their babies too soon 👼🏼💔

Thank you to all our wonderful clients for making 2023 such a great one & the return to work a breeze 💛 As always, I couldn’t have asked for a better midwifery partner to work alongside! Georgia & I have the coolest partnership & way of working that gives us a great work/life balance. Georgia’s support is unmatched & I’m so lucky to have such an epic midwife as my partner 🙌🏼💖

✌🏼 Peace out ‘23 ❤️‍🔥

21/11/2023

Christmas is just around the corner & we’re starting to book appointments for December & January! 🎄💗🎅🏼

These are the dates we will be in clinic over the holiday period. After this we will return to our regular Tuesday clinics. We don’t have babies due at Christmas, but because this job is completely unpredictable we will still take turns being on call over the holiday period. As always, please don’t hesitate to call if you ever have concerns about the well-being of yourself or your baby ❤️📞

20/11/2023

It’s not often C-section mamas get to watch their babies being born! 😍

This mama asked the obstetrician during her pre-op checks if the drape could be lowered as baby was born. Much to our surprise the obstetrician said “I can’t see any reason why not”. The doctor briefly discussed the importance of maintaining a sterile field & during the CS facilitated mum’s wishes so she could watch her little boy arrive into the world. This was so special to witness & I hope we get to see more of this in the future 🙏🏼 It is always worth asking (telling 😉) the surgeon if this is something you would like because they might just make it happen.

📸 shared with love & consent

05/10/2023

We are already starting to get enquiries for JUNE next year (🤯) so thought we should give a quick update on our availability for 2024! 💛

Something I am really proud since returning from maternity leave; Georgia & I haven’t reposted our profiles on the Find Your Midwife website & we are still booking up without advertising our names anywhere 🥹 It’s so heart warming to know we must be doing an okay job when return clients come back to us for their next baby or recommend us to others (thank you!!) 🥰 I often have first time mums enquire via this page which is another reason I wanted to share here…

Georgia is heading to America in June 2024 to celebrate her brother’s wedding! 🇺🇸 Therefore we have decided to only take a limited number of return clients for the month of June. We also have a few spaces that have become available for March & May but otherwise we are fully booked. If you’re still looking for a midwife for either of these months then get in touch 🫶🏻

03/10/2023

Nothing beats a redemptive birth. That face says it all! 🙌🏼🔥

I cared for Emma & Joel during their first pregnancy & birth. Emma went into labour at 42 weeks had a looong & challenging labour that ultimately ended with [necessary] intervention & baby being admitted to NICU…a lot different to the home birth we had originally planned 🏡 ➡️ 🏥 This time Emma got the home birth she always dreamed of! 😍

I was so honoured to be invited into Emma’s birth space for a second time, to support her own midwife shortly after I returned from maternity leave. Women are so fu***ng powerful & how cool that us midwives are reminded of that daily❤️‍🔥

*Baby was a little stunned after a swift arrival but as soon as we laid him back he gave us a big cry & went straight back to māmā for cuddles. Epic photos taken by (so grateful to have a couple of rare photos of me doing the mahi I love! ❤️). 📸 shared with permission as always