Positive Birth Australia

On today’s episode, I sit down with Rochelle, as she takes us through the stories of her three homebirths and the journey of growth, self-trust and transformation that unfolded alongside them.

Rochelle entered motherhood at 25 with very little knowledge about birth. After finding a private midwifery clinic and discovering homebirth late in her pregnancy, she followed what felt right and went on to have a beautiful first birth at home. At the time, she didn’t fully realise how significant that experience would become, but it marked the beginning of a much deeper journey into birth, motherhood and learning to trust herself.

By her second and third pregnancies, Rochelle approached birth with far greater intention and awareness. Through hypnobirthing, visualisation, scripting and consciously creating an environment where she felt safe enough to soften and surrender, she prepared not only for the physical experience of birth, but for the emotional and spiritual journey too.
Across her three stories, Rochelle shares how each birth asked something different of her and gave her something different in return .

Resources + Mentions
Instagram:
@rochellebramich_
Midwifery Clinic:
@mymidwives @mymidwives_melbourne
www.mymidwives.au
Hypnobirthing:
@manahealthpractice
www.manahealthpractice.com
Books:
Birth With Confidence - Rhea Dempsey

Connect
Follow Positive Birth Australia on Instagram: @positivebirthaustralia
Loved this episode? Please take a moment to leave a rating or review, and share it with a pregnant mama who would love to hear a positive and empowering birth story.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sacred Birth Affirmations Track
This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour.
Positive Birth Australia

Today’s episode is a really important conversation with filmmaker Jacinta Lagos and globally respected midwife Kristine Lauria, the women behind the new documentary Allowed to Birth: The Journey of a Global Midwife.
Jacinta’s journey into birth began behind the camera. She began documenting births and later trained as a doula. But the more births she witnessed, the more she began noticing the stark contrast between what she was seeing in some hospital environments - including trauma, coercion and obstetric violence - and the physiological births she was witnessing at home. Eventually, she reached a point where simply witnessing it wasn’t enough. She wanted to create something that could challenge the way we think about birth.
That eventually connected her with Kristine, whose experience in the birth space spans more than three decades - from an apprenticeship supporting families within Amish communities, where breech and twin birth were treated as variations of normal, to humanitarian work around the world and her work today teaching and supporting practitioners in breech and multiple birth.
Together, they created Allowed to Birth - a documentary that follows Kristine’s extraordinary life and work as a global midwife, using her experiences and perspective as a lens to explore the medicalisation of birth, women’s autonomy, and what becomes possible when birth is understood and supported as a physiological process.

Resources + Mentions:
Instagram:
Allowed to Birth: @allowedtobirth
Kristine: @globalmidwife64
Jacinta: @jacintalagosbirthservices
Allowed to Birth: The Journey of a Global Midwife official website HERE.
Common Ground Films: @commongroundfilmsau
Australia Screening Dates and Tickets information HERE.
Listen to Amber's triplet homebirth story HERE.
Jacinta’s End Obstetric Violence Now project HERE.
Kristine Lauria’s Website HERE.

Podcasts + Education
Breech Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders
Birth Time Documentary
Born at Home Documentary
The Business of Being Born

Connect
Follow Positive Birth Australia on Instagram: @positivebirthaustralia
Loved this episode? Please take a moment to leave a rating or review, and share it with a pregnant mama who would love to hear a positive and empowering birth story.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sacred Birth Affirmations Track
This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour.
Positive Birth Australia

On today’s episode I’m joined by Lauren, a doula and mother of six, who takes us through the births of all of her children - from three positive hospital births and a beautiful homebirth, to the birth of her identical twin boys.
After having four children close together, Lauren and her partner waited several years before deciding to have another baby. To their surprise, it was identical twins. Despite having already supported nine vaginal twin births as a doula, Lauren speaks honestly about the anxiety and physical intensity of carrying two babies, along with the additional monitoring that came with an MCDA twin pregnancy.

Although her plans for another homebirth had to shift, Lauren was able to keep the continuity of care she valued, with her private midwife helping create a supportive hospital birth team around her. At 37 weeks and six days, Lauren chose an induction and went on to birth both of her boys in the water, just six minutes apart - with Twin B being born en caul.
This is such an inspiring journey, and one very close to my heart as a twin mother.

In this episode we discuss:
Lauren’s journey through five births, from hospital birth to homebirth and twins
Discovering she was carrying identical MCDA twins
The anxiety and physical intensity of twin pregnancy
Why continuity of care became so important to Lauren
Creating a homebirth-like experience within a hospital setting
Choosing induction at 37 weeks and 6 days
Making informed decisions around monitoring, intervention and delayed cord clamping
Birthing both twins in the water, just six minutes apart
Twin B being born en caul and choosing a physiological third stage
Lauren’s biggest advice for twin mothers: choose your care team wisely

Resources + Mentions
Instagram: @lauren.may.doula
Lauren's Doula Support HERE.

Podcasts + Education
Birth Time Documentary
The Holistic Guide to Twin Pregnancy
Birthing Instincts Podcast
Dr Stu Fischbein

Care Providers + Support
Private Midwives
Jo Hunter @midwifejohunter
Janine O’Brien @janineatibirth
Obstetrician
Dr Marissa Martin
Doula
Samantha Gunn @samanthagunndoula

Connect
Follow Positive Birth Australia on Instagram: @positivebirthaustralia
Loved this episode? Please take a moment to leave a rating or review, and share it with a pregnant mama who would love to hear a positive and empowering birth story.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sacred Birth Affirmations Track
This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour.
Positive Birth Australia

On today’s episode, Rachel shares the deeply personal four-year journey that led her to her beautiful daughter.
After experiencing her first miscarriage, Rachel received a message through a close friend that her baby would return, but that she needed to find herself first. That experience became the beginning of everything that followed.
Rachel takes us through the years of healing and transformation that came next. From leaving Sydney and starting again on the Gold Coast, to finding a new community and exploring a more holistic way of living, she became deeply committed to nurturing her body and mind.
Four years after their journey began, she naturally conceived her daughter in her forties.
When labour began at home, Rachel drew on everything she had learnt - using the tools, knowledge and trust she had built throughout pregnancy to fully surrender to the experience. Arriving at the hospital just ten minutes before her daughter was placed into her arms.
Resources + Mentions
Instagram:
@rachelchevell
Birth Support:
@itsannamurray
Hospital:
Tweed Valley Hospital
Share the episode
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram @positivebirthaustralia so more women can discover these important stories and feel supported in their own journey.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sacred Birth Affirmations Track
This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour.
Positive Birth Australia

In this episode, I’m joined by Kristy, who shares three positive hospital birth stories, each one unfolding in a completely different way.

Her first birth began unexpectedly when her waters broke at 36 weeks and 3 days. Kristy was supported to trust that if her baby was coming, there was no need to interfere. It became a deeply empowering entrance into motherhood.

With her second baby, Kristy navigated low platelets, hospital policy, and the emotional weight of agreeing to an induction But with the support of her midwife who knew her deeply, honoured her fears, and protected her birth space, her induction became an example of how different birth can feel when intervention is used with patience and skill.

Kristy’s third pregnancy was the ultimate surprise, discovering she was already 20 weeks pregnant. This episode is a beautiful reminder of the power of continuity of care, the importance of feeling safe and known, and how every birth can bring its own lesson in trust.

Resources + Mentions
Instragram:
@kristyhaszard
Podcasts:
Australian Birth Stories
The Great Birth Rebellion
Instagram Accounts:
@badassmotherbirther
@evarosebirth
@coreandfloorrestore
Education + Bodywork
Spinning Babies
Hypnobirthing Australia
Fiona Hallinan - The Pelvic Space
Katharine Graves - KG Hypnobirthing

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram @positivebirthaustralia so more women can discover these important stories and feel supported in their own journey.

Mentioned in this episode:
Esfera Designs Wellness (Birth) Ball
Create a calm, supportive space during pregnancy and postpartum with Esfera Designs. Use code: PBA20 for $20 off your order.
Esfera Designs
Sacred Birth Affirmations Track
This gentle affirmation track was created to help you feel safe, confident, and connected in pregnancy and birth. Perfect for daily mindset work or to play during labour.
Positive Birth Australia