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What is infertility?
The Two Week Wait
What is Pre-eclampsia?
Non-invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT)
What is Shoulder Dystocia?
5 Tips for a Calm Birth
Cracked Nipples: Causes, Treatment and Prevention
5 Tips for Travelling With Kids
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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.
A guide to inspire pregnant women to prepare for their breastfeeding journey.
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.
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birth
Shoulder dystocia occurs in a vaginal birth when the baby’s shoulder is stuck behind the mother’s pelvic bone but the head has already been birthed. It’s considered an emergency but your care provider will be trained in navigating the complication to ensure your baby is born promptly and safely.
If you’re currently pregnant, you may be feeling quite overwhelmed by the advice that everyone seems to throw at you. It’s a lot, isn’t it. And while it’s well-meaning, it often leads to confusion rather than clarity.
pregnancy
Pre-eclampsia is considered a serious pregnancy complication that requires prompt medical attention. It occurs after 20 weeks gestation and in rarer cases, can develop after birth (this is called ‘postpartum pre-eclampsia’). Between five and ten percent of preterm births in Australia are due to pre-eclampsia and its associated symptoms.
postpartum
Sore, cracked and irritated nipples are a common symptom in the early days of breastfeeding. However, cracked nipples are usually a sign that your baby isn’t latching correctly. Because your baby will feed frequently in the first few days and weeks (expect to feed 8-12 times in a 24 hour period), sore nipples will get progressively worse unless you seek expert advice and guidance. This is vital as nipple pain is one of the reasons why new mothers stop breastfeeding earlier than they intended.
Noninvasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) is a blood screening test that determines the risk of your baby being born with certain chromosomal abnormalities, such as trisomy 21, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13. It’s commonly called the Harmony Test and is done at 10 weeks gestation. It’s also an opportunity to find out the sex of your baby earlier than an ultrasound. In these stories, women share the reasons why they opted to have a NIPT.
Regardless of where you’re birthing and your intentions for pain management, it’s a good idea to educate yourself about the benefits and risks of each intervention so you go into labour aware and informed, with a strong understanding of the options available to you and how they can help or hinder your labour progression, birth and recovery.
As you get closer to your estimated due date (EDD), ideally your baby will be in a head down position. If your baby is upside down - with either their bottom or feet closest to your cervix and their head up towards your ribcage - they are in a breech position. It’s very normal for your baby to turn from breech to head-down throughout your pregnancy.
Travel is a priority for my Australian/Fijian family. We try to get back to Fiji once a year so the boys can better understand and have a strong sense of pride in their cultural heritage. I’m also partial to a margarita by the pool.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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 17 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.