Jacob's home water-birth.

In this YouTube birth video - the Aquaborn Birth Pool is used. I've just come from a birth where the woman used this same birth pool and I love it. It has more room than the La Bassine Birth Pool which enables the partner to easily get in the pool. You can find the Aquaborn Birth Pools in Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond's online store.

Vote for your favourite birth pool

Gillard sells out Australian birth

Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week

It is world breastfeeding week and I just wanted to share these great billboard posters

Central Railway Station, Sydney

Town Hall Railway Station, Sydney

Martin Place Railway Station, Sydney

A YouTube video by BirthsMart

This is a brilliant YouTube video by BirthsMart. It is very sad that birth has come to this for many women. The conveyor belt form of pregnancy and birth care. Let me know what you think?

A Bullying Culture

As a woman approaches her birth she should be able to look forward to the wonderful experience of becoming a mother. Being pregnant and giving birth should be a happy and exciting time. However there is the ever pervading culture of bullying that is seeping into midwifery and the hospital system. I have observed this bullying culture over the last 19 years getting worse and worse. As a midwife in private practice I constantly faced with being bullied and I have developed mechanisms that help me battle this negative behaviour that has become inherent in the hospital system . As a midwife I find this behaviour totally unacceptable. But what I find worse is the women employing my midwifery services are also faced with overt bullying and often hostility when choosing care that does not fit with hospital policy. Women need to be nurtured and supported in their choices. They should not be bullied.

What prompted me to blog on bullying was an article I read in the recent journal of the Australian College of Midwives "Women and Birth" Vol 23 Issue 2 June 2010 - on page 53 is an article called "You can drop dead": Midwives bullying women. This is an article that reports on an unexpected finding from a large research study of women who moved away from their rural or remote homes to a large city to give birth. This article explores incidents in which a small number of midwives are reported as behaving in an "uncaring, cold, callous, abusive and aggressive" manner to these women. Repeated threats to involve the department of community services (DOCS) was a common thread used by these midwives. This behaviour by midwives is unacceptable. These women are amongst the most vulnerable in our community - all their support networks are often hundreds of miles away. I feel sad and heavy hearted after reading this article. But also I feel more determined to campaign for the rights of women. I personally will do everything I can to combat bullying behaviour and I ask you to challenge anyone who attempts to bully pregnant women or new mothers.

Photo Montage of the Homebirth Australia Conference 2010

Just arrived home from the Homebirth Australia Conference - thought I'd share my experiences

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Inflatable Birth Pools Compared

I often get asked about the various features of different birth pools. So I decided to develop a chart comparing all the available inflatable birth pools currently available in Australia. You can read more on this page http://www.pregnancy.com.au/birth-choices/waterbirth/inflatable-birth-pools-compared.shtml or click on the image to open the pdf document.http://www.pregnancy.com.au/bm.doc/inflatable-birth-pools-compared.pdf

New Australian Homebirth Documentary in production

Check out this teaser of a new Australian documentary currently in production.

Medicare Rebates for midwives

On Tuesday 16th March the Australian Senate passed bills that enable eligible midwives to provide Medicare funded antenatal, birth and postnatal care and to be able to prescribe certain medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Medicare rebates are only available for birth in hospital. Rebates for prenatal and postnatal care will be available to all woman, including women birthing at home. The new Medicare Benefits Scheme for midwifery and PBS will commence the 1st November 2010. Details of what is an eligible midwife and how the new system is to work is yet to be announced. You can read more Maternity Service Reforms fact sheet released by the commonwealth government and a summary called the National Maternity Reform by the Australian College of Midwives.

National Day of Action

On the the 18th of February 2010, in 14 locations across Australia, 1000s of people gathered to register their protest at the Rudd Government's policies that threaten to restrict options for women giving birth. The choice of women to have a private midwife will at best be highly restricted and at worse impossible if the current changes go ahead.