Australian Birth Stories

If you've ever felt blindsided by motherhood — the grief, the rage, the identity shift, the loneliness — this episode is for you. I sat down with Melbourne-based perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist Dr Edna Lekgabe to talk about one of the most profound and under-discussed transitions a woman can go through: matrescence. Edna has a gift for making the complex feel manageable, and this conversation is full of those lightbulb moments — the kind that make you exhale and think, oh, so that's what's happening to me.

About Dr Edna Lekgabe:
Dr Edna Lekgabe is a perinatal and reproductive psychiatrist based in Melbourne, specialising in mental health for women across pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. She is also a mother of two and one of the most warm, wise voices in this space.

This episode is brought to you by Bugaboo.
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Renako, a Japanese-Australian creative, marketer and mum of two living on the Great Ocean Road, shares two very different caesarean birth stories. Her first, Kieran, arrived via emergency caesarean at the Royal Women's after being induced at 38 weeks for low amniotic fluid. Her second, Nori, was a planned caesarean at the Frances Perry, calm, joyful, and with a birth team that doubled as a photography crew. Renako speaks honestly about fight-or-flight mode, postnatal depression she didn't name at the time, and the slow, intentional work of coming back to herself.

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Beth shares two beautiful birth stories — Bernie's unmedicated hospital birth at the Mercy, and Quinn's home birth through the Joan Kerner programme, where her partner Paddy caught their daughter in their own lounge room. Beth talks honestly about the power of continuity of care, hiring a doula for both births, and why birthing at home felt like the most natural thing in the world.

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In today’s episode I chat with Dr Daniela Aiello, a registered osteopath specialising in pregnancy and postpartum care at Bulleen Osteopathy in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Daniela brings over two decades of experience treating pregnant and postpartum women, combined with her personal journey as a mother of two (aged 14 and 11) and founder of Continuall, a compression wear brand designed specifically for women during pregnancy and postpartum recovery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, I chat to Clare about her two planned caesarean births. Despite severe endometriosis, Clare fell pregnant easily and sailed through the first half of her pregnancy. However, at her 20 week scan she discovered that her baby had ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJ) and shortly afterwards, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Her planned caesarean was straightforward but her recovery was not; extensive adhesions in her uterus caused a long and painful postpartum. She chose a private obstetrician for her second birth and jumped at the chance to have a maternal-assisted caesarean but nothing could prepare her for the shock of her baby’s hearing loss diagnosis at six weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.