Pregnancy Uncut

Married to a busy farmer and working as a midwife at their nearest hospital, Marnie’s dream was always to have her family born and bred close to home.
She was just 19 weeks pregnant with her second baby, when her rural GP obstetrician found that baby's heartbeat was around half what it should have been, and diagnosed fetal heart block - a rare condition that would shape the pregnancy, birth, and first months of baby Amelia's life.
What followed was the opposite of what Marnie had envisaged, with hours and hours of driving to multiple appointments, days of intense monitoring and months of uncertainty, all far from home. Impacting the whole family - Marnie is so proud of her partner Pete as he worked all hours of the day, every day, keeping the farm running; and her son Jack who quickly had to get used to spending a lot of time away from his home and his parents, something he had never done before.
Marnie shares with us her incredible story of a rural family under pressure, out of their environment, in a pandemic; and of the pacemaker that finally turned Amelia's life around.

Heidi is mother to three children but her firstborn, Harry, was stillborn at 38 weeks after a seemingly straightforward pregnancy. The delivery of that news, that no expectant parent should ever hear, was done in a way that lacked the care and compassion it warranted and that memory continues to loom large. Returning home, Heidi and her family were lucky to be surrounded by love and support but there were still moments where she felt isolated and alone.
That unique and difficult insight is one that guides her as she supports other families and educates health workers in her role as a Bereavement Support Worker for the Red Nose Foundation, a position that she was offered after sharing Harry's story in a campaign around Stillbirth Australia.
In this episode, Heidi shares her story of Harry - how he remains a large presence in her and her family's lives and how her work with Red Nose is such an important part of the slowly improving approach to supporting families through stillbirth and pregnancy loss.

An accomplished writer, musician, journalist, broadcaster and climate activist, Sian Prior has led a fulfilling life. However, she has always felt a chasm where her child should have been and it is only recently that she has given herself the space and compassion to acknowledge the grief that has been with her throughout much of her adult life as a result
The grief connected to Sian's journey of infertility and recurrent miscarriage carries its own weight, but has been further exacerbated by having to navigate her way in a society that places judgment and labels on those in her position without consideration for circumstance.
Feeling that there is not enough open conversation and empathy around the complexities of being a woman without children, Sian has bravely bared her soul in her new book 'Childless' in the hope at going some way to breaking the silence. We are so glad to have the opportunity to have this important conversation on Pregnancy Uncut.

Claudine had been having a normal second pregnancy but when her 20 week scan showed abnormalities and she received the heartbreaking news that her baby, Sophie had severe Spina Bifida, her and her husband had two weeks to make the hardest decision of any parent.
Soon after, Claudine fell pregnant for a third time and took every recommended precaution but again, this time at 18 weeks, she received the same devastating news of Spina Bifida with baby Willow already showing signs of multiple complications. Claudine and her family once again had to say goodbye.
Feeling strongly that their family was still not complete and that their daughter Eliza should have a sibling, Claudine and Dave gathered the courage to try again but their 16 week scan revealed that despite all odds this baby too had Spina Bifida. This time, however, them receiving this news coincided with the first intra-uterine surgery being performed in Australia and suddenly they were faced with possibility.
Claudine shares her incredible story of the heartbreak, hope and groundbreaking science that has created and shaped her family.

When Jacqueline took her first born son home she appeared to be the embodiment of the idealized new mother. The house was clean, baby Arthur was sleeping and feeding well, and Jac was showered and neatly dressed. However beneath the flawless veneer, Jac’s family began to notice some cracks. Jac’s behaviour began to seem increasingly bizarre, and some of her comments seemed strange. But Jac had no history of mental health conditions, and she didn’t seem depressed. Her odd behaviour could be easily explained away. But underneath the smile and endless energy, Jac was living a nightmare. She was hearing strange voices, and her thoughts were increasingly chaotic. Bizarre and terrifying delusions began intruding into her world, making it impossible for her to distinguish between hallucination and reality. Jac was suffering from Postpartum Psychosis; a rare but often catastrophic psychiatric emergency. In this episode, Jac bravely shares her story and helps shed light on this terrifying but poorly understood pregnancy condition.
She shares how the love and support of her family and husband James helped her through her darkest of days.