Prepare for a positive birth with The Birth Class
What is infertility?
The Two Week Wait
What is low PAPP-A?
Gestational Diabetes (GD)
Birthing Ball for Labour
Birth Trauma
Caesarean Birth Recovery
How to Plan Sleep in Postpartum
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A series of online education courses featuring a range of perinatal specialists that will give you practical skills to confidently navigate labour and birth.
The Podcast
Australian Birth Stories is a portrait of women navigating their journey to motherhood – a series of honest stories that detail the heartache of infertility, the joy and overwhelm of pregnancy, the challenge and elation of birth and the tentative first weeks of postpartum.
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The empowering online childbirth education program that will help you confidently prepare for birth.
An informative and comforting 5-part audio course guiding you through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The 8-part audio program supporting your empowered and confident transition into motherhood.
This Bundle includes The Birth Class, Discovering Motherhood and our Breastfeeding Guide.
Everything you need as you journey through pregnancy and prepare for a positive birth experience.
Your pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting questions answered in our library of journal articles.
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pregnancy
Following your 12 week combined screening test, results may show low PAPP-A. This isn’t uncommon but it’s also not something that’s commonly discussed between friends or in pregnancy forums, hence it can be overwhelming at first.
If you are preparing for your glucose tolerance test between 24 to 28 weeks (or earlier if you have a history of insulin resistance), you may be wondering what gestational diabetes is and how it affects your pregnancy.
postpartum
If you’re recovering from a caesarean birth (c-section) it’s helpful to remember that your body needs to heal after major abdominal surgery. Caesarean births are common (roughly one in three in Australia) but significant surgery requires adequate recovery time. Here's what you can expect in your caesarean recovery.
Chances are you’ve never heard of cytomegalovirus, even though you’ve likely had it. It’s a very common virus in the herpes virus family with 50 per cent of Australians having been infected by young adulthood and up to 85 per cent by 40 years of age.
There is so much talk about baby sleep - ‘is he a good sleeper?’ ‘How many naps does he have during the day?’ ‘Is she sleeping through the night?’ but we’re missing the conversations about maternal sleep.
Pregnancy is a common experience but we can’t forget how miraculous it is. The fact that you’re growing new life within you - and a whole new, temporary organ to sustain that life - is mind blowing when you stop to *actually* think about it. And for these reasons, it’s so important that you prioritise rest in pregnancy because it’s true - your body is working so hard to grow and sustain your baby and keep you healthy and energised, too.
If you had a caesarean birth and you’ve noticed an overhang or a bulge over your scar, we want you to know that it’s completely normal and a natural part of birth recovery. It’s not dependent on whether you had a planned or emergency caesarean nor is it a result of a bad incision or hindered healing process; it’s simply a common side-effect of wound healing.
birth
Choosing the correct size birthing ball for pregnancy can be tricky. Here are the key things to keep in mind for choosing your yoga or exercise ball for use in pregnancy or birth.
Birth can be a positive, empowering experience. However, for some women, labour and birth (both vaginal and caesarean birth) can be traumatic and can lead to both physical and mental trauma.
If you’re in the third trimester you’re no doubt thinking about all that’s to come; labour, birth, and a precious newborn baby. There is so much to look forward to and prepare for. But often, we spend so much time thinking of what our baby needs that we rarely think about ourselves. So, we’re here to gently encourage you (read: implore you!) to start thinking about your post-birth recovery. It’s generally quite a slow process and for many women, especially first-time mothers, it can be quite confronting. We don’t want to scare you but research shows that realistic expectations pave the way for a positive postpartum experience
An episiotomy is a surgical cut to the perineum during the second stage of labour that’s performed on around 24 per cent of Australian women during a vaginal birth. Episiotomies are used to enlarge the vaginal opening, particularly if a baby is showing signs of distress and needs to be born quickly. It may also be suggested if your care provider believes you’re at risk of a severe tear.
conception
If you’re currently trying to conceive (TTC) and you’re concerned about your fertility, you’re not alone. There is a lot of social conversation about infertility in Australia, with 1 in 6 couples seeking fertility treatment for either medical infertility or social infertility (queer couples and solo mothers by choice).
An induction can be overwhelming but there are some practical things you can do to prepare for a positive experience.
The two week wait is the two weeks after you’ve ovulated when you’re anxiously waiting to see if your attempts to conceive have been successful.
Once you find out you’re pregnant, you’ll need to make a decision about who will care for you in pregnancy and support you during labour and birth.
If you’ve been googling anything related to fertility or conception, chances are you’ve stumbled across the term “conscious conception”.
Please provide the following information about the first day of your last menstrual period.
This is an estimated date of when your baby is due. Babies rarely keep to an exact timetable, so your full-term pregnancy can be anywhere from 37 and 42 weeks.
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Sophie Walker
I’m Sophie, founder and host of Australian Birth Stories, the podcast with over 15 million downloads that’s endorsed by the Australian College of Midwives. I’ve got a Masters in Public Health and a passion for encouraging women to actively prepare for birth and postpartum. Beyond the microphone, I’m a mum to three rambunctious boys who create a lot of joy and mess.