The Great Birth Rebellion
You can have a GREAT pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience. You just need the information and strategies to make it happen. The Great Birth Rebellion podcast, hosted by Midwife Dr Melanie Jackson offers evidence- based information to help you make informed decisions about your maternity care. The Great Birth Birth Rebellion helps you get the best out of your pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey. Want more? Follow along at @melaniethemidwife and @thegreatbirthrebellion on SM Subscribe to get access to the resources behind the episodes at melaniethemidwife.com and get your merch at thegreatbirthrebellion.com.
Episodes
September 20, 2026 • 67 mins
Everything changes when you are pregnant! Your body, brain, relationships, lifestyle AND of course, your sex life. Nobody tells you how to navigate this change or even if it’s safe to have sex when you’re pregnant. Some women have low sex drive, some have high, for some it hurts and others are just confused. In this episode Mel gets into the details, balls and all and uses real juicy language to talk you through it. Thi...
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September 13, 2026 • 79 mins
Shoulder dystocia is an urgent situation during birth BUT there are some strategies that you can use to prevent it and some simple and minimally invasive interventions that can be used to manage it. Shoulder dystocia often fills women and clinicians with fear, however this episode offers some simple strategies and suggestions to make the management of shoulder dystocia less stressful and help clinicians feel more confident. Mel off...
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September 6, 2026 • 21 mins
Restless legs is a circumstance in pregnancy where you feel an irresistible urge to move, stretch, kick your legs or walk around. It gets especially worse when at rest and in the evening and can cause you to have difficulty sleeping during pregnancy. This episode explains restless legs and some solutions to help stop it.
This episode comes with a cheat sheet and magnesium spray recipe which you can find here.
In this episode I ref...
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August 30, 2026 • 83 mins
The cascade of intervention is a known and proven phenomenon within maternity care. More and more research is revealing that interventions have both intended and unintended consequences. In order to remedy the side-effects or unintended consequences of some interventions, others a required to remedy the impact of the last. This is the cascade of intervention. In this episode Mel explains the concept of the cascade and goes through ...
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August 23, 2026 • 59 mins
We have to be honest about the reality that working in midwifery is an unsustainable role. The lucky ones land a job that doesn’t leave them mentally and morally exhausted after a day of working amongst a toxic workplace that doesn’t care for the needs of midwives. It sounds harsh, but Lynnelle Moran has been researching this exact situation and has identified the factors that contribute to unsustainable circumstances f...
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August 16, 2026 • 23 mins
It’s national science week in Australia from August 15th-23rd and the great birth rebellion podcast is on the program! In this episode, Mel and her 9 year old daughter Frida explain childbirth to your children. We explain the unique anatomy of a womans body and how incredible and capable women's bodies are in growing and birthing babies. This episode celebrates and honours the process of childbirth and introduces children to ...
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August 9, 2026 • 55 mins
There are various strategies that you can start using today that will help to reduce the chances of your vulva or vagina tearing during childbirth. This episode lists the action that you, your care team and partner can use to help you try and increase the chance of your vulva remaining intact during your birth.
If you are preparing for birth make sure you get Mel’s guide to giving birth without pain medication here.
Episodes ...
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August 2, 2026 • 70 mins
It’s spicy Friday but on a Monday! In this episode Mel answers listener questions in this unscripted, off-the-cuff, unfiltered Q&A session submitted straight from her social media followers. She tackles burning birth questions and hot topics, including:
08:32 – To protect the perineum or not when pushing? How to know when to do it and when not to do it?
14:18 – How can we protect our oxytocin when transferring...
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July 26, 2026 • 76 mins
You might be one of the 60% of women who have an epidural during their labour or birth. Whatever birth you’re planning, knowing about epidurals is an absolute must. Epidurals are the most effective form of pain relief available in labour, but they are much more than just a quick injection—they come with a complete "package" of interventions, altered physiology, and downstream effects that women are rarely fully informed...
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July 19, 2026 • 96 mins
Around 25% of women will experience a longer than anticipated early labour phase. Some maternity care providers might explain this as ‘false’ labour… but I can assure you it’s not false, it’s called ‘prodromal labour’ or prolonged early labour. You are in labour, but for some reason your body is not making visible signs of progress towards birth. Why does this happen? There are lots of rea...
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July 12, 2026 • 54 mins
Why not favour pain management options that have no side-effects? In this episode, Mel interviews midwife and researcher Nigel Lee who explains the research he and his team undertook regarding 2 pain management options for labour and birth - sterile water injections and hypnobirthing. In this episode we pick apart the research, explain how they are used and show how using sterile water injections and hypnobirth could change the cou...
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July 5, 2026 • 54 mins
This episode gives a snapshot of the main global challenges that face women in their childbearing years and the midwives that care for them. In this episode, Mel covers what she learned from the International Confederation of Midwives conference in Portugal June 2026. The main global challenges include, the over-medicalisation of childbirth, a shortage of skilled midwives and the erosion of midwifery skill to identify and facilitat...
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June 28, 2026 • 76 mins
In this episode Dr Melanie Jackson and Prof Hannah Dahlen explain The 5 BIG Induction studies that often get used to encourage the use of induction for suspected big babies, women over the age of 35 and over 41 weeks pregnant - The BIG BABY trail, The SWEPIS study, the ARRIVE trial, The INDEX trial and the 35/39 trial. If your clinician is using any of these studies and you want to look into them further, this episode is for you. O...
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June 21, 2026 • 59 mins
The concept of a rigid 40-week due date is one of the most deeply entrenched myths in modern maternity care. Today I cast a critical eye over the historical and mathematical flaws behind how Estimated Due Dates (EDDs) are calculated, and why treating day 280 as a strict deadline creates unnecessary interventions.
Related episodes to queue up next:
Episode 181 - Induction of Labour Part 1
Episode 182 - Induction of Labour Part...
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June 14, 2026 • 60 mins
Get practical ways to support recovery in the first 2 weeks after birth. Learn how to prepare your home for easier access to supplies, early breastfeeding patterns, and what to expect as milk comes in during the first few days.
Expect huge emotional changes around day three, including crying and feeling overwhelmed, and discover how to distinguish these from postpartum depression and the rarer postpartum psychosis.
Mel also discuss...
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June 7, 2026 • 91 mins
The first two weeks after birth have a lot going on… So I'm doing 2 episodes on it. Here you will learn what recovery can look like for both mother and baby. I discuss the wide range of postpartum experiences, the care gap that can exist after birth, and how support from midwives, nurses, GPs, partners, family, friends, and the wider community can help with feeding, recovery, and emotional wellbeing.
I’m also going to ...
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May 31, 2026 • 49 mins
Women with negative blood groups are routinely offered at least 3 doses of anti-D throughout pregnancy. The question is, what is anti-D, do you really need it? What happens if you choose not to take it? And how do you make wise decisions about anti-D. In this episode, Mel explains it all along with all the different tests and screening options that you can choose to help you make decisions about anti-D in pregnancy
Click here to jo...
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May 24, 2026 • 56 mins
Being pregnant may be the very first reason you’ve had prolonged exposure to the health care system. Interacting with the maternity care system can feel confusing and frightening and some women feel pressured and coerced into accepting testing, screening, treatments and medicines that they didn’t really want, but didn’t know how to say NO or negotiate other options. In this episode Mel shares her thoughts and stra...
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May 17, 2026 • 50 mins
If you get a swollen cervix during labour, your care provider might recommend an epidural or caesarean section. There are many other things you can try before resorting to such extreme measures and this episode covers them all. Interestingly, there are no research papers AT ALL to substantiate any of the strategies to remedy a swollen cervix so it’s worth trying them all to see what works, if you want to avoid an epidural or ...
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May 10, 2026 • 34 mins
If you’ve been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, this is a must-listen episode to prepare you for the journey ahead. Mel continues the pre-eclampsia 2-part series by focusing on management, decision-making, and navigating the emotional toll of this acute illness.
This is part 2. Episodes 201 and 202 give a deep dive into what preeclampsia is, ways to prevent and diagnose it, and today we talk about what happens if you’ve g...
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