Seasons of Birth

❗️𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒❗️

Do you have a loved one who is a midwife?
Or do know a midwife?
Or have you been supported during some of the most incredible yet challenging times by a midwife?

Well now we need you.
Australian Midwives are calling on you to stand with us in whatever way you can.

Whether that be to 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 or check your local ANMF for when your local midwives stop works take place and literally standing there with them in support.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 = 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

➡️➡️➡️

𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 👋

How has it been almost 8 weeks since my last post?!
Mind my french but 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘧* #𝘬.

Over the past few months i've been diving head first into Mid, supporting families, learning oodles and having a (clearly very distracting) blast along the way. As evidenced by this pic of me in my natural environment! captured by the amazing and shared with permission from the woman and Dani (soon to be amazing Midwife).

If you're new here (or just can't remember who i am):
Hey 👋
I'm Emma- a Tasmanian bred and raised Midwife, Nurse and Childbirth educator.
This right here (Seasons of Birth) is a space for learning and sharing all things pregnancy, birth and postpartum together.

ultimately I'm so glad you're here and excited to get stuck back into some sharing!!

𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲- 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 🧡☀️

The beginning of the year is always busy on my end but 2024 has been another level!
Hens, weddings, baby showers, new babies and mums and birthdays galore (including the boys turning 2 + 5 🤯).

From teaching my biggest calmbirth classes yet to working back on call (& being part of some incredible births 🎉).

⬇️
So this is my way of apologising for being so absent in this space of my life- I love your support, your following and your messages! & I promise I have plenty of free yet valuable content coming your way too!

🧡 Em

𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐄𝐑 🚽

From peri bottles to soothing solutions, dive into the essentials for smoother, far less anxious bathroom trips after childbirth ➡️➡️➡️

Share this post with a mom-to-be or new mom who needs these essentials! 💬

𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓

The newborn hearing test is a routine exam that usually occurs within the early days of your baby's of life (but definitely within the first month). It's done either in the hospital or at an outpatient appointment.

The good news is:
✨ it's quick taking 10-15 minutes.
✨ it's pain-free (and if anything relaxing for baby).
✨ you get the results straight away.

How it happens:
Your baby must be asleep or resting/settled and special technology called Automated ABR (AABR)- like the pictured machine is used to runs thousands of click sounds and review how your baby responds to these sounds.

if your baby doesn't pass straight away then don't freak out. There are a few reasons why they might not like:
They were under 12 hours old and still adjusting to be out of the womb.
They had a temporary blockage in their ear canal or middle ear (like amniotic fluid).
They were unsettled or noisy during the test.
There was a background noise or electrical interference during the test.

Plus they look so cute with their little hearing contraptions on!!

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐒.

“Even though I was unsure if I would want to attend another birth class, for a subsequent birth, my husband and I were glad we were encouraged to attend Emma’s calm birth class.

It was a piece of the puzzle we needed to birth our Ellis into this world.

I felt very tentative about attending the class, having given birth to our baby Lewis who died at 20 weeks gestation after TFMR the year before. But it was important for our journey to get our heads into the space of birth, and how the birth of our baby would hopefully be something different to our previous two experiences of birth.

I really liked listening to all the meditations leading up to the birth as sleep became hard (and my husband even did a few too!). Emma scattered lots of little tips through the class that were so helpful. And my husband found a lot of the guidance provided to the birthing partner a helpful refresher, easing into his role when the time came.

It was so nice walking into birth suite with the midwives having the fairy lights up and the birth pool water running, it felt like a little sanctuary. I had Emma in my head to change it up when things became too uncomfortable. I ended up birthing without any pain relief which surprised me (but figured I’d almost tried everything else between my previous two births and didn’t much like the idea of any of the options, knowing Ellis would be here soon).

Ellis’ birth was completely different to our previous two experiences and I felt a lot more prepared and supported in the lead up, during and the time after.”

✨I feel so lucky to have been a part of this beautiful families birth. And now to be trusted to share these words and photos with you has me all warm and fuzzy!! ✨

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎: 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘱.

Want to know the weird and wonderful way your newborns belly button is formed and how to care for it?

👉👉👉

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 💦

You might hear it called amniotomy or ARM or artificial rupturing membranes. It all means the same thing- a care provider *pings* a little hole in baby’s pool of waters and they begin to drain.

For the what, why and how swipe 👉

Then hit save 👆🏼to come back to later!

🎄 ＭＥＲＲＹ ＣＨＲＩＳＴＭＡＳ 🎄

Special shout out to my work fam who were a pleasure to be amongst this Christmas (and to those who worked the day, gave their time and love to those families welcoming their little ones at this special time of year).

👉 to see how I’ve made the most of EVERY hour of Christmas 🎄🎅 (love a delirious, food induced coma to see out the last bit).