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Pregnancy

Fear, Love, Gender and Feminism: How mothers are primed to fight the wrong enemy, and why it hurts us all

Looking to read something light-hearted and fluffy? This article isn't it! This piece has taken me over two years to write, and is not something I publish lightly. Nevertheless, it is important, and I would ask you to read on with the knowledge that I write from a place of deep love and care. 

This article is written from my perspective, that of a white, straight, cisgender biological mother who is passionate about both birth rights and children’s rights, and is written primarily for other peop…

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Flu season, carers' leave and the career stumbling block we don't speak about

This article was first published elsewhere in June 2023.


 

No matter how big or small, every business owner sometimes gets the urge to throw it all into the bin and get a “normal” job. While this happens only occasionally for me, I recently had the unsettling revelation that this option isn’t available to me right now. Not because of some virtuous reason of “serving families” or “doing my life’s work” but, depressingly, because my kids and I are sick too often for me to hold down a…

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"What about the Children?!" - The ethics and outcomes of surrogacy

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A recent post by prominent birth-related Instagram account @trusting_birth suggested, as many others have done previously, that surrogacy is unethical. This was the case, in their opinion, regardless of whether the surrogate carried the pregnancy through commercial or altruistic avenues.  As commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, this article will address altruistic surrogacy, whereby the surrogate[1] does not receive payment for their role in carrying or birthing the baby. 

The original…

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Bigger Bodies and Birth: Cutting through the BS to help make the best decisions for you

Anti-fat sentiment is pervasive in all aspects of our society, and is particularly dangerous and harmful in the realm of pregnancy, birth and postnatal care. In the words (1) of size-friendly birth educator Pamela Vireday,

“Fat women are tired of being marginalized by the medical community. They tell stories of egregious bias, of being treated as less than human. They also tell stories of subtle bias, of providers who seem to be size-friendly but ultimately are not.”

In this week’s newslet…

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Christmas is not a valid reason for induction

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Hello and welcome to mid-December, the time I remind those in their third trimester that the upcoming festive season and public holidays are not a good reason for induction.

Before I go on, I want to be clear that there are good reasons for induction in certain circumstances. When truly indicated, induction can be an important way to keep babies and their mothers or carrying parents safest. This article is not about those inductions but the ones that are pushed on pregnant women and people who …

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Risky or Rubbish? The real stats on going "overdue"

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I was 41 weeks pregnant, and both myself and my baby were healthy. When I went to my antenatal appointment, the doctor at the hospital told me that if I didn't get an induction soon, my placenta would fail and my baby would die.

This story is common amongst women and birth parents whose pregnancy progresses beyond 40 (or in some cases even 39) weeks.

Interestingly, these words often come parallel to us being told that if we don't deliver the baby soon, it will grow too big, so perhaps our plac…

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