Local Birth Stories
Chloe and baby Jack 25/4/2021
Having spent my pregnancy processing fears of a long labour and the potential for interventions we decided at 28 weeks our baby needed to be born at home. We met and hired our Private Midwife Kira and it immediately felt like it was the right decision. Of course, we were nervous and scared. I had no idea what birthing was like let alone how my body would respond.
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Attaya and baby Daisy 6/10/2021
This is the story of my second birth, 16 months a part.
At 40 weeks and 1 day, I waltzed into the antenatal clinic still very pregnant. My anxiety around birth was high after my first and I was happy to still be pregnant. After physical examination that showed 3cm of dilation and a consult with the head OB, I was offered an induction spot for the morning. Something about that offer, funnily enough, was perfect. Start the whole process in the place with the drugs? Absolutely brilliant! See you tomorrow!
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Natasha and baby Andreas 24/9/2019 and Milanija 15/6/2021
3 days early, woke up the morning of the 24th, around 5, needing to go toilet and just have the urge to push, although I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought I had come down with a 24 hr bug, got up went and woke up my husband to tell him I didn’t feel well, so he sat with me, and again just the urge to keep going toilet and pushing, then I saw that the mucus plug had dropped and I knew that I was going into labour.
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Jessica and baby Lawson
16/6/2021
My birth story begins when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I think its an important part of my story to learn how I ended up having the birth I had. When I was in year 9 (so 14 years old), I studied child care, I remember watching “one born every minute” and there was a water birth, while my classmates cringed and turned away or called it weird… I was fascinated and I went home and told my mum “When I have a baby, I am having a water birth”.
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My pregnancy seemed to last forever after finding out I was pregnant at only 2 weeks just by a fluke pregnancy test at home. My partner and I were “trying” but “not trying” haha
Fast forward to 34 weeks, when I had my birthing class with Illawarra birth classes and met Alyssa, a local Doula and an all-round amazing person.
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Jess and baby Reggie Fox 12/3/2021
It all started on Wednesday 10th March. Contractions on and off all day and most of the night. Then waking on Thursday morning
STILL Pregnant at 42+1 weeks I felt deflated. I felt like something was holding me back from letting go and letting this labour progress.
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Rebecca and baby Giselle 15/3/2021
For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’ll give a very brief background as to how we got here. I’m a mum to two teens. The world was at the height of COVID-19 when we found out I was pregnant. Surprised to say the very least! My youngest was 13 years old!! As shocked as we were we couldn’t be more excited about our new addition. It was always meant to be!!
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Natty and baby Willow 20/5/2021
I sit in the garden staring at baby Willow. Now teething, I see him learn to digest the intense sensations . It sparks within me, the now fading memory of his birth.
Here in the presence I share with you the story that started 6 seasons ago.
It was February 2020, My partner and I were at home, staring into each other’s eyes. He said to me the night before “You are the perfect partner”
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Rachael and baby’s Eloise & Dion
Rachael Rose may be familiar to you. She is a local Wollongong mama, doula, holds women’s circles and is an extraordinary storyteller. Rachael is one of the growing number of birth revolutionaries - put simply, she trusts women, their babies and the process of birth and is committed to bringing birth back to this simple and powerful place.
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When I became pregnant my husband and I were thinking about starting a family but thought it would take a bit longer than it did. I hadn’t done much pre-planning or thinking in terms of the care I would want and so when I had my pregnancy confirmed by my GP at 6 weeks, that was the first time I became aware of my care options in the Illawarra.
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This was a planned home birth. We had hired a private midwife and had everything ready to go at home. When I lost some blood stained mucous plug on the morning of 36+4 weeks gestation, I messaged my midwife, concerned. She reassured me that my body was just starting to do what it should, and that I very well could be pregnant still at 40 weeks. Great! I went about the day.
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My water broke as I closed the zip on the hospital bag I had been putting off packing “just in case”. The boys were “helping” me pack it and asked if they could light a candle I had next to my bed just as I closed the zip too. Weird... was it a sign? I went and put a liner on then a minute later went and put a maternity pad on. This was the same start as for my first labour. Read more…
Miro’s birth - at my home and the place where I also grew up - was the most incredible and empowering experience of my life. Pregnancy, labour and birth were an overwhelmingly positive and uncomplicated matter for me, and I think this was mainly down to three factors:
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