Episodios

  • S7 EP191: Bianca Telford: Living with Epilepsy / “High Risk” Label / Hospital Birth / Freebirth at Home
    Mar 28 2026

    This week on the show I’m joined by Bianca, a Brisbane mum of two whose journey into motherhood is a powerful reflection of intuition, advocacy, and deep self-trust.

    After experiencing a missed miscarriage, Bianca consciously prepared her body and mind before conceiving her first daughter, Bliss. Throughout her pregnancy, she immersed herself in birth education and began to question the mainstream narrative around birth, feeling strongly drawn toward a physiological home birth.

    However, after being classified as “high risk” due to her epilepsy, Bianca found her options limited and ultimately entered the hospital system, where her plans began to unravel.

    Bianca’s second pregnancy became a turning point… because this time she chose to follow the inner knowing she had felt all along. What unfolds is a deeply personal and transformative birth at home, where she sinks into the inner work, meets her fears head-on, and anchors into a level of trust she had always carried within.

    In This Episode We Cover

    1. Missed miscarriage and conscious conception
    2. Preconception detox and preparing the body for pregnancy
    3. Navigating pregnancy with epilepsy and being labelled “high risk”
    4. Discovering physiological birth and the desire for home birth
    5. Feeling limited by the system and shifting birth plans
    6. Hospital birth experience and cascade of interventions
    7. The emotional impact of feeling overridden during birth
    8. Reflecting on giving away power vs reclaiming it
    9. Choosing a sovereign/home birth for her second pregnancy
    10. Inner work, fear release, and fully trusting her body during birth


    Resources + Mentions

    Instagram

    @theblissfulwaters

    Books

    Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Dr Sarah Buckley

    Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Dr Rachel Reed

    Birth Course:

    Free Birth Society

    Birth Affirmations:

    Yolande Norris-Clark


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    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

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    1 h y 25 m
  • S7 EP190: Kaitlyn Shofay: Hospital Birth Trauma / Rare Face Presentation Birth at Home / Faith-led Freebirth
    Mar 22 2026

    This week on the show I’m joined by Kaitlyn, a mother of three from Toowoomba whose journey into motherhood began in the most unexpected way… falling pregnant to a man she’d only known for six weeks after a failed morning after pill. What followed was a whirlwind into love, partnership, and parenthood… but also a deeply medicalised first birth that shaped everything that came after.

    Kaitlyn shares three completely different birth experiences… from a private hospital birth with a cascade of interventions, to a deeply empowering homebirth, and finally, a freebirth guided by her intuition, her faith in God, and a deep trust in her body.

    Her second birth brings an incredibly rare and powerful moment… birthing her baby face presentation in the water. And with her third, Kaitlyn steps even further into surrender, navigating a surprise pregnancy and a profound inner knowing she was guided by God... and that this was her baby girl.


    Kaitlyn’s story is a powerful reflection of how birth can become a turning point… an unraveling of what we’ve been taught, and a return to trust, intuition, and something greater guiding the way.


    In This Episode We Cover

    • Falling pregnant after six weeks + navigating a relationship and motherhood at the same time

    • A highly medicalised first birth + the cascade of interventions

    • Epidural, episiotomy + vacuum-assisted delivery

    • Postpartum trauma + an undiagnosed hematoma + difficult recovery

    • Miscarriage + the emotional impact of a D&C

    • Letting go of control + unexpectedly falling pregnant again

    • Choosing a home birth + finding aligned midwifery care

    • A rare face presentation water birth + trusting the body through the unexpected

    • The shift from fear to trust + healing through birth

    • A surprise third pregnancy + a moment she believes God revealed she was carrying a little girl


    Share The Episode

    If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram so more women can discover these stories and feel supported in their own journey.


    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    1 h y 35 m
  • S7 EP189: Emma Evans: Pregnancy After Loss / Rainbow Baby / Shortened Cervix / Publicly Funded Homebirth
    Mar 14 2026

    Emma first joined me on the podcast five years ago to share the story of her first daughte’s beautiful and unexpected bathroom floor birth.

    In this episode she returns to share everything that has happened since then… from moving to the Sunshine Coast and trying for another baby, to the devastating loss of her son Leo, the physical complications that followed, and the healing journey that ultimately led to the birth of her rainbow baby.


    Emma shares openly about grief, pregnancy after loss, navigating anxiety around scans and testing, and her experience birthing at home through the publicly funded home birth program. With a labour that unfolded very differently to her first birth, Emma reflects on the profound journey of leaning into intuition and surrendering to the path birth ultimately takes.


    In This Episode We Cover

    • Pregnancy after loss

    • Monitoring a shortened cervix

    • Publicly funded homebirth program

    • Weeks of prodromal labour

    • A 41 week home birth


    Resources + Mentions

    Emma’s previous episode sharing Sophia’s birth story HERE.

    Sunshine Coast University Hospital publicly funded homebirth program

    Midwifery Group Practice (MGP)

    Dr Anne-Marie Corral – Fertility Naturopath

    Denise Ludwick – Women’s Health Practitioner

    iMedical pathology testing

    Positive Birth Australia Sacred Birth Affirmation Track


    Share The Episode

    If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram so more women can discover these stories and feel supported in their own journey.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    56 m
  • S7 EP188: Laura Gaschk: Private OB + Hospital Shower Birth / Fibroid + Risked Out of Birth Cottage / Postpartum Mental Health / Private Midwifery Care / Rural Birth Options / Homebirth
    Mar 7 2026

    This week on the show I’m joined by Laura as she shares her journey into motherhood. Laura discovering she was pregnant while travelling around Australia on a honeymoon road trip, navigating early scans across multiple states during COVID, before returning home to prepare for birth.

    During her first pregnancy Laura sought a physiological birth and continuity of care, but after a fibroid was discovered overlapping the placenta she was risked out of the midwife-led birth cottage she had planned and transferred into hospital care. After navigating conflicting medical opinions and fragmented care, Laura ultimately found support with a private obstetrician and went on to birth her daughter in a powerful spontaneous labour in the hospital shower.


    Laura shares how the intensity of her postpartum experience, including significant mental health challenges, shaped the way she approached her next pregnancy and birth. When she fell pregnant again, Laura felt strongly that she wanted something more supported, more personal, and more aligned with the kind of care she had longed for the first time around. In this episode Laura shares how she discovered private midwifery care halfway through her pregnancy, hired a “home away from home” birth space, and went on to experience a beautiful water birth surrounded by trusted support… catching her baby boy at home in the water.


    This conversation explores continuity of care, trusting your instincts, navigating rural birth options, postpartum mental health, and the powerful difference the right support can make in both birth and motherhood.


    In this episode we discuss:

    • Discovering pregnancy while travelling around Australia

    • Navigating scans across multiple states during COVID

    • Fibroids and being risked out of a midwife-led birth cottage

    • Navigating conflicting medical advice

    • Spontaneous labour and hospital shower birth

    • The realities of postpartum mental health

    • Pregnancy after miscarriage

    • Discovering private midwifery care

    • Hiring a “home away from home” birth space

    • A beautiful water birth experience

    • The power of continuity of care


    Resources + Mentions:

    Instagram:

    @Laura_gaschk @marbehvale @marbehvale_homestead

    Birth Photographer:

    @amyphilpphotography

    Midwife:

    @nurtureyourbirth

    Pelvic Floor Physio:

    @somatic_womankind

    PANDA – Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia

    https://www.panda.org.au

    Beyond Blue

    https://www.beyondblue.org.au

    Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE)

    https://www.cope.org.au

    Homebirth Australia

    https://homebirthaustralia.org

    Australian College of Midwives – Find a Midwife

    https://www.midwives.org.au


    Share the episode...

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    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    2 h y 31 m
  • S7 EP187: Jasmine Darke: A Birth Testimony / From Medicalised Hospital Birth to Pain-Free Homebirth / Faith + Prayer Preparation
    Feb 28 2026

    In today’s episode, Jasmine shares her extraordinary journey from an intense hospital birth with her first child to a pain-free home birth with her second.

    After a long, medicalised first labour that left her fearful and unsure she ever wanted to give birth again, Jasmine entered her next pregnancy still carrying deep uncertainty about birth.

    During that pregnancy, her outlook shifted dramatically as she began preparing in a completely different way - grounding her journey in her faith in God through prayer and speaking scripture over her pregnancy. She recounts how this guided her through fear and doubt, ultimately leading to a birth experience she could only describe as miraculous.

    Show Notes & Mentions:

    Instagram: @jasminedinis

    Business: Folke Estate

    Book: Supernatural Childbirth – Jackie Mize

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    45 m
  • S7 EP186: Vanessa Harding: Two Home births / 26-Hour Posterior Labour at 41+4 / House Renovation + Wild Pregnancy
    Feb 21 2026

    Vanessa joins me from Coffs Harbour to share the story of birthing both of her daughters at home… her first during lockdown in a tiny studio apartment after a 26-hour posterior labour at 41+4 weeks, and her second in the quiet stillness of dawn - a sunrise water birth that unfolded almost exactly as she had envisioned.

    After reflecting deeply on her first birth experience, Vanessa immersed herself in emotional womb healing, mantra, and the teachings of freebirth philosophy. Her second labour became an exploration of mindset, responsibility, and self-trust… labouring alone through much of the night and anchoring into a simple phrase that transformed her experience.

    In this episode we discuss:

    1. Posterior labour and going 41+4
    2. Labouring at home without scans or medical testing
    3. The role of mindset in physiological birth
    4. Emotional womb work and releasing stored tension
    5. Labouring solo and conscious birth preparation
    6. Having an older child witness birth
    7. Placenta encapsulation and postpartum recovery
    8. Taking responsibility for your birth choices
    9. The power of “knowing”

    This is a conversation about transformation… about shifting from endurance to intention, and from hoping for a positive birth to consciously choosing one.

    Resources & Mentions:

    Personal Instagram:

    @coramba_cottage

    Books:

    📖 Portal by Yolande Norris-Clark

    Instagram: @bauhauswife

    Birth Sling:

    @the.birth.sling

    Pregnancy Yoga (Coffs Harbour):

    @wildernessyoga.coffs

    Womb & Pelvic Healing Work with Chaitanya:

    @wombtemple.healing

    Sydney Midwife (First Birth):

    @janineatibirth

    If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review on your podcast platform to help us reach more women around the world.

    To stay connected between episodes, follow along on Instagram @positivebirthaustralia.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    1 h y 44 m
  • S6 EP185: Kacee Driver: Infertility + Severe Endo + IVF Recommendation / Healing Through TCM + Nutrition / Hospital Birth with Student Midwife / Homebirth
    Aug 31 2025

    Today I’m joined by Kacee, a mother of two whose story is a powerful testament to the healing that unfolds when we take our health into our own hands.

    After many years of being dismissed by doctors and receiving a severe endometriosis diagnosis, Kacee was told her only path to motherhood would be through IVF. But instead of accepting that as her story, she and her husband committed to rebuilding their health from the ground up - through the support of traditional Chinese medicine, nourishing food, bodywork, mindset practices, and conscious living. Along the way they experienced loss, but also the deep transformation that comes with reclaiming responsibility for your body and your journey.


    Her first pregnancy became a turning point, supported by a student midwife and an obstetrician who honoured her choices. When it came time to welcome her daughter, she carried that trust even further - choosing to birth at home, within a safe and familiar circle.


    Kacee’s story is a beautiful reflection of what becomes possible when we refuse to give up, when we find support that aligns with our values, and what happens when we lean into the truth that our bodies are not broken.


    Show Notes:

    Instagram: @kaycee_driver

    Fertility Support: Heather Bruce

    Meditations: Circle + Bloom Meditations

    Diet: Weston A. Price Foundation (Nutrition + Ancestral Diet)

    Subscribe to the Positive Birth Australia newsletter HERE to be the first to know when our Trusting the Journey eBook is released.

    Follow us on Instagram @positivebirthaustralia

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    2 h y 4 m
  • S6 EP184: Laura Bergen-Roberts: GD Diagnosis + Policy Pressure / 42+3 Hospital Birth with PPH / Healing Homebirth
    Aug 23 2025

    This week I’m joined by Laura, a mother of two whose journey into motherhood began with loss, resilience, and ultimately, transformation.

    After an early miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy that required surgery, falling pregnant with her daughter felt deeply healing. Yet her first birth inside the system carried its own challenges - a gestational diabetes label, weeks of policy pressure, and the weight of self-advocacy that left her bracing for battle rather than softening into trust. Though she went on to birth she had planned at 42 weeks, a postpartum haemorrhage cast a long shadow over what might have been a fully empowering experience.

    For her second birth, she chose to be at home and entered labour with a profound sense of trust. In the early hours of New Year’s Eve, she brought her baby into the world swiftly and instinctively, receiving him with her own hands - a deeply healing contrast to her first experience.

    Laura’s story reflects the freedom that comes when we step beyond “good girl” conditioning and into the full magic and capability that birth holds.

    Show Notes:

    Instagram: @wisdoms.from.the.womb

    Midwife: @candace.beautifully.natural

    Birth Photography/Film: @mamacarabirth

    Newborn Photographer: @maddydartphotography

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball

    Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.

    Esfera Designs

    Más Menos
    1 h y 16 m