It is with deep reverence and gratitude that we share Angela's birth stories with you. Midwife Angela shares her powerful journey through three profoundly different births. Her story begins with the premature birth of her first son, Colton, at just 26 weeks following an antepartum haemorrhage and preterm premature rupture of membranes. Angela recounts the emotional and clinical intensity of undergoing a caesarean, navigating the heartbreak of NICU life and the following devastating decision to say goodbye to her baby boy after 22 days on life support. She shares how her midwifery brain helped her to slow down, appreciate the birth experience at the time and also helped her advocate for the information and support she needed as her family had to say goodbye to their baby.

Angela then opens up about the grief that followed the loss of her baby boy, an early miscarriage melting into that same grief, and then the conception of her next baby—whose birth would take place just 13 months later, putting her in a 'high-risk' category for VBAC. Despite pressure to have a repeat caesarean, Angela advocated for herself with the support of a trusted midwife and birthed her baby vaginally, powerfully after an artificial rupture of membranes.

Her third and final birth was fast and intense, an induction with breaking of waters following reduced movements and increasing blood pressure. This labour was just 50 minutes from the first contraction to holding her baby! Again, with the support of her midwife, Angela experienced a powerful, swift vaginal birth after caesarean.

With heartfelt wisdom, vulnerability and remarkable strength, Angela reflects on how her midwifery experience shaped her own birth experiences and also how her personal experiences of birth have shaped her practice as a midwife.

Please join us on our journey to bringing you all kinds of VBAC stories from across the country from here on in by subscribing and following us on social media, @australianvbacstories on Instagram and Australian VBAC Stories on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to rate or review, and tell your friends!

If you are feeling that you might benefit from mental health support after listening to our podcast, please reach out to one of the organisations below:

PANDA ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://panda.org.au/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Gidget Foundation ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.gidgetfoundation.org.au/⁠⁠⁠⁠

COPE Australia ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cope.org.au/⁠⁠⁠⁠

If you've experienced mistreatment or disrespectful care in your pregnancy, birth or postpartum and are seeking advocacy support, please contact one of the following organisations:

Maternity Choices Australia ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maternitychoices.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Maternity Consumer Network ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maternityconsumernetwork.org.au/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you for tuning in to our podcast.

In this deeply moving and multifaceted episode, we sit down with Jen to explore her extraordinary journey through six births and five miscarriages, with a diagnosis of hyperfertility. Jen shares openly and honestly about her experiences, the medical complexities and the fierce resilience that led to her reclaiming her birth and deeply trusting her intuition, shaping her motherhood story.

Jen leads us through her first two births, both vaginal births with doula support, and includes a run over of some of the complexities she experienced (retained placenta in her first birth and a snapped cord in her second). Jen then shares about her third birth where she experienced a shoulder dystocia - a complication that would weigh heavily on her decisions for her future pregnancy.

Following her shoulder dystocia experience and another experience of miscarriage, Jen conceived her next baby, a pregnancy involving more complexity with multiple bleeds, a subchorionic hematoma and lots of discussions around risk of shoulder dystocia for this baby's birth. Jen shares of her anxiety throughout this pregnancy and the eventual decision to agree to a planned caesarean birth, but her journey didn’t end there.

With her next pregnancy, Jen embarked on a path of deep research and self-advocacy, culminating in a vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) that she describes as incredibly healing. She walks us through her path leading back to her intuition, her advocacy for herself and her babies and how she came to the decisions she did as she navigated a high risk pregnancy that she felt was anything but. Finally, Jen shares her final birth of her sixth baby, a planned homebirth supported by a privately practising midwife who trusted her intuition and listened to her every step of the way. Jen describes her decision to transfer to hospital, how she was supported through this and her journey from feeling that she failed at homebirth to recognising that this was a successful homebirth, despite the transfer.

Throughout it all, Jen’s story is one of profound loss, strength, and reclamation. She speaks candidly about her experiences with miscarriage, the complexities of hyperfertility, the trauma and triumphs of birth, and how she ultimately found her voice and autonomy as a mother.

Please join us on our journey to bringing you all kinds of VBAC stories from across the country from here on in by subscribing and following us on social media, @australianvbacstories on Instagram and Australian VBAC Stories on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to rate or review, and tell your friends!

If you are feeling that you might benefit from mental health support after listening to our podcast, please reach out to one of the organisations below:

PANDA ⁠⁠⁠https://panda.org.au/⁠⁠⁠

Gidget Foundation ⁠⁠⁠https://www.gidgetfoundation.org.au/⁠⁠⁠

COPE Australia ⁠⁠⁠https://www.cope.org.au/⁠⁠⁠

If you've experienced mistreatment or disrespectful care in your pregnancy, birth or postpartum and are seeking advocacy support, please contact one of the following organisations:

Maternity Choices Australia ⁠⁠⁠https://www.maternitychoices.org/⁠⁠⁠

Maternity Consumer Network ⁠⁠⁠https://www.maternityconsumernetwork.org.au/⁠⁠⁠

Thank you for tuning in to our podcast.

In this beautiful episode we get the opportunity to listen to Freyja's 2 incredible birth stories! Listen in to hear a beautiful recount and reflection around the births of her two gorgeous, big baby boys!

Her first birth was a difficult one, occurring amongst floods and during COVID and involving an induction due to insulin dependent gestational diabetes and suspected big baby. Ultimately Freyjas' first birth resulted in a caesarean due to 'failure to progress' at 7cm dilation. Freyja recounts her feelings surrounding her birth and all of the hardship in her community at the time of her birth due to surrounding flooding, as well as birthing in the time of COVID. She talked through the journey through processing her first birth experience and how she navigated working towards her next birth, a planned VBAC!

Freyja's next birth story is one of triumph, joy and empowerment, involving lots of self-advocacy, flexing her autonomy and pushing forward even when her birth team shifted and changed. Freyja vulnerably shares how she navigated discussions with doctors, balanced the risks of a VBAC with another suspected big baby and also advocated for herself both leading up to and during labour. She talks about the challenges and mindset shifts that led to her VBAC and discusses the importance of educating herself, building strong support systems, advocating for her birth choices and listening to other women' stories as a form of education and inspiration.

This episode is full of reflection and information, and Freyja's story is an inspiring reminder that every birth journey is unique and that, with the right support and mindset, women can reclaim control and autonomy over their birthing choices. We hope you love listening as much as we loved interviewing Freyja!

Please join us on our journey to bringing you all kinds of VBAC stories from across the country from here on in by subscribing and following us on social media, @australianvbacstories on Instagram and Australian VBAC Stories on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love to rate or review, and tell your friends!

If you are feeling that you might benefit from mental health support after listening to our podcast, please reach out to one of the organisations below:

PANDA ⁠⁠https://panda.org.au/⁠⁠

Gidget Foundation ⁠⁠https://www.gidgetfoundation.org.au/⁠⁠

COPE Australia ⁠⁠https://www.cope.org.au/⁠⁠

If you've experienced mistreatment or disrespectful care in your pregnancy, birth or postpartum and are seeking advocacy support, please contact one of the following organisations:

Maternity Choices Australia ⁠⁠https://www.maternitychoices.org/⁠⁠

Maternity Consumer Network ⁠⁠https://www.maternityconsumernetwork.org.au/⁠⁠

Thank you for tuning in to our podcast.