Melanie The Midwife

How do you explain childbirth to your children? If you don't know where to start, why not try episode 216 of It's part of the national science week program National Science Week. Myself Melanie The Midwife and 9 year old Frida sat down to talk through the facts and details of childbirth in a way that children can understand.

Listen to episode 216 of the great birth rebellion podcast with your kids to kick start their childbirth education journey.

This week on episode 216 of the great birth rebellion podcast it's all about teaching children about childbirth. For this episode I sat down with my own daughter, Frida to talk about childbirth - this week it's not for parents, it's for kids. Have a listen to episode 216 with your kids so they can understand how birth works.

This episode is proudly presented as part of the official program for Australian National Science week National Science Week
https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-great-birth-rebellion-childbirth-for-children/

The convergence of rebellious midwives 2027 tickets are available for you now. Everyone is welcome at the convergence.
'I will never not come to the convergence' (Georgina). The convergence has embedded itself into the maternity care landscape as a resting place for people to come and learn, be nourished, be loved, shake off stress and indulge in deep, rich learning and community. Coming together is how we thrive so we can keeping caring for ourselves and women and have long and lovely careers ... get your ticket to convergence 2027 now, you won't regret it, people come back year after year. Grab your ticket and find out why.

Details: 13th-15th Aug 2027 in Darling Harbour (Sydney, Australia)
Full details and ticket sales at melaniethemidwife.com

The convergence of rebellious midwives 2027 - ticket sales open now - long payment plan and super early bird tickets out now.

Each year we get together at the convergence of rebellious midwives - it's more than a conference. It's YOUR gathering space and a time to get together once a year in a space with other like minded people who want to see YOU thrive in your work as a care provider or birth worker. The convergence offers you a chance to stop, slow down, be cared for and have your cup filled. To re-energise and refresh you to keep going and doing your good work.

People come from all over the world to come to the convergence. It's not just for midwives, it's for anyone who wants to be sustain in their work with women and wants them to have better maternity care.

Get your ticket now for our 2027 convergence: 13th-15th of August In Sydney (Australia). All the details at https://www.melaniethemidwife.com/

I just wanted to learn a new banjo song so you’d have some banjo beats while I told you about The Convergence of Rebellious Midwives 2027… it happens every year AND tickets just went on sale! It’s time to get your ticket to the convergence 2027! Right now they are on sale for $200 off!

If you’re seeing this, it’s your chance to get your 2027 convergence ticket

The convergence always delivers (unlike my banjo performance) and midwives, birth workers, health professionals and doulas come back year after year to be rejuvenated by the convergence.

If you’ve ever thought of coming, 2027 is going to be the best yet - at the premium venue at the ICC in Darling Harbour (Sydney, Australia) from August 13th-15th 2027

The benefits of booking early include $200 off your ticket or long payment plans. Get in early to avoid FOMO again.

Tickets on sale at www.melaniethemidwife.com

The convergence of rebellious midwives 2026 is upon us! We kick off tonight for another weekend of excellence with all our people. Everyone is welcome at the convergence but it’s built specially for birth workers and professionals who want to keep growing in their learning and keep advocating for women - and keep loving and supporting each other.

Tickets for convergence 2027 on sale Monday 3rd of August. For convergence 2027 in darling harbour, Sydney - Australia August 13th-15th.

Get on any mailing list at www.melaniethemidwife.com to be notified of super early bird discounts and long payment plans Dr Melanie Jackson (PhD)

If you have an epidural, does this affect the baby? If you have an epidural does this increase your chances of caesarean or instrumental birth? The answer to both of these questions is, yes.

On episode 213 of the Great Birth Rebellion, I talk through some of the research on epidurals. One of the studies I cover is called, 'Effect of intrapartum epidural analgesia on rate of emergency delivery for presumed fetal compromise: nationwide registry-based cohort study'. This study looked at over 600 000 births and concluded that Among women who received Epidural, 13.2% underwent emergency birth procedures for presumed fetal compromise, compared with 4.1% of women who had no analgesia and 7.0% of women who received alternative analgesia

This study concluded that the use of pharmaceutical pain management in birth doubled or tripled the chances of the baby being compromised and then requiring emergency procedures including caesarean and instrumental birth. Get the full story on episode 213 of the great birth rebellion podcast

What is prodromal labour - no-one really knows... but it's something like getting labour contractions that start and stop, often for days, but don't seem to be taking you any closer to birth... it's not false labour, the contractions are real - so what do you do about it???

myself Melanie The Midwife and Poppy Popthatmumma explain it all in episode 212 of podcast.

Remember, most maternity care services are cervix-centric... meaning that the performance of your cervix is a factor in the type of care you will be offered. The problem is that your needs are seperate from the performance of your cervix and you might not get the care you need if your cervix doesn't match the dilation criteria of your care provider.

This particularly happens with long early labour or prodromal labour... so what do you do if you are in labour, but you don't yet 'meet criteria' for maternity care. This week on the great birth rebellion podcast (episode 212) myself Melanie The Midwife and Poppy Popthatmumma talk about prodromal labour and how to care for yourself during a long early labour.

Get the full story on episode 212 of the great birth rebellion podcast

Prodromal labour is sometimes called 'false' labour... but there is nothing false about it... you are getting real contractions in your real body for a real long-time. Episode 212 of The Great Birth rebellion podcast with Melanie The Midwife and Popthatmumma will talk you through the experience of prodromal labour, explain what happens and why it's taking so long and give you REAL strategies for REAL labour.

You might not find help, but this weeks episode of will start you on the path to getting ready for a long labour.