In honour of Caesarean Awareness Month this April, we are bringing you some incredible stories from women whose VBAC journeys resulted in repeat caesarean sections. Today, on her birthing day, we are so excited to share Emma's incredible birth stories! Emma journeyed through a planned caesarean for her twin babies' births, where the presenting twin was breech, through the public hospital system. During this pregnancy, birth and postnatal journey she experienced fragmented care, a term pregnancy with twins, a planned caesarean, the special care nursery, breastfeeding difficulties and postnatal depletion. Emma went on to plan a homebirth with a private midwife, Teena Welsh, and her doula (our co-host Aimee). She describes the challenges of getting beyond 42 weeks when all of her homebirth plans changed, and she agreed to an induction which ultimately failed and resulted in a repeat caesarean. Emma shares her breastfeeding experiences, how she avoided postnatal depletion the second time around, and what it felt like transitioning from a family of 4 to a family of 5. Emma shares her birth journeys with us complete with such beautiful insights into her decision making processes and feelings throughout the journey. She describes how different the care of her team was in each birth journey and beautifully highlights the benefits of having both private midwifery and doula support, especially in the hospital setting. We know you'll find this episode incredibly inspiring and insightful, and are sure you'll learn so much from the wisdom Emma so willingly shares. 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 honour of Caesarean Awareness Month this April, we are bringing you some incredible stories from women whose VBAC journeys resulted in repeat caesarean sections. Today, we are thrilled to share Helen's incredible journey from a failed induction after suspected preeclampsia under fragmented care in the public hospital system where she was bounced around between a couple of hospitals and really suffered from a lack of continuity and of not being known at all to any care provider she met along the way. Her first caesarean also meant a separation from her baby Theo, who was fed formula before she had a chance to latch him, and they continued to experience significant breast refusal from then on, meaning Helen's breastfeeding journey with Theo was not at all as she desired. Helen knew she wanted a very different experience with the birth of her second child, Hannah, and had done her own research which led her to plan a HBAC under the care of a privately practicing midwife. She was supported to wait for spontaneous labour, and had a long but lovely labour at home before a few indications that something wasn't quite right led them to transfer into hospital. Another long while later in hospital, Helen eventually decided to accept a repeat caesarean, and it was in the theatre that her baby's shoulder was discovered to have pushed through a rupture in her uterine scar from her first caesarean. Helen describes the difference in these two experiences of caesareans in such a beautiful expression of just how crucial continuity of carer can be. We hope that you will find this an inspiring and wonderfully educating episode, learning from Helen's wisdom and eloquent discussion around comparing her care models and treatment within the hospital during her two births. 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 today's episode, we are thrilled to have Tegan share her journey to motherhood including beginning with back-to-back ectopic pregnancies, followed by IVF conception and a rare diagnosis of Vasa Praevia which saw her on bed rest in hospital for weeks leading up to her first birth, a very necessary planned caesarean. She knew she wanted to pursue a VBAC with her next baby, and after another IVF journey to conceive, she sought the care of a doula (our lovely Aimee!) and enjoyed an uneventful pregnancy this time around, preparing herself mental and physically for labour. She shares her very fast labour and birth experience, and what that has meant for her long term in taking years to fully process, and how it has impacted the way she sees herself, women generally, and mothers in our world, especially now that she is three years on from that experience. We know you will absolutely love hearing Tegan's insightful and powerful storytelling, and are so thrilled to share it with you today! 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 invite you to listen to Olivia’s powerful story of her two very different births. Olivia is from a large family, and was introduced to birth from a young age when she attended her mother’s homebirth of her younger sibling at 10 years of age. Olivia was diagnosed with oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid) at a routine scan at 41 weeks and was recommended an induction. After being told her baby was in distress, Olivia ultimately had an emergency caesarean, despite feeling a very strong urge to push, even as she was being prepped for surgery. With her baby so low down, there were complications, and Olivia came out of her caesarean with a special scar: a T-incision.  Concerns with Olivia’s post-op health led to a hospital transfer, during which she was separated from her baby and partner, which was incredibly traumatic for her. Not least because of the disrespectful and insensitive care she received from many of the medical staff. Olivia shares her long journey of processing her trauma, seeking help that led to a PTSD diagnosis, and the way that she and her partner were able to acknowledge and ultimately heal from that experience. Olivia became pregnant with her second baby just over two years later, and knew immediately she wanted a VBAC. She decided to hire a private midwife for a homebirth, and found someone whom she immediately felt was the right addition to her birth team. Olivia and her midwife were both comfortable going ahead with her homebirth after doing their own research into the statistics on Olivia’s scar. Olivia takes us through her peaceful, gentle, pain-free and empowering homebirth, which happened very quickly, and ultimately her baby was born before her midwife’s arrival. We know you are going to love listening to Olivia’s emotional, raw and beautifully poignant story. We couldn’t be more grateful to Olivia for sharing so generously and vulnerably. Go on the journey with Olivia as she shares her family’s dreamy life by the sea by following her at @olivia.buchli on Instagram. ____ 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 of Australian VBAC Stories, Tiarny very openly and generously shares the story of her two births. With her first baby, Tiarny planned a homebirth with a private midwife. She went into spontaneous labour at 42+5, and ultimately transfered to hospital due to a prolonged second stage, where her baby was discovered to be presenting asynclitically. She ended up birthing via emergency caesarean, and had a postpartum haemorrhage and inverted T-incision. Tiarny describes her first birth as being the source of a significant amount of trauma for her, predominantly due to the high level of coercion and lack of respectful care she experienced. Tiarny takes us through her first postpartum journey, and how she was able to begin healing from her trauma, starting with seeking the assistance of psychologist early on to address symptoms of PTSD that she recognised in herself, and also eventually with hypnotherapy and talking to her daughter about their shared story. When Tiarny fell pregnant with her second baby, she knew without a doubt that she would be planning a VBAC. She ultimately decided to freebirth with antenatal support from a private midwife. Tiarny shares so much of her freebirth preparation with us, how she was feeling so much more relaxed, open-minded and trusting of her intuition in this pregnancy. Tiarny’s second birth story took an unexpected turn when she went into pre-term labour at 36 weeks. Things progressed extremely quickly, and she gave birth to her baby vaginally, minutes after realising that she was actually in labour. Tiarny was able to experience a very brief moment of skin-to-skin with her daughter before being taken to surgery for a 3.6L postpartum haemorrhage. Tiarny’s baby was taken to special care, and ultimately ended up with an 11-day NICU stay where she sustained an IV injury, that led to another incredibly challenging postpartum period. Tiarny speaks openly about the complexity of simultaneously being proud of achieving her VBAC, while also experiencing painful and challenging aspects of this birth and postpartum journey.  We are so incredibly grateful to Tiarny for sharing her story with us on the podcast. We hope you connect with and gain insight from this episode for your own journey, and enjoy listening as much as we did. Tiarny's beautiful custom birth story books can be found at @yourbirthstorybook on Instagram. ____ 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.

On today's episode of Australian VBAC Stories, we are thrilled to bring you Emily's incredible birth stories. Emily's first birth unfolds a bit differently to many of us. For a first time Mum, Emily was very prepared and very educated on the system and physiological birth, and knew exactly how she wanted to approach getting the birth she envisioned. However, that vision shifted drastically when her waters broke unexpectedly at 34 weeks pregnant, and needed to be transferred to a large tertiary hospital further from home and eventually accept a caesarean section to ensure the safety and wellbeing of her son. She talks so beautifully about how she reframed her perspective as she headed into theatre to meet her baby, and then shares with us her journey as a new mother to a premie baby. Emily knew she wanted a VBAC immediately, and she sought out the services of a privately practicing midwife for a homebirth, and you'll hear about the way she overcome the challenge to accessing this model of care with a due date near Christmas. Emily shares her experience with such openness, honesty, and vulnerability and we have no doubt there will be so much that our listeners will be able to take away from her episode. Emily wishes to thank her beautiful homebirth midwife, Leisa Gittings @leisa_homebirth_midwife and doula, Kellie Whiskin @ourdoula.com.au 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 today's Australian VBAC Stories episode, Olivia shares her incredible birth stories with us including her first caesarean with a baby discovered breech in labour, followed by a breech VBAC with the same Private Obstetrician. Olivia shares of the complexities of breech birth, including breech VBAC with births less than 18 months apart, and also birthing during COVID lockdowns. She provides many beautiful insights in how to navigate the VBAC process, including with the complexities of breech birth, and also beautifully explains her views on VBAC ‘failure’, what this means and why to her, every woman deserves to feel proud of whatever birth decisions they make. We hope you’ll enjoy this beautiful birth story as much as we enjoyed recording it – thanks Olivia for sharing! 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 joined by Rachel, who shares her triumphant journey of achieving a physiological VBAC against challenging odds. Having undergone a caesarean almost three years prior, she discovered at 37 weeks into her second pregnancy that her medical notes deemed her "not suitable for VBAC." Undeterred, Rachel changed hospitals at 38 weeks, advocating for herself throughout her pregnancy. Rachel's first birth was marked by a cascade of interventions and coercive measures by medical professionals designed to instil fear and doubt in the birthing process. In contrast, her VBAC journey emphasises the transformative power of informed decision-making, education, and self-advocacy in birth. Unable to get on the MGP, Rachel guaranteed herself continuity of care by creating her own beautiful support team, with her husband, doula, and student midwife. Rachel's story exemplifies the incredible strength of women, and demonstrates how education, self-belief, and the right support team can transform pain into power. _____ Resources that Rachel mentioned in this episode include: The Great Birth Rebellion podcast Core and Floor Restore free birth classes VBAC Australia Facebook page VBAC Birth Stories podcast Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskins Rachel's Birth Plan Template: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RAsK-5vOBLdInR-ZtHCwoAlYdKFZiFNI _____ 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 if you could rate, 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 bring you the story of Anna's three births. Anna shares her experience from a scheduled caesarean for elevated blood pressure with a private OB, through an extremely difficult miscarriage to two empowered, informed and supported VBACs with a private midwife, first in the hospital and then, with her third baby, at home. This episode is an absolute goldmine of information and explores the topics of prodromal labour, care provider impact on birth options, informed decision making, self advocacy, birth support, empowerment, the journey to homebirth, children in the birthspace and the transformational powers of VBAC. Anna's VBAC journey was so transformative for her that she attributes her experience as the inspiration to pursue her 'dream career' in midwifery. _____ 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 if you could rate, 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's episode brings you the stories of three births told by Jess. Her first baby was born via emergency caesarean under a fragmented care model, and she was especially unfortunate to develop postpartum preeclampsia afterwards which added to the struggles of that postpartum. After a journey of self-education, Jess went on to seek out care under the MGP at her local hospital for her VBAC. She powered through a long and challenging labour, and was facing an instrumental birth after an epidural when she pushed her baby out in theatre before instruments could be used. For her third baby, Jess really wanted to achieve a calm and peaceful birth and so she sought out additional support by way of a doula. She got her peaceful and calm birth, but just not quite the way she expected... Quite an incredible moment on the side of the road! We hope you enjoy listening to these beautiful stories and can take inspiration and joy from Jess's journey. 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.