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.