Without some of the structures of days gone by, today’s mums can feel all at sea, writes Angela Rossmanith. “The bottom line is that women want someone to listen to their needs and concerns and help them address these needs. When a midwife who knows the...
Mandy Collins finds the judgements of other women in relation to birth and breastfeeding to be difficult to accept. I clearly remember the morning I decided to stop breastfeeding my daughter. I lay in my hospital bed, tears running down my face, terrified to tell the...
Unlike other tissue donations, if a woman in Australia needs an egg, or wants to donate one, she is largely left to work it out herself through advertising or searching for an ethnically compatible donor through other means. Accessing an egg donor, or becoming one,...
Margaret Langdon explores stories of families with children conceived through assisted reproductive technologies and the donations of others. About one in six Australians are affected by fertility problems. The techniques available to help these people seeking parenthood are known as assisted reproductive technologies (ART). These technologies involve...
Cathy Watson enters the uncertain world of premature babies and their parents. Barbara A* and her partner left the champagne unopened when their daughter Freya was born at 27 weeks’ gestation. Just as their daughter entered a new world, so too did they – as parents...
Suvi Mahonen writes about yoga practice in pregnancy. Like many childless women in their late thirties, I had achieved the illusion of having control over my life – from what I ate, to my social activities and daily work. Family planning was no exception. I knew...
Gynaecologist, Dr Sonya Jessup brings this difficult topic out into the open and looks at what can be done about it. After we grow up from toddlers to children, having full control of our bladders is something we learn to take for granted. We can run,...
Family medical history, fear and trepidation take their toll on Karen Weeks, even after the birth of her perfectly healthy son. We all know parenthood is difficult. We know because we’re parents and have experienced it firsthand. But before having children, I had no idea what...
The Federal Government will seek advice on covering the cost of stillbirth autopsies, to help families understand more about the death. The decision was made as part of its response to a parliamentary inquiry examining why Australia's stillbirth rate has not dropped in two decades. The inquiry's...
Victorian newborns who do not pass their routine hearing screening tests are being invited to join a pilot program screening for the most common viral cause of disability. The study, a collaboration between the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne and four maternity hospitals...
