The Great Birth Rebellion

The Great Birth Rebellion

Hosted by: Mel and B

Modern birth practices are stifling women's autonomy, minimising the birth experience and endorsing the medicalisation of birth. The Great Birth Rebellion dismantles western beliefs and management of birth and...

All Episodes

Episodes

Episode 18 - Gestational diabetes screening

In this episode B and Mel explore gestational diabetes testing and spend a lot of time picking part the details and research around the oral glucose tolerance test and the alternatives if you choose not to have this...
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episode 17 - Waterbirth

This week B is back (back again, B is back, tell a friend) and we are talking all about waterbirth, the safety, risks, mechanisms and how to access it. We look through the current research to help you as you make...
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Episode 16 - Doulas

Today Mel invites ex-doula and now midwife Lucretia McCarthy to talk all things doula-ing. Mel asked the big questions like what makes a 'good' or 'bad' doula, we explored the impact of ego in the birth space and the...
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Episode 15 - The hormones of labour

In this Episode, Mel speaks with Dr Sarah Buckley about what starts labour, the hormones of labour and how to protect them from interruption. We learn about the fundamental and essential needs of a woman in labour to...
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Episode 14 - Pushing out your baby

On this episode Mel and B discuss the research behind pushing out your baby, we discuss the difference between physiological/spontaneous pushing and coached/directed pushing and how one of them is more dangerous than...
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Episode 13 - Birth Mapping

On this episode Catherine Bell comes on to talk all about birth mapping, it's not birth planning, it birth mapping - they are different! She has a stack of free resources to get you started and is in the process of...
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Episode 12 - CTG with Kirsten Small

Mel and B sit down with Dr Kirsten Small to discuss the research related to CTG use during birth and all the risks and benefits of this monitoring option. The use of CTG to monitor babies in labour is common practice...
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Episode 11 - The labour process

The stages of labour are the stupidest invention medicine has ever created... we'll explain why stages of labour and the obsession with labour progress is the undoing of how we as midwives understand birth and how...
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Episode 10 - Vaginal Examinations

In this episode B and I talk about the place and purpose of vaginal examinations during pregnancy and birth. Almost all birthing women will be offered vaginal examinations but the research doesn't support routine...
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Episode 9 - Surviving as a rebellious midwife

In this episode we speak directly to people wanting to become midwives, midwifery students, newly graduated midwives and the midwives helping to raise to midwives. This is also super handy for anyone wanting to...
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Episode 8 - Giving Birth at Home

B couldn't be with us today, so in this episode Mel talks with Aimee Aroha (a.k.a @ripsnorter) about giving birth at home along the full spectrum from freebirth to homebirth. We discuss the research about homebirth,...
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Episode 7 - Birth after Caesarean

In this episode we invited Dr Hazel Keedle to discuss birth after caesarean. We dispelled the myth of 'once a caesarean always a caesarean', discussed the risks and benefits of planning a vaginal birth vs repeat...
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