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
Sometimes labour can hurt a little or a lot. Either way, there are things that you can do to increase your capacity to manage the pain of labour. This includes your mental game, the capacity of your support team, some free things that can be done anywhere and some other tools that require pre-planning and money. For 18 years I’ve witnessed women giving birth without medical pain management a...
You might be one of the 60% of women who have an epidural during their labour or birth. If you plan a caesarean you’ll have one and 40% of labouring women have one, but do you really know what it is, how it’s done and the positive and negative impact of accepting an epidural? We’ve got you covered - this episode is for everyone. Be prepared for every possibility, including the possibility of epidural.
The fetus ejection reflex vs the Ferguson reflex. Did you feel your baby shoot out of you unexpectedly, or that irresistible urge that made it impossible not to push? This episode is to help understand these incredible birth reflexes that make birth so much easier and faster and how to make them work for you. Today Mel discusses the difference between the fetus ejection reflex and the ferguson reflex and gives practical st...
Pushing out your baby is NOT about the eye popping, no breathing, PUSH PUSH PUSH PUUUUUUUSH scene that you see in movies. Unfortunately though many women are coached by their care provider to push a particular way. It doesn’t have to be like that. The evidence shows that you and your baby would be better off without a coach guiding your pushing or breathing during the pushing phase. In this ...
On Aug 19th 2025 the world farewelled legendary Obstetrician Michel Odent. He spent his career trying to warn us of the generational impact of interrupting labour and birth and gave timeless advice on the practice of authentic midwifery and obstetrics. Today in this Ode to Odent I give a broad sweeping overview on the work of Odent that I believe should be preserved and passed on to this gen...
A long and lovely career in midwifery requires strategic effort, the midwifery workforce is in a crisis of unsustainability so how can you be one of the midwives that makes it to a long and lovely career? In today's episode Mel gives direct and clear steps and strategy to creating a career that you love. She also reflects on the convergence of rebellious midwives and invites participation is...
Sometimes homebirth doesn’t go as planned and transfer to hospital is required. This doesn’t mean your homebirth failed! Planning a homebirth improves your chances of a good outcome even if you end up birthing in hospital. Today Abby Sidery from @birthcirclesydney talks to us about her homebirth transfer and why it was still the most exhilarating experience even though nothing went to plan.&...
The evidence on the safety of homebirth is well-established. This episode presents some of the research about the physical outcomes that you can expect for yourself and your baby if you plan to give birth at home. This episode explores the research for women with uncomplicated pregnancies and the evidence on higher risk homebirth scenario's will be explored in future episodes. The information in this episode can help you d...
Having a great birth after a previous caesarean relies on 4 key elements. Some of these elements are provided by your care provider and some of them you can control. Find out how you can facilitate a positive and respectful birth after a previous caesarean section from my conversation with Dr Hazel Keedle as she talks us through the main points of her new book ‘The clinicians guide to a bett...
A new research paper is causing concern amongst the birthing community this week after a local newspaper said that the study shows that outcomes are better in private obstetric-led care compared to the public maternity care system. Of course, there is more to the story (remember newspapers write at a 12 year old reading level). Come be part of a grown up and nuanced conversation about this n...
Women are at risk of violence in life, and sadly also during labour and birth, but what does violence against women look like during birth? Mel explains what obstetric violence is, how common it is and how to reduce the chances of being exposed to violence during your birth. As women we take steps to keep ourselves safe in life, and unfortunately we have to be just as strategic during birth....
What an episode! This one had me hooked! Did you realise we have tiny organisms that live on and in every part of our body; collectively it’s called the ‘microbiome’. A healthy microbiome directly links with health benefits in pregnancy for you and the lifetime health of your baby (way more than you think!). This week, microbiome expert Rebecca Edwards from Read more
Doulas play a specific role at birth, but what is it? I interviewed Doula Poppy Child from @popthatmumma about what a doula is, what they do, how much they cost and questions to ask when hiring one.
Poppy is also a Hypnobirthing practitioner. You can see more of Poppy’s work here and Poppy would love to give you 20% off at the check out when you use the code MELANIE.
We also interviewed Poppy about Hypnobirthing on Episode...
Having a vaginal birth after caesarean can be a tricky thing to navigate BUT there are some strategies that will increase your chances of having a vaginal birth if that’s what you are planning for. This week I spoke with Marissa from @twiceblessed about what she did to have the VBAC she hoped for and I also add my top tips and educational pops as we went. This one is for you if you are planning a vaginal birth after caesar...
Hypnobirthing is a powerful technique that you can use to work with pain in labour. It’s easy to learn and adds to your tool kit if you are gathering strategies to help you feel calmer in labour and improve your chances of avoiding unwanted interventions and pain medications.
Registration for the great birth masterclass that Mel spoke about is at www.melaniethemidwife.com/great sign up now
A great birth doesn’t happen by accident, there are things that you can do to influence the events of your birth. In this episode Mel shares some strategies that you can apply to increase your chances of having a GREAT birth.
For more strategies you can join Mel’s free masterclass www.melaniethemidwife.com/gr...
You can be the mistress of your birth experience. Let’s talk about what part YOU play in what happens to you during your birth. This week I speak to Alice Bleathman and we derive lessons from her birth story about what steps you can take to increase the chances of experiencing a birth without regrets. There are things you can do to increase your chances of a great birth and we explore these ...
There are controllable factors that you can start using today that will reduce the chances of your vulva or vagina tearing during childbirth. This episode lists the strategies that you, your care team and partner can help with to try and increase the chance of your vulva remaining intact.
Episodes that complement this episode:
The BIG BABY trail, The SWEPIS study, the ARRIVE trial, The INDEX trial and the 35/39 trial. The 5 BIG studies that often get used to endorse the use of induction for suspected big babies, women over the age of 35 and over 41 weeks pregnant. Mel and Hannah Dahlen pick apart the studies to help you understand them and use them to inform your decisions around induction of labour.
Mel is talking all about the labour process. The focus is on how you can identify and understand labour and how it progresses so you can be prepared for each part of it. We start from early labour all the way through to pushing out your baby
Episodes that complement this episode include:
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