Alle episoder

The UK used to be held up as an idyllic maternity care system worth replicating, but in the past 10 years, the caesarean section rate has increased to...

Birth mapping is an evidence-based tool to help with decision making in pregnancy and childbirth. Dr Catherine Bell @birthmapping, joins Mel to discus...

Some women feel stuck in a traumatic experience after childbirth, but another possibility is post-traumatic growth. Mel explores this possibility with...

Being alive at the end of your birth is different than being kept safe. In this episode Mel invites midwife and psychotherapist Dr Athena Hammond to t...

This episode is for your birth support people, your partner, doula, mum, friend… whoever you’ve chosen to be with you for your birth. Mel explains the...

Raspberry leaf tea and dates are often recommended to you women with the thought that consuming them during pregnancy will assist with a more efficien...

Betty-Anne Daviss has seemingly endless energy and motivation to continue her midwifery mission. This week Betty-Anne Daviss (Canadian Midwife of near...

Sometimes labour can hurt a little or a lot. Either way, there are things that you can do to increase your capacity to manage the pain of labour. This...

You might be one of the 60% of women who have an epidural during their labour or birth. If you plan a caesarean you’ll have one and 40% of labouring w...

The fetus ejection reflex vs the Ferguson reflex. Did you feel your baby shoot out of you unexpectedly, or that irresistible urge that made it impossi...

Pushing out your baby is NOT about the eye popping, no breathing, PUSH PUSH PUSH PUUUUUUUSH scene that you see in movies. Unfortunately though many wo...

On Aug 19th 2025 the world farewelled legendary Obstetrician Michel Odent. He spent his career trying to warn us of the generational impact of interru...

A long and lovely career in midwifery requires strategic effort, the midwifery workforce is in a crisis of unsustainability so how can you be one of t...

Sometimes homebirth doesn’t go as planned and transfer to hospital is required. This doesn’t mean your homebirth failed! Planning a homebirth improves...

The evidence on the safety of homebirth is well-established. This episode presents some of the research about the physical outcomes that you can expec...

Having a great birth after a previous caesarean relies on 4 key elements. Some of these elements are provided by your care provider and some of them y...

A new research paper is causing concern amongst the birthing community this week after a local newspaper said that the study shows that outcomes are b...

Women are at risk of violence in life, and sadly also during labour and birth, but what does violence against women look like during birth? Mel explai...

What an episode! This one had me hooked! Did you realise we have tiny organisms that live on and in every part of our body; collectively it’s called t...

Doulas play a specific role at birth, but what is it? I interviewed Doula Poppy Child from @popthatmumma about what a doula is, what they do, how much...

Having a vaginal birth after caesarean can be a tricky thing to navigate BUT there are some strategies that will increase your chances of having a vag...

Hypnobirthing is a powerful technique that you can use to work with pain in labour. It’s easy to learn and adds to your tool kit if you are gathering ...

A great birth doesn’t happen by accident, there are things that you can do to influence the events of your birth. In this episode Mel shares some stra...

You can be the mistress of your birth experience. Let’s talk about what part YOU play in what happens to you during your birth. This week I speak to A...

There are controllable factors that you can start using today that will reduce the chances of your vulva or vagina tearing during childbirth. This epi...

The BIG BABY trail, The SWEPIS study, the ARRIVE trial, The INDEX trial and the 35/39 trial. The 5 BIG studies that often get used to endorse the use ...

Mel is talking all about the labour process. The focus is on how you can identify and understand labour and how it progresses so you can be prepared f...

Are you exploring the option of homebirth? Today Renee Bargh, mum of 2 and television host tells the story of her 2 different births. One through MGP ...

Want to increase your chances of a low-intervention vaginal birth in hospital? This episode is for you! If you attend hospital to give birth, you have...

Routine vaginal examinations can cause more harm than good. Sometimes they are needed but most of the time they are not. Vaginal examinations are offe...