Positive Birth Australia

This week on the show I’m joined by Shari from Belly2Birth, a birth educator of over 13 years and now trauma-informed coach whose work has evolved into supporting women through the deeper emotional layers of birth and beyond.
In this conversation, we move into something that isn’t spoken about enough… the reality that more than 1 in 3 women walk away from birth carrying trauma. Today we explore how these experiences can stay with us long after birth… shaping the way we feel, respond, and move through motherhood.
This is a powerful conversation that brings birth trauma into the light… highlighting the depth of impact these experiences can have on a woman’s body, mind, and sense of self… and how important it is to have the space, support, and tools to process and release them as part of this rite of passage.
In this episode, we cover:
The reality of birth trauma… and why it’s more common than we think
How trauma can form through how a woman feels in her birth
Shari’s personal experience and what shaped her work
Why women can feel unheard or disconnected within the system
The fawning response… and why many don’t speak up in the moment
How trauma can show up later… often when something triggers it
Why these experiences are held in the body
The difference between reflecting on birth and actually processing it
How past patterns and the subconscious can influence birth
What it looks like to process, release, and move forward

Show Notes:
Instagram: @belly2birth
Website: www.belly2birth.com
Listen to Shari's birth stories HERE.
Free Birth Debrief:
Shari offers free 1:1 birth debrief sessions - you can reach out to her via Instagram to book and check availability.
Use code POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all Shari's programs.
Mentioned in this episode:
Free Birth Debrief with Shari from Belly2Birth + 10% Off All Programs
Use code: POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all programs including Journey to Birth + a free birth debrief.
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

This week on the show I’m joined by Jaylene, a Canadian-born mother now living in New Zealand, whose journey into motherhood carries deep threads of grief, healing, intuition and trust.
Long before conception, Jaylene was navigating the devastating loss of her younger brother… a grief that reshaped her sense of timing, readiness.. It wasn’t until years later, after consciously creating space to reconnect with herself, that she stepped into pregnancy with intention and openness.
Throughout her pregnancy, Jaylene followed what felt aligned for her… immersing herself in positive birth stories, and trusting her body, which ultimately led her to choose to birth at home. However, when she discovered her baby was breech, she was met with resistance and had to deeply advocate for her choices, educating herself and standing firmly in what she knew to be right for her and her baby.
What unfolds is an extraordinary birth story… a fast, instinctive, under four-hour labour at home, where her son was born breech, in his own time and in his own way… on a date that carries profound meaning for her family.

Jaylene’s story is a powerful reflection of surrender, sovereignty, and trusting both the seen and unseen elements of birth.

In This Episode We Cover
Navigating deep grief before stepping into motherhood
Creating intentional space before conception
Pregnancy as a time of healing, reflection, and transition
Choosing a planned home birth in New Zealand
Discovering baby was breech and exploring options
Advocating for a breech vaginal birth outside standard recommendations
Preparing mentally, emotionally, and physically for birth
A fast and instinctive 3 hour 45 minute labour
Physiological breech birth at home with midwife support
Baby born on her late brother’s birthday

Resources + Mentions
Books
Hypnobirthing – Siobhan Miller
Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage – Rachel Reed
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth – Ina May Gaskin

Education
Breech Without Borders
Spinning Babies

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 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
Free Birth Debrief with Shari from Belly2Birth + 10% Off All Programs
Use code: POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all programs including Journey to Birth + a free birth debrief.

This week on the show I’m joined by Bianca, a Brisbane mum of two whose journey into motherhood is a powerful reflection of intuition, advocacy, and deep self-trust.
After experiencing a missed miscarriage, Bianca consciously prepared her body and mind before conceiving her first daughter, Bliss. Throughout her pregnancy, she immersed herself in birth education and began to question the mainstream narrative around birth, feeling strongly drawn toward a physiological home birth.
However, after being classified as “high risk” due to her epilepsy, Bianca found her options limited and ultimately entered the hospital system, where her plans began to unravel.
Bianca’s second pregnancy became a turning point… because this time she chose to follow the inner knowing she had felt all along. What unfolds is a deeply personal and transformative birth at home, where she sinks into the inner work, meets her fears head-on, and anchors into a level of trust she had always carried within.
In This Episode We Cover
Missed miscarriage and conscious conception
Preconception detox and preparing the body for pregnancy
Navigating pregnancy with epilepsy and being labelled “high risk”
Discovering physiological birth and the desire for home birth
Feeling limited by the system and shifting birth plans
Hospital birth experience and cascade of interventions
The emotional impact of feeling overridden during birth
Reflecting on giving away power vs reclaiming it
Choosing a sovereign/home birth for her second pregnancy
Inner work, fear release, and fully trusting her body during birth

Resources + Mentions
Instagram
@theblissfulwaters
Books
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Dr Sarah Buckley
Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Dr Rachel Reed
Birth Course:
Free Birth Society
Birth Affirmations:
Yolande Norris-Clark

Share The Episode
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram so more women can discover these stories and feel supported in their own journey.
Mentioned in this episode:
Free Birth Debrief with Shari from Belly2Birth + 10% Off All Programs
Use code: POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all programs including Journey to Birth + a free birth debrief.
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

This week on the show I’m joined by Kaitlyn, a mother of three from Toowoomba whose journey into motherhood began in the most unexpected way… falling pregnant to a man she’d only known for six weeks after a failed morning after pill. What followed was a whirlwind into love, partnership, and parenthood… but also a deeply medicalised first birth that shaped everything that came after.
Kaitlyn shares three completely different birth experiences… from a private hospital birth with a cascade of interventions, to a deeply empowering homebirth, and finally, a freebirth guided by her intuition, her faith in God, and a deep trust in her body.
Her second birth brings an incredibly rare and powerful moment… birthing her baby face presentation in the water. And with her third, Kaitlyn steps even further into surrender, navigating a surprise pregnancy and a profound inner knowing she was guided by God... and that this was her baby girl.

Kaitlyn’s story is a powerful reflection of how birth can become a turning point… an unraveling of what we’ve been taught, and a return to trust, intuition, and something greater guiding the way.

In This Episode We Cover
• Falling pregnant after six weeks + navigating a relationship and motherhood at the same time
• A highly medicalised first birth + the cascade of interventions
• Epidural, episiotomy + vacuum-assisted delivery
• Postpartum trauma + an undiagnosed hematoma + difficult recovery
• Miscarriage + the emotional impact of a D&C
• Letting go of control + unexpectedly falling pregnant again
• Choosing a home birth + finding aligned midwifery care
• A rare face presentation water birth + trusting the body through the unexpected
• The shift from fear to trust + healing through birth
• A surprise third pregnancy + a moment she believes God revealed she was carrying a little girl

Share The Episode
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram so more women can discover these 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
Free Birth Debrief with Shari from Belly2Birth + 10% Off All Programs
Use code: POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all programs including Journey to Birth + a free birth debrief.

Emma first joined me on the podcast five years ago to share the story of her first daughte’s beautiful and unexpected bathroom floor birth.
In this episode she returns to share everything that has happened since then… from moving to the Sunshine Coast and trying for another baby, to the devastating loss of her son Leo, the physical complications that followed, and the healing journey that ultimately led to the birth of her rainbow baby.

Emma shares openly about grief, pregnancy after loss, navigating anxiety around scans and testing, and her experience birthing at home through the publicly funded home birth program. With a labour that unfolded very differently to her first birth, Emma reflects on the profound journey of leaning into intuition and surrendering to the path birth ultimately takes.

In This Episode We Cover
• Pregnancy after loss
• Monitoring a shortened cervix
• Publicly funded homebirth program
• Weeks of prodromal labour
• A 41 week home birth

Resources + Mentions
Emma’s previous episode sharing Sophia’s birth story HERE.
Sunshine Coast University Hospital publicly funded homebirth program
Midwifery Group Practice (MGP)
Dr Anne-Marie Corral – Fertility Naturopath
Denise Ludwick – Women’s Health Practitioner
iMedical pathology testing
Positive Birth Australia Sacred Birth Affirmation Track

Share The Episode
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend or tag us on Instagram so more women can discover these stories and feel supported in their own journey.
Mentioned in this episode:
Free Birth Debrief with Shari from Belly2Birth + 10% Off All Programs
Use code: POSITIVEBIRTH10 for 10% off all programs including Journey to Birth + a free birth debrief.
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