E34 – Homebirth Midwife – 4 Birth Stories Birth Centre & Home + Upcoming Birthtime Documentary

Midwife Jo Hunter shares her amazing birth journeys, this episode is inspiring for those wondering about private practicing midwifes and their role in the community. 🌿 Jo talks about her inspiring births then her amazing journey to becoming a midwife, advocate and now filmmaker! We hear detail about #birthtime – New upcoming Australian documentary on birth & more. 🍁 Great episode for birthworkers, midwives, students and most definitely pregnant mammas that need some inspiration and information! I feel after listening to this that we need to get out there with our voice and help those women that want to make supported and informed decisions about their maternity care.

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What can I say, this show is certainly heading into some important territory. Jo and I begin our chat with a love story. Jo met her husband in London and they made quite a big decision to move to Australia. Then, not long after they were pregnant with their now 21 year old daughter. Jo knew birth was normal, in fact, she even quizzed all her family about birth from a very young age. So when it become her turn, Jo knew that she wanted to make this experience in the most supported place possible. Now 21 years ago we were not surrounded by instant information on brith and being a parent, so Jo did her research with books! One of them was Ina May’s guide to Spiritual Midwifery. And many other great resources like Sheila Kitzinger that were around at this progressive time. So they decided that the birth centre was the place to be for this first baby to come earthside. Jo went into labour and had a hard time removing her self from the toilet seat! Sounds like this is a common safe space for many labouring women, with her  husbands help and an interesting car ride she was on track to the birth centre. For a first born, this was a very quick labour and Jo describes the experience as wonderful. Jo devised a birth plan and in this she requested physiological third stage, the midwife potentially did not understand this and read this a no Syntocin only, and she began cord traction. Jo ended up in hospital with haemorrhaging and required blood transfusions. Jo talks about her feelings after this experience, not in a sense to blame or to be traumatised, yet bummed that it headed this way after a peaceful birth. Jo said ‘Im going to do this properly next time, no one is going to touch that cord!‘ From there on Jo knew she wanted to become a midwife, yet she still had some more babies to make!

So pregnant again a few years later, Jo was risked out of the birth centre because of the last haemorrhage. She deiced that labour ward was not really for them. So they saved all their money for a home birth and this is where Jo felt the most cared for. (A home birth 20 years ago cost $1500 in Australia, now you are looking at $5000 to $7500 where is that money going? Insurance, regulation…) They formed a great bond with the midwife and baby was born into water in the matter of hours. Jo recalls being worried about the cord and placenta for a moment, yet with the gentle guidance of the midwife the placenta was birthed and there was no significant blood loss. Her young daughter was present at this birth and Jo recalls loving the normality of this and the noises that she made around the home. Next time around come pretty quickly for Jo, only 4 months after birth she was pregnant again. Yes you can get pregnant while breastfeeding in the first 12 weeks! Jo’s births seem to form a pattern of very fast births, baby was born before the midwife come in only a few hours. This was a seamless, fast and easy birth! Fourth time around, and, definitely the last Jo describes the feeling of knowing in her pregnancy that this was the last and perhaps holding in baby over her usual 38-39 weeks. This birth again was only 1 hour and 30 minutes long! Jo describes this a a great experience, yet very quick. We talk a little about postpartum life with 4 children and her husband taking 1 month off work to be present with the family.

Midwifery was always on Jo’s mind. Yet with a bunch of young kids, this was not really the option and back in this time you had to study nursing before you could look at midwifery. So enter the Doula, Jo trained with Denise Love (check out podcast episode 29) and then began her work as a Doula, before this she attended births with friends and describes her self as becoming a ‘birth nerd!’ There was no looking back now for Jo, she was running childbirth classes, working as a doula and then began to lobby for Maternity Choices in Australia. Jo was a big part of allowing private practicing midwifes to access medicare. Jo was also involved with Home Birth Access Sydney during this time. Jo started to become employed as a Doula by a private midwife in the Sydney area, this is where Jo really learned about midwifery and especially how home birth worked. Around this time after her midwife mentor retired, they structured a stand alone bachelor of midwifery. So with Jo’s kids were all heading off to school and a supportive husband, nothing was standing in the way now of going for this dream!

We talk about the trials of studying midwifery with some great advice from Jo, then Jo describes her first birth as a qualified private practicing midwife. Her first client was a water birth with her third baby. Jo figured after the slog of university she would have a easy 1st year of practice, however she was the only midwife working independently in the area so she become very busy quickly!

So nine years into Jo’s private practice we begin to talk birth and many people may know birth is very political these days. Jo is currently doing her honours with the guidance of Hannah Dahlen (podcast episode 30) The subject is based around midwives in private practice and their experiences around birth, with a focus on midwives being reported and the process around this. So far Jo is finding the research rather devastating and hard especially being a midwife herself.

 

 

 

Majority of the private practicing midwives are reported by the hospital as opposed to the women, the reporting process is quite traumatic for these midwifes and many are identifying this as very difficult and unsupported process. Jo wants to see more collaboration with the hospital for private practicing midwives, that being in the event of a transfer information can be shared by the private midwife, and with the staff in a more cohesive and accepting manner. There is a definite divide that is happing within these two systems that is certainly not in any way honouring the woman and caring for her wellbeing. Jo states that if we work together then we can get the best outcome for that women.

 

 

 

We head more into the grind of private practice and the conversation heads well into the politics and business of birth. Things have changed of late, where, to be eligible for private practice you will need to engage with 3 years of full time work in the hospital system. There is no real apprentice program designed to promote new grad midwives into private practice. Now with the addition of the new legislation that for all home births with a private midwife you will need to have a extra ‘qualified’ health professional at this birth. This is non negotiable so prices now for midwives at home births shoots up the paper work increases, insurance, regulations, guidelines it goes on. Its exhausting and just hard to listen to this, when you have a midwife here, like, many in Australia that is completely dedicated to their profession and serving the women and family with the best care they can offer. These midwives build relationships, trust and bond thus evidently allowing the women to be more open with her journey and create a better understating of normal birth. What is happening here?

The Australian model has quite allot of work to create a better system for continuity of care for women. Why? Because no women should be pushed into the decision to birth at home because they can not afford a midwife or have been kicked out of a home birth program. If they want to free birth then it should be an informed decision and look to this with excitement not out of fear. We talk extensively about what a private midwife really is coping with in this one way collaboration process. Women here need the voice, its up to us, the consumer. We need to get out there and speak to the people! Write letters! Flood the offices with mail! This is a now a definite human rights issue. 

 

We leave this episode on a very positive note. Jo is involved with Zoe Naylor (podcast episode 14) & Jerusha Sutton (who I will be hounding soon for her stories!) This docco is the pure inspiration of all the above. There is many personal experiences and stories that are gathering onto the tapestry for this documentary. #Birthtime has an overarching theme – what will it take for women to emerge from their births physically well and emotionally safe? Interviews, birth stories, mainly focused on the Australian system yet a great collaboration with some top notch international advocates and professionals in the birth world.

From Jo–

“Our first born will teach us so much.” 

“I highly recommend to women to enjoy and be a part of that baby moon for those first few weeks. It is a special time.”

“Just cherish it, it goes in the blink of an eye.” 

“As a student midwife I knew that if I could make the slightest bit of difference to this womens life by being kind to her, then thats what I am going to do.” 

“As private midwives it is important that we build our relationships with the hospital staff, its important for you and especially the women that you work with.” 

“There is a minefield of paperwork, legislation and regulation that is crippling midwives in private practice, we are getting so stitched up that its almost impossible to serve the women.” 

“Home birth in Australia has developed into a middle to upperclass process. There is many women in this country that could do with this type of care that can not afford this and that is devastating.” 

“When women choose free birth because thats what they want then this is valid and OK however, when women are forced into free birth because they cant find or afford a midwife or have been kicked off a home birth program then that that is NOT OK.” 

What will it take for women to emerge from their births physically well and emotionally safe #birthtime? 

“The answer is continuity of care”

Resources:

Jo Hunters article on ‘Siblings at Birth’ – http://www.pregnancy.com.au/birth-choices/birth-information/birth-articles/siblings-at-birth.shtml

Documentary Labour of Love

Home Birth Access Sydney – https://homebirthsydney.org.au

Midwives Australia – http://www.midwivesaustralia.com.au

Mother of All Rallies (Canberra) https://www.facebook.com/events/749953711790620/

Birth Time Upcoming Documentary 2018 – https://www.facebook.com/birthtimedoco/

Jerusha Sutton Doula and Photographer – http://www.jerusha.com.au

2017 Home Birth Conference Sydney – http://homebirthaustralia.org/06/07/2016/2016-sydney-homebirth-conference

Connect with Jo:

Website: http://www.midwifejo.com.au/about-me/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MidwifeJo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jomidwifehunter/?hl=en

I have been working with new families since 1990. First as a mothercraft nurse in the UK, then as a birth and postnatal doula and childbirth educator, and now as a midwife in private practice supporting families who choose to birth at home.

My involvement in the homebirth movement started in 1998 when I worked for 10 years in a voluntary role as the Coordinator of Homebirth Access Sydney. I also served the homebirth community as National Convenor of Homebirth Australia for 6 years, which had me involved with lobbying and advocacy for homebirth, organising and speaking at several National Homebirth Conferences, organising and attending rallies and speaking publicly to the media about issues affecting homebirth choices.

I have lived in the lower Blue Mountains since 1998, having moved from Sydney’s inner west. I have 4 great kids born between 1996 and 2001. My first daughter was born in water at a Birth Centre in Sydney and my following 3 children were born at home. My first homebirth experience left me with a strong desire to become a midwife. After experiencing firsthand the many benefits of one to one midwifery care, I was supported in achieving uninterrupted, non medicalised, exhilarating and empowered childbirth. This is where my passion for supporting pregnant and birthing women began

Bachelor of Midwifery with distinction, UTS Sydney

Certified Doula and Advanced Childbirth Educator, Birth Central Sydney

Associate Diploma of Social Science (child studies), TAFE Petersham

Midwifery Practice Review, Australian College Midwives Sydney

On May 21, 2017   /   Birth Stories, Podcasts   /   Leave a comment