EP26 - Caitlyn's planned VBAC, repeat caesarean experience (induction, COVID pregnancy, lockdown, NICU, PPA, PPD, Postpartum Rage, short pregnancy interval, cord prolapse, CAT1 emergency caesarean)

We’re so excited to bring you this episode with the wonderful Caitlyn, who shares her incredible birth journey and the lessons she's learned along the way. Her story begins with the traumatic birth of her eldest daughter in 2020 during lockdown, which set her on the path to pursue a VBAC with her son.  Despite her hopes for a more straightforward, peaceful experience, her son’s birth did not go as planned, as she faced a cord prolapse after her membranes were ruptured, which ultimately resulted in a CAT1 emergency cesarean. While the outcome could have been far more difficult, Caitlyn reflects on how the situation was much smoother and less traumatic than it could have been, and how kind and considerate treatment from care providers makes all the difference in a woman’s birth journey. Now, Caitlyn is expecting her third baby and, once again, she’s holding onto her dream of a VBA2C. In this episode, she opens up about her experience navigating these challenges, the emotional rollercoaster of working towards a VBA2C, and what she’s hoping for in her upcoming birth. Her story is one of resilience, hope, and the power of learning from each experience, and we know you’ll find her honesty, strength, and humour incredibly inspiring. Join us as Caitlyn takes us through her birth journey, with all its ups and downs, and her ongoing hope for a beautiful, healing birth this time around. 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.

We are so thrilled to bring you this episode with the wonderful Cara who shares her three very different birth experiences with us. During her first birth, Cara had done independent birth education and felt able to say no to some things that didn't feel right to her, but found herself in a difficult situation with prelabour rupture of membranes and a slow early labour that eventually led her to being induced/augmented and put on the cascade towards an emergency caesarean. A very difficult postpartum period followed, where her son was diagnosed 'failure to thrive' and she needed to be readmitted to hospital and have him receive formula and treatment to get him back to healthy weight. Despite this, she managed to go on to breastfeed her first son well into toddlerhood. She knew she wanted a VBAC immediately after that first birth, and began down the rabbit hole of education. This time, she laboured spontaneously but after arriving at hospital, was allocated a midwife whose poor treatment and disrespectful care really coloured her VBAC experience, which ultimately saw the use of a vacuum to support the birth of her second son, and also eventuated in a third degree tear and a delayed postpartum haemorrhage, the symptoms for which were dismissed impatiently by the midwife until the next shift rotation came through. By her third birth, Cara had learned so much more and this time employed a doula to support her and her husband. This birth was a redemptive and healing experience, beautifully supported by midwives in the same hospital with incredible respectful care that made the world of difference. She pushed her baby out on her own terms, and speaks to how significant this was after her prior two births. We know you will adore the wealth of knowledge and experience that Cara shares with a gorgeous and light hearted approach to her stories, and many amusing anecdotes along the way. Cara wishes to thank her wonderful doula, Aimee Sing of Birth Aims. Cara's birth class: Kaia Birth Cara's women's health physio: HerHealth 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.

We’re overjoyed to bring you the incredible story of Carissa’s three births. She takes us deep into her journey from a planned caesarean with a private obstetrician, to her emergency caesarean in hospital, to her powerful and joyous freebirth with her third son. Carissa hired a private obstetrician in her first pregnancy and was devastated to learn that the myomectomy, that she had previously undergone, led to being recommended a planned caesarean at 39 weeks. This was a very difficult experience and ultimately led to a disconnect in bonding with her son, that resulted in a very challenging postpartum period. After significant preparation of her body and womb, Carissa and her husband consciously conceived their second son, Aubrey. They considered a homebirth with a private midwife, though ultimately planned to birth in the local public hospital within the continuity of midwifery care program. Carissa hired a doula for this birth, and reflects very openly and deeply about how she feels she handed over her power to others around her, hoping for them to “save her”, and looking outward to them to ensure she had the birth she wanted. After a marathon labour, which involved discovering she had contracted an infection, Carissa made the decision to have a second caesarean. She describes the trauma she experienced when her son was taken from her for resuscitation and the separation they experienced after she was taken to recovery. Carissa speaks about reclaiming this postpartum and having much more connected and healing experience with her second son, including what she describes as a beautiful experience of tandem feeding him and her first son, Teddy. As soon as Carissa fell pregnant with her third son, she knew she would not be birthing in a hospital. She and her husband ultimately chose to have a freebirth, and Carissa shares her wealth of wisdom gained on that journey. These learnings include how Carissa empowered herself from within to birth the way she wanted; the need to ride the wave and rewrite the story in a birth that unfolded in a similar way to her previously traumatic one; and the importance of and the power found in surrounding yourself with a tribe of like-minded people. Carissa describes her gorgeous, undisturbed, empowering and healing freebirth at home, with just her husband and a trusted friend present. We were so moved by this story and know all our listeners are going to love the abundance of wisdom and emotion shared in this episode, no matter how and where they are choosing to birth. 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.

Today we are excited to share Emma’s beautiful birth stories, her first baby boy, Eric, born via caesarean after an induction, and her second baby girl, Chloe, born via a repeat caesarean after reaching full dilation during a spontaneous labour.   Her first pregnancy resulted in a pre-eclampsia diagnosis which led to an induction. Emma beautifully describes this birth journey of labouring with a posterior baby with a deflexed head, her experience of having an epidural and then eventual decision to have a caesarean section at 7cm dilation. While Emma’s caesarean section was done via general anaesthetic due to the spinal anaesthetic not working, she describes having a very positive experience of meeting her baby. She describes an initially difficult postpartum experience followed by months of positive breastfeeding with her son before falling pregnant with her next baby. Emma’s next baby, Chloe, was conceived just 7 months after her son, Eric’s, caesarean. Emma describes the discussions she had with the OBs, her decision to plan a VBAC for the easier, more positive recovery it would bring and this subsequent labour, birth and postpartum experience. Emma was an incredible advocate of the birth she wanted, including planning out what a future caesarean might look like so as to avoid the difficulties with epidural/spinal anaesthetic and having these difficult conversations before labour. She shares her labour with another posterior baby (but this time, no deflexed head!), what it was like receiving sterile water injections and also talks about getting to full dilation and pushing only to be told her pelvis was incorrectly shaped and not allowing her baby to descend. Emma describes her second caesarean, again via general anaesthetic, and the way that her empowered decisions during pregnancy and birth led to a much more positive recovery and easier breastfeeding journey too. The reflections shared in this episode are rich and vulnerable, and we believe will be so helpful for women processing their own experiences and journeys through a repeat caesarean after a planned VBAC. We hope you love listening to this episode and learning from Emma’s journey as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you.   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.

We are so excited to bring you the incredible Zelda's four epic birth stories for our 22nd episode! First things first: We had a few technical struggles recording this episode, so please forgive the occasional glitchiness of the audio quality and consistency. We hope you will still experience the richness of Zelda's experiences as she shares them It's not often we get to hear about VBA3C stories, and we are so grateful to bring you the second of these stories to the podcast with the incredible Zelda, who shares with us her experiences of planning for a vaginal birth with her first baby, the trauma of her journey to an emergency caesarean and the serious challenges that followed with a baby who didn't feed. Zelda went on to plan a VBAC with her second baby, only to be thwarted again and find herself with a second caesarean. This time, she knew a lot more and demanded skin-to-skin with her baby, and latching and feeding in theatre, and both this bub and her third bub who was born via a planned elective caesarean, she had much smoother feeding and postpartum experiences with. However, when she unexpectedly fell pregnant with her fourth baby, her first son, she knew she wasn't going to accept another elective caesarean as her only option, and she sought out the support of a private midwife with hospital admitting rights. Zelda shares her powerful and redemptive VBA3C with her biggest baby (a healthy 5kg baby boy!) and how she reclaimed her power and her faith in her mind and body in doing so. Thank you, Zelda, we can't wait to hear what you all think! 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 episode, we are so incredibly fortunate to have the beautiful Claire share her birth stories with us. Claire is an absolute wealth of wisdom, and the beautifully articulate and insightful way she shares her journey with us opens up some gorgeous, deep conversations with our co-hosts Katelyn and Aimee that you won't want to miss. Claire takes us through her first pregnancy, where it was flagged that her baby may not have been growing as they should, and the growth scans she underwent, along with a diagnosed breech position and an unsuccessful ECV, led to booking in a planned caesarean. Claire did go into spontaneous labour just before the scheduled date, and was able to labour for a period, but ultimately ended up birthing her baby via caesarean. Claire openly and vulnerably shares her first postpartum experience, involving a postpartum haemmorhage once she was home from hospital, and the intense physical and mental journey to recovery. We are so grateful that Claire shares a powerful poem she wrote in the trenches of that postpartum, 'Go Home Woman', which beautifully expresses the raw, visceral emotional experience of leaving the hospital with your baby in those fresh days post-birth. We know her words will resonate with so many of our listeners, as they did with us. After trying to conceive for a year, Claire was able to fall pregnant again. This sadly resulted in a miscarriage, and Claire speaks about the need for women and families to talk more about these experiences. Not long after, Claire fell pregnant again and began preparing for her VBAC. She talks us through consciously choosing her care provider and place of birth, and gathering her birth support team, which included a particularly-requested third-year midwifery student and her wonderful doula. Claire's labour and birth is a stunning story, and she takes us on the journey in a beautifully intimate way, generously sharing her insight and wisdom. We won't spoil too much for you, but just know it involves so much power and strength, and will be a wonderful source of inspiration for all women on their VBAC journeys. Claire reflects with us on her birth journeys, and talks about discovering she was worthy of investing in an experience that, for Claire and her family, was momentous and important and worth treating with the reverence it deserved. We know you are going to absolutely love Claire's story and know it will be an incredibly popular episode. We can't wait to hear what you think. Find out more about the poetry anthology that Claire mentions in the episode: What We Carry: Poetry on childbearing brings together the voices of more than 60 contemporary Australian poets. Featuring diverse perspectives on experiences of infertility, conception, termination, loss, pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period, this collection illuminates the endlessly different ways the potential to carry life is experienced. https://recentworkpress.com/product/what-we-carry-poetry-on-childbearing/ 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.

Today, we are so pleased to be bringing you the beautiful Anushka's incredible birth stories. Anushka walks us through her journey to her caesarean birth with her first son and explains how a posterior baby and long labour contributed to a cascade of interventions, including receiving syntocinon that she had not consented to, that ultimately ended with her meeting her baby via caesarean. She powerfully describes how she refused to let this birth be anything other than beautiful and sacred, and it was only much further down the track that she really accepted the trauma that she had experienced - not as a result of having a caesarean, but from the cascading labour and the treatment from maternity staff in the lead up. In her second pregnancy, she was in the middle of her midwifery studies, and originally decided to go back through the team midwifery clinic she had used in her first pregnancy with student midwife, after being unable to find available support for a hospital birth from doulas or private midwives in the area. Divine intervention, you might call it, saw her turn her plans around completely when she realised she wanted to birth at home and she found a wonderful PPM to support her HBAC. Another posterior labour, but this time with solid support around her, and Anushka brought her second son into the world with one foot in her bedroom and the other firmly planted in the stars. She shares vulnerably about her more complicated breastfeeding journey with her second son, and the impact of ongoing and unrelenting sleep deprivation over his first year of life. It was such a joy to interview Anushka for our podcast, and she shares her experiences so generously and with such thoughtfulness that we know you are going to absolutely love this one. 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.

Welcome to Episode 19 of Australian VBAC Stories, and today we’re thrilled to be hearing from Jo who shares her journey to her 2VBA2Cs! That’s two vaginal births after two caesareans. You already know this is going to be a good one.  Jo experienced the very classic cascade of intervention in her first pregnancy and birth journey, and found herself with a caesarean that was unexpected and traumatic. While she scrambled to figure out how to take care of her baby and what she was meant to do with her, she was told off by staff at the hospital for things beyond her knowledge or control as a first time mum, and overall had a rocky start to feeding and motherhood. She planned a VBAC with her second baby, but despite doing some incredible work in her labour reaching almost fully dilated, she developed an infection and was immediately taken for a caesarean to birth her baby. Despite a much calmer and more positive caesarean experience, and easier breastfeeding journey, Jo’s recovery was far more challenging while she now balanced her surgical recovery with caring for a newborn and a toddler.  Her third baby was born during covid, and Jo found some key players at the hospital who supported her goal of a VBA2C, despite the overwhelming negativity and naysaying from hospital obstetricians in particular. She laboured beautifully, and achieved her VBA2C with the assistance of forceps, and was over the moon. Her recovery was tougher than she expected with an episiotomy also involved, but she felt physically better far quicker than with her caesarean recoveries, and emotionally and mentally felt significantly better.  She was then blessed with a surprise fourth baby, and thought having a 2VBA2C would be a much more straightforward and supported journey, given she had now done this once already. Unfortunately, she experienced just as much push back and even coercion from the hospital. She stayed firm, and did a huge amount of mental preparation as well as physical, and ultimately pushed her beautiful boy and pulled him up to her chest from standing next to the bed in the hospital.  We know you will all benefit so greatly from Jo’s stories, and how she advocated for herself in the face of so much negativity. We hope you enjoy learning from her incredible birth experiences! 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.

Welcome to Episode 18 of the Australian VBAC Stories Podcast! Today we are delighted to have Imogen on the podcast sharing her somewhat unusual journey to VBAC with us. Imogen's first pregnancy was a beautiful surprise, but before she could really come to terms with it, sadly, she lost that baby at 7 weeks. However, this experienced had opened up her heart to the idea of having a baby, and her and her partner Courtney started trying to fall pregnant again. Imogen was very motivated to have a natural birth, and ended up at a private midwife information night where she was quickly sold on the idea of a PPM and a homebirth that the immediately booked in for. As her pregnancy progressed beyond 40, and then 41 weeks, nerves kicked in from all sides as she faced needing to transfer into hospital if she passed 42 weeks gestation in her corner of the world. After a couple of stretch and sweeps, she did begin contracting just ahead of the deadline, and a long and challenging labour began. Imogen shares her experience of labouring at home and knowing things weren't happening as they should, and before long, being transferred into hospital. A classic cascade of interventions occurred once in hospital, and she eventually found herself labelled "failure to progress" and being wheeled into an emergency caesarean. She talks us through the delay she found in bonding with her baby, and her chaotic experience of postpartum including moving house multiple times. When she was ready to have another baby, Imogen knew she wanted a VBAC, and she decided to try a different model of care and booked in under the public hospital. This birth involved a similarly long and challenging labour, and Imogen expresses how important her support team was in holding her through those crises of confidence along the way, including the beautiful hospital midwives who she met at arrival to the hospital who really advocated for her to get the birth she wanted. We hope you are inspired by Imogen's tenacity and strength as much as we were, and that you can take away some incredible inspiration for her story! 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 episode we have Nadia, an incredible mama of two, sharing her caesarean and VBAC journeys. Her stories are rich with reflection, exploring her first birth journey involving a baby with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and sudden induction leading to a caesarean, and her following, empowering VBAC with the support of her husband, doula and a private OB. Nadia beautifully shares her thought processes and reasoning throughout these journeys with such wisdom, including her struggles with breastfeeding and perinatal anxiety and how she worked through these experiences. We are sure you will love hearing her incredible birth stories. We are so excited to share it with you and would love to hear your thoughts! 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.