All Episodes
Episodes
Episode 81 - How do homebirth midwives manage birth emergencies
Mel invites her work-wife Ashlee Anslow to discuss how they manage birth emergencies at home. We discuss foetal distress in labour, cord accidents, shoulder dystocia, neonatal resuscitation, retained placenta,...
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Episode 80 - Caring for your preterm baby
Mel draws on her experience and the research evidence to discuss care of late pre-term babies born between 34-37 weeks. Mel offers some alternative care strategies such as delayed cord clamping, kangaroo care and...
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Episode 79 - Wise woman Sheryl Sidery
Mel interviews wise woman midwife Sheryl Sidery who has been a private midwife for 40 years. Learning from experienced midwives, in our western culture, is one of the only ways to learn new things about physiological...
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Episode 78 - Meconium in the waters
Your baby has done a poo in the waters. Mel describes what the current research says about meconium stained amniotic fluid. What is it? Is meconium truly ‘sterile’? Is meconium always a problem? and what might happen...
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Episode 77 - The place of policy
Stick with us as we explore how hospitals are organised, why policies are created, and how they impact the care provided to women. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding hospital structures and...
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Episode 76 - Ask me anything
Mel answers some listener questions in a one and only public ‘Ask me anything’ episode. Enjoy this insight into some of my clinical work and tidbits of research scattered about.
Time stamps:
2:30 - Top tips for...
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Episode 75 - Things are changing around here
In this episode Mel explains why she chose to release B as co-host of the great birth rebellion podcast and offers a summary of the changes you can expect of the podcast going forward.
Get more from the Great Birth...
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Episode 74 - The cascade of interventions
‘the cascade of interventions’ occurs when an additional intervention is needed in order to counteract the impact of the last intervention. We specifically make reference to epidurals, artificial rupture of membranes...
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Episode 73 - Episiotomy Part 2
Part 1 (episode 72) is essential listening if you want to get the full picture. In this episode we talk about how to keep yourself safe from an unwanted episiotomy and how to recover well from having had one if it...
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Episode 72 - Episiotomy Part 1
Episiotomy is the practice of using scissors to cut the opening of the vagina to make it larger for childbirth. In Australia, 25% of women receive one. We examine this practice in what we thought would be one episode…...
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Episode 70 - Freebirth in the Media with Charlotte King ABC reporter
Mel meets with Charlotte King, a researcher and reporter from the ABC news network in Australia. Charlotte was one of the reporters working on a recent (Feb 2024) media story about Freebirth in Australia. This...
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Episode 69 - Low Lying Placenta
Have you received a diagnosis of low-lying placenta? this could change your your birth options, but most of the time it doesn't have to. We discuss the likelihood of it moving and research coming out about the risks...
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