Introduction to Pregnancy Uncut.

Meet your hosts Alex Umbers and Kara Thompson who are both Doctors working in the field of obstetrics and women's health. Hear what motivated them to start the project, and what to expect from the first season where they explore what it’s like when pregnancies do not go to plan.

Topics include infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, obstetric emergencies, birth trauma, perinatal mental health, baby loss.   

S1 Episode 1: A Story of Recurrent Miscarriage

Host Doctor Alex Umbers bravely walks us through her own personal experience of recurrent pregnancy loss. Focusing in on one particular late miscarriage at seventeen weeks due to premature rupture of membranes, and what pregnancy loss felt like for her and her partner.  She shares her own challenges as a doctor working in obstetrics,  and the healing journey after and subsequent pregnancies .  

*Content warning: miscarriage, pregnancy loss

S1 Episode 2: Birth Trauma. Amniotic Fluid Embolus

Episode 2 explores Stefanie's story of birth trauma. Her third birth was all going to plan, when Stefanie suddenly and unexpectedly had a cardiac arrest and life threatening bleed after her baby was born. Her story unpacks her experience of the rare obstetric emergency of amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), her time in intensive care, and surviving birth trauma in the aftermath.  She explains how she and her family worked through PTSD and her long journey to recovery.

*Content warning: Birth trauma, cardiac arrest, near death experience, post traumatic stress disorder

S1 Episode 3: Baby Billie: A mother’s story of loss

Episode 3 explores a mother’s experience of the tragic loss of her baby at just eleven days old. Candice bravely shares the story of her second daughter, Billie. She describes her short life, and death due to a rare viral infection that caused inflammation of Billies heart.  This is a mothers honest, heartbreaking and unexpected journey into bereavement, her families new normal, subsequent rainbow twin pregnancy, and the establishment of the All for Billie fundraiser for enterovirus research. 

*Content warning: Neonatal death, baby loss, meningitis, enterovirus myocarditis, grief, rainbow pregnancy

S1 Episode 4: The Silent Sea. Postnatal Depression and Anxiety

For many, birth and pregnancy is a time for anticipation, celebration and joy. But for one in five parents, behind the tired smiles and exhausted faces lies a silent sea of anxiety and depression. Episode Four of Pregnancy Uncut cuts through this silence.  Our brave guest Jo shares with us her frank and honest account of her unexpected descent into postnatal depression with the arrival of her second son. She describes the dark place she found herself in, and how she was able to seek help and slowly navigate towards recovery with the support of family, friends, and mental health professionals. We chat with an expert in perinatal mental health, clinical psychologist Hannah Jensen, about the challenges birth parents and their partners face during what is the single biggest developmental leaps in adult life, the transition into motherhood.

S1 Episode 5: No-man’s Land. Navigating an ectopic early pregnancy loss.

When you’re trying for a baby, the moment you find out you’re pregnant is one of pure joy. But for some, this early pregnancy joy turns to sadness and confusion. For many, the first weeks of pregnancy are consumed with the no-man’s land of ultrasounds, blood tests, and inconclusive results. Our guest Lucy walks us through the complex and confusing experience of her first pregnancy. Having always believed she would have many babies, enjoy pregnancy and labour naturally, Lucy was devastated to experience the loss of her first pregnancy. Compounding this sense of loss, she endured extensive hospital stays, countless ultrasounds, and ultimately, surgery and the prospect of losing her uterus. Lucy shares with us the impact of her experience both physically and emotionally, and how this ectopic pregnancy continues to scar her experience of pregnancy and birth forever.

S1 Episode 6: Snakes and Ladders. Stillbirth; When a pregnancy turns to tragedy.

In Episode 6, our guest Karina shares the story of her first child, baby Georgina, who was stillborn. Karina recounts the joy and excitement of the first half of her pregnancy, and the moment when her world came unexpectedly crashing down. Diagnosed with an extremely severe fetal brain abnormality, Karina and her husband James were forced to make decisions about their pregnancy that no family ever wishes to make. Karina bravely recounts her experience of navigating the devastating world of severe fetal abnormality and the heartbreaking path that follows in honest and beautiful detail. Thank you Karina for sharing this difficult but incredibly important story of the devastating loss of your loved baby, Georgina.

S1 Episode 7: The vessel: A journey of pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction and premature birth.

As she moved into the start of her third trimester, Lucy’s pregnancy was going beautifully. Feeling lucky to avoid severe pregnancy symptoms at the start of her pregnancy, Lucy was not expecting to feel increasingly unwell as she attended her 28 week appointment. When the midwife found an abnormally high blood pressure, Lucy suddenly found herself at the edge of a slippery slope that led down into a high risk and complicated pregnancy journey. Diagnosed with early onset pre-eclampsia, and with an ultrasound showing that her baby daughter was growing much smaller than expected, Lucy subsequently spent many weeks in hospital attempting to keep herself and her baby healthy. Feeling like a vessel struggling to grow and feed her baby, and battling feelings of inadequacy as a mother, Lucy describes the difficult and unexpected journey of severe preeclampsia and the subsequent pre-term birth of her tiny daughter into the unknown world of the special care nursery.

S1 Episode 8: The hidden world of birth injuries. Perineal tears, urinary incontinence and faecal urgency.

Despite being a health professional, severe perineal trauma was not something Ellie was prepared for, or even aware of, prior to the birth of her baby. Following the birth of first baby, Ellie was taken to the operating theatre to repair her perineal tear. Perhaps this was normal, Ellie recalls thinking. Unfortunately, Ellie subsequently learnt that she was one of the 1-in-20 first time mums who had suffered a severe birth injury known as a third degree tear, or injury of the anal sphincter. What followed was a battle to understand and process her experience, followed by a life-long struggle with the effects of her injury, which impacted on every aspect of her life. As a nurse, Ellie was well placed to navigate the medical system. However what she discovered was a complex, and confusing world of post-partum care, where help was disjointed, contradictory, and difficult to obtain. Forced to advocate for herself, with an injury that is almost always hidden and not spoken of, Ellie now wishes to share her journey to help others understand the lived experience of birth injuries. 

S1 Episode 8 - Bonus Ep: The pelvic floor. Unzipped

In Episode 8 of Pregnancy Uncut, Ellie bravely shared her open and honest story of her third degree tear and post-partum incontinence. After listening to this episode we knew there was so much in this topic to explore further. Birth injuries are truely one of the hidden aspects of pregnancy and birth. Women's bodies are incredible, and most people have a beautiful birth and recover well. However for a small minority of women, an unexpected birth injury may result in complications that are devastating and long lasting. Knowledge is power. If we continue to keep birth trauma, sphincter injuries, incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in the dark, then women who experience these complications will continue to feel blind-sided, and completely alone in their experience. Let's shine a light on this topic that has been taboo for too long. In this Bonus episode of Pregnancy Uncut, Obstetrician Kara chats with Dr Alex and expert women's health Physio Kath about what these birth injuries really mean, how we can help prevent them, and the pathways to recovery.

S1 Episode 9: Unmasked: Pregnancy in the Pandemic

In 2019 Alex and her husband were deliberating their plans for 2020. Would the newlyweds travel overseas or start a family? Deciding on the latter, they were thrilled to discover they were pregnant soon after. But accompanying them on their first trimester journey were news stories that grew more urgent by the day, warning them of a terrifying new virus that was spreading around the world. By the time she reached the half way point of her pregnancy, Alex, a midwife herself, faced a pregnancy experience that was nothing like she had ever hoped or imagined. Facing birth in Stage 4 Lockdown restrictions in Melbourne, without her family able to support her, and with hospital rules constantly changing, Alex chose to birth at home with her husband and private midwife. However the restrictions associated with the pandemic continued to present myriad stressful and unpredictable obstacles during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. In this episode, Alex shares a story that is familiar to so many women having a baby in Australia in 2020 and 2021. Episode 9 of Pregnancy Uncut delves into the frightening and isolating reality of being a pregnant woman during a pandemic, and explores how the effects of this unprecedented change in maternity care may be felt for generations.

S1. Episode 10: White Walls: An Aboriginal birthing journey.

Navigating a pregnancy and birth of a baby can be exciting, overwhelming, and challenging. For First Nation’s parents however, this universally challenging time is compounded by an additional and constant stress. Not only do Aboriginal parents face the usual challenges confronting all new parents, they also carry with them the devastating impacts of colonisation and the ongoing effects of the Stolen Generation. Far from being ancient history, the threat of removal from home care is an ever-present and ongoing source of anxiety for Aboriginal families, with their children currently being removed from home at a rate that is over 10 times the national average. This is just one of many statistics that highlight the entrenched racism that is inherent in our systems, causing ongoing inequities in health outcomes and in our society.

White Australians live, work, and birth in a system that is built by them and for them. For Indiginous and Torres Straight Islander People the reality of colonisation and the legacy of the White Australia Policy is something that must be confronted, and survived, every day. The impacts of this on every aspect of their birth and parenting experience is profound. We are so grateful to our guests Lily and Jordy for sharing their story with us.