You look down to see those two pink lines...
You're pregnant. A million thoughts race through your mind, you can't believe it. Now what? There are so many elements to consider, so many resources, so many options!
I thought I would help out by recommending a few options for Birth workers in the Brisbane/SE Queensland region. These wonderful people are people I have worked with personally or used their services, and have been blown away by their kindness, generosity and understanding.
Birth Education
Mothermoon Hypnobirthing
I met Jess when I was pregnant with my second babe. Ez and I loved her approach to Hypnobirthing class and we felt immediately comfortable with her warm and approachable demeanour. Jess is not only a certified Hypnobirth practitioner but also an endorsed midwife, mother and birth advocate.
Midwives
It takes a village midwifery
It Takes A Village Midwifery is an amazing collective women-centric of midwives, that support your right to birth as you want. These beautiful midwives believe that childbirth is a normal event that can unfold naturally and undisturbed. By choosing these Midwives as your care providers, you are choosing to have your spiritual journey to becoming a parent guided with gentle loving hands. Every birth I have attended with a ITAV has been filled with love, light and softness; truly, a most wonderful experience.
New life Midwifery
This practice of beautiful holistic midwives has a family centred approach to pregnancy and birth. Again the continuity of the care provided by NLM is second to none, and I have seen these midwives in action many times. Every birth I have attended with a New Life Midwife has been an experience in a gentle birth and the first homebirth I ever witnessed was with Alex. I fell more in love with birth and learned to trust our bodies because of my experience with this beautiful practice.
Doulas
Sammy Griffin Birth Support
I met Sammy during my second pregnancy with River. She was my postpartum doula and I felt so seen, heard and held by her during my postpartum period when I felt my most vulnerable. Sammy is one of my most beautiful souls I have ever encountered and she believes that every pregnant person deserves the very best prenatal, and postnatal care. Sammy has a wealth of knowledge and experience in birth and all things pregnancy.
Lactation consultants IBCLC's
Jannie Sperling
Jannie is an Endorsed Midwife with New Life Midwifery and she is also an amazing IBCLC. I met her when I needed breastfeeding support with my second baby and she was warm and supportive, and able to give me sound advice that helped support me to continue my breastfeeding journey.
Julie Bullard
Julie is a midwife, a Child Health nurse and a lactation consultant in Brisbane. With her absolute wealth of knowledge, Julie provides continuity of care to aid and support your breast and chest feeding journey. She believes in the wellbeing of you as the primary provider for your baby, and your baby's wellbeing.
Birth herbs
Blissful herbs
Julie created Blissful herbs to nurture the body and soul during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Her herbs have many different uses and a lot of my birth photography clients have her herbs on hand for during labour and after birth.
Resources
Podcasts
Podcasts are an absolute favourite of mine to consume information. You can listen anywhere any time! Learning about birth and having an understanding of what is going to happen to your body is such an important part of the journey to becoming a parent and before you experience birth.
Positive birth stories
"What started as a podcast and social media page to spread empowering and informative stories, in the hopes to restore ones faith in their body and your innate ability to birth, has now expanded to an online store where you will find products to support you during your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum - energetically and physically"
Australian Birth Stories
"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."
Midwives Cauldron
"Join us as we hubble, bubble, toil, and trouble our way through aspects of midwifery, birth, lactation, and womanhood. We tackle and discuss a variety of topics within the sphere of womanhood, birth, and lactation and what this entails in today's society. We want to be able to share in the strengths of women gathering together and being more informed, for their birth, their feeding experience, and the transition into knowing ourselves better. This is the podcast to connect us as a greater circle of women united."
Evidence based birth
"In the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast, we cover the research evidence on hot topics about pregnancy and childbirth! Our mission is to raise the quality of childbirth care globally, by putting accurate, evidence based research into the hands of families and communities, so they can make informed, empowered choices. This show is perfect for anyone interested in birth options, from expecting parents to experienced birth professionals."
Vbac Podcast
A podcast featuring Australians sharing their journey of vaginal birth after caesarean. Through sharing and learning from each other's lived experiences the podcast is designed to empower and educate those whose VBAC journey may have just begun, help all expecting mums achieve a more natural birth if that is their intention, and better inform birth professionals about one's journey to a VBAC.
Books
Gentle birth, Gentle mothering
An authoritative guide to natural childbirth and postpartum parenting options from an MD who home-birthed her own four children.
Sarah Buckley might be called a third-wave natural birth advocate. A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body. Using current medical and epidemiological research plus women's experiences (including her own), she demonstrates that what she calls "undisturbed birth" is almost always healthier and safer than high-technology approaches to birth. Her wise counsel on issues like breastfeeding and sleeping during postpartum helps extend the gentle birth experience into a gentle parenting relationship.
Ina May's Guide to childbirth
"Ina May Gaskin, America's leading midwife, shares her exceptional birthing wisdom in this intuitive guide to childbirth. By sharing a wealth of knowledge generated by three decades of experience she explains why the natural birthing process, when left to its own devices, can proceed so beautifully on its own. In this invaluable book Ina May teaches you: what really happens during labour; how to create a safe, comfortable environment for birth in any setting; tips for maximising your chances of an unmedicated labour and birth; the risks of anaesthesia and caesareans; and, what your doctor doesn't necessarily tell you."
The Gentle sleep book
This new book from Sarah Ockwell-Smith, founder of BabyCalm, will be an indispensable guide for parents, whatever challenges they are facing with their child's sleep - from the day they bring their newborn home until their child is settled into school. Examining everything from frequent night waking in babyhood, through bedwetting in toddlerhood, to nightmares and refusal to go to bed in pre-schoolers, this book provides extensive scientific and anecdotal information, plus plenty of gentle suggestions, to help everyone get a good night's sleep. This is a gentle, evidence-based approach that doesn't involve leaving a baby to cry or shutting a sobbing child in their bedroom."
How to birth like a feminist
For too long women have been told, ‘a healthy baby is all that matters’. This book dares to say women matter too.
Finally blasting the feminist spotlight into the labour ward, Milli Hill encourages women everywhere to stand and deliver, insisting that birth is no longer left off the list in discussions about female power, control and agency.
From the importance of birth plans to your human rights in childbirth, and including birth stories from women across the world, this call-to-arms will help you find your voice, take an active role in your choices, and change the way you think about childbirth.
Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage
"It's time for a childbirth revolution. Childbirth has always been, and always will be, a significant rite of passage that transforms a woman into a mother. However, the modern approach to maternity care fails women, families and care providers with outdated practices that centre the needs of institutions rather than individuals. In this book, Rachel Reed demonstrates how childbirth can be reclaimed to centre women and support birth physiology. The book weaves history, science and research with the experiences of women and care providers to create a holistic, evidence-based framework for understanding birth. It takes the reader on a journey through childbirth physiology and practices and focuses on what can be done to create change one mother at a time, one birth at a time."
The First Forty Days
The first 40 days after the birth of a child offer an essential and fleeting period of rest and recovery for the new mother. Based on author Heng Ou’s own postpartum experience with zuo yuezi, a set period of “confinement,” in which a woman remains at home focusing on healing and bonding with her baby, The First Forty Days revives the lost art of caring for the mother after birth. As modern mothers are pushed to prematurely “bounce back” after delivering their babies, and are often left alone to face the physical and emotional challenges of this new stage of their lives, the first forty days provide a lifeline—a source of connection, nourishment, and guidance. The book includes 60 simple recipes for healing soups; replenishing meals and snacks; and calming and lactation-boosting teas, all formulated to support the unique needs of the new mother. In addition to the recipes, this warm and encouraging guide offers advice on arranging a system of help during the postpartum period, navigating relationship challenges, and honoring the significance of pregnancy and birth. The First Forty Days, fully illustrated to feel both inspiring and soothing, is a practical guide and inspirational read for all new mothers and mothers-to-be—the perfect ally during the first weeks with a new baby.
Documentaries
Birth time
"It was clear from the research we conducted that our maternity system is broken.
We have a postnatal depression epidemic, with suicide being the leading cause of maternal death in the developed world.
Birth trauma is rampant.
We have incredibly high intervention rates in birth, yet research shows that this is not leading to better outcomes for mothers and babies.
Globally, we are losing connection and trust in one of the most transformative, powerful, primal and pivotal rites of passage we will ever undertake in our lives.
We live in a time where it has become normal to disregard the importance of a woman’s/persons experience of birth. It is not widely known that our birth and birthing experiences deeply impact the way we navigate the world."
DJÄKAMIRR
For over 60,000 years Yolŋu childbirth happened on-country with skilled djäkamirr- midwifery caretakers -using ancestral wisdom and bush technologies to support women and babies. Yolŋu flourished.
Since the recent arrival of Western missionaries in the 1920s and the removal of childbirth to hospital, Yolŋu have been suffering. Women are now disconnected from their support systems and the region has profound health inequities including the highest rate of preterm birth in Australia.
DJÄKAMIRR is a privileged insight into the aspirations of remote First Nations communities to reclaim their birthing culture from the stronghold of Western medicine; and be part of the solutions to improve health. Filmed over a two year period on-country in Arnhem Land, the documentary is a rare invitation to experience Yolŋu women’s culture and hear their aspirations for maternity services. This is a journey of hope, demonstrating that when Yolŋu and Balanda (non-Yolŋu) Australians work together, positive change and community empowerment is possible.
Other
Spinning babies
Spinning Babies® is a physiological approach to preparing for and caring for birth.
During birth, babies descend through the pelvis by turning to fit each curve in the passage. Baby’s turns are “fetal rotation.” If fetal rotation can be made easier, birth is easier for everyone.
Spinning Babies® has become a paradigm, or a new view on childbirth. By understanding birth physiology better we can help birth be easier.Spinning Babies® is how we are Changing Birth on Earth.
Australian Breastfeeding association
Almost all women want to breastfeed their babies. Breastfeeding is a practical, learned skill and ABA aims to support the 300,000 plus women who give birth in Australia each year to breastfeed their child for as long as they choose to.
Through the provision of evidence-based information, education and counselling, we provide unconditional peer support to mums and their families. At the same time, we educate and equip health professionals and advocate to remove the societal barriers to breastfeeding
