Prepare for a positive birth experience with our new book
The Two Week Wait
10 Questions To Ask Your Care Provider
Your Pregnancy Care Options
Common Symptoms in Early Pregnancy
How to Prepare for a Positive Induction (plus five positive induction stories)
Six things you may not know about the hours after a caesarean birth
A Guide to Packing Your Nappy Bag
Everything You Need to Know About “Baby Brain”
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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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Everything you need as you journey through pregnancy and prepare for a positive birth experience.
An informative and comforting 5-part audio course guiding you through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The empowering online childbirth education program that will help you confidently prepare for birth.
The 8-part audio program supporting your empowered and confident transition into motherhood.
A guide to inspire pregnant women to prepare for their breastfeeding journey.
Your pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting questions answered.
Choose a category
postpartum
If you’re currently pregnant and starting to gather essentials for your baby, chances are you’re thinking about the must-haves for your nappy bag.
The colloquial and derogatory term, baby brain, has been used for decades to explain the forgetfulness and brain fog of new motherhood. But research proves that the brain in new motherhood is primed for learning.
Comfortable basics are absolutely essential for early postpartum when your body is soft and sore. Your physical recovery will be very dependent on your birth experience but, that said, no-one is bouncing back from pregnancy and birth. The whole concept of returning to who you were before your pregnancy is unrealistic; your body has taken almost a year to conceive, grow and birth your baby, it will take you time to recover and heal.
birth
An induction can be overwhelming but there are some practical things you can do to prepare for a positive experience.
The hierarchy of needs is a great tool to use in conversation with your partner so together you can work out how to facilitate your essential needs in postpartum.
pregnancy
If you’re not sure whether to choose a midwife or an obstetrician for your pregnancy care, you’ve come to the right place. Here we outline what your options are, including the difference between a midwife and obstetrician and what you can expect from your care experience.
Is this normal? You may find yourself asking this question quite regularly in the first trimester. Indeed, there’s quite a few common symptoms in early pregnancy that may take you by surprise because despite their ubiquity, they’re not often discussed. Beyond the nausea, here’s what you can expect:
Whether your pregnancy was planned or a surprise, there’s often a lot of confusion about the steps to take after a positive pregnancy test. We’ve outlined everything you need to know!
If you’re preparing for a caesarean birth, you’re no doubt thinking about what will happen in the operating theatre and what your recovery will be like. Here’s a few things you can expect:
Understanding informed choice is a key aspect of birth education.
Are you pregnant and searching for positive birth stories to educate, encourage and inspire you? If so, you’ve come to the right place.
conception
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’re considering having a baby and you’ve been googling anything related to fertility or conception, chances are you’ve stumbled across the term “conscious conception”.
If you’re planning a pregnancy you may be considering your fertility for the first time in your life which can feel like a big unknown.
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 8 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.
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