This podcast has been created to provide a platform for sharing rural Australian women’s birth stories. Rural women can be isolated from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birthing and postpartum care models available to women living in urban environments and city centres. I want to record and share stories from the many rural women who have birthed, to allow them to voice their experience and learn from them. I want rural women who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or entering their postpartum period to feel supported and know that, although care may be via distance, there are options.
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This podcast has been created to provide a platform for sharing rural Australian women’s birth stories. Rural women can be isolated from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birthing and postpartum care models available to women living in urban environments and city centres. I want to record and share stories from the many rural women who have birthed, to allow them to voice their experience and learn from them. I want rural women who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or entering their postpartum period to feel supported and know that, although care may be via distance, there are options.
Episode 20 with Lindsay Hollingsworth from Yass. A long first birth and quick second. Birthing on the Barton Hwy. Birth Before Arrival and advocacy for Yass maternity.
The Rural Births Podcast
1 hour 20 minutes 58 seconds
5 years ago
Episode 20 with Lindsay Hollingsworth from Yass. A long first birth and quick second. Birthing on the Barton Hwy. Birth Before Arrival and advocacy for Yass maternity.
Lindsay Hollingsworth lives in Yass in NSW. Yass, like other rural towns that are in “close” proximity to larger city or regional centres, lost its maternity ward long before Lindsay’s births. It is a “boarder” town approximately an hour from Canberra. Crossing the boarder offered equitable travel times but increased access to other facilities, like the birthing centres and continuity of care models. Although, since Lindsay’s children were born, accessing these services has become strictly contingent upon siting your Canberra address.
Lindsay’s first birth was at Calvary hospital, with a private obstetrician. She completed the calmbirth course and found these strategies useful on her drive from Yass to Canberra. She went into labour in the evening but was in for a long night and powerhouse day before she would meet her baby. She trusted her body; however, came up against a lot of intervention pressure and so for her second pregnancy Lindsay sought the support of continuity of care through the Canberra birth centre.
Lindsay’s first birth led her to anticipate that her second birth would also be long. It was not. Throughout her pregnancy Lindsay had jumped different hurdles as she faced low PAPP-A, going over her “estimate-date” and being an older birthing woman; however, she was her ultimate advocate and just over 42 weeks gestation she went into natural labour. Lindsay had intended to labour at home but this time things moved quickly. Driving along the highway Lindsay told her husband he needed to pull over. They diverted, taking place in a somewhat sheltered roadside stop, and here (with A.C.T ambulance in attendance) her daughter was born.
Lindsay’s own births have shown her the innate power of women and in being informed. She now works with other women as a doula and HypnoBirthing trainer through her business New Beginnings Birth.
https://www.newbeginningsbirth.com.au/
Lindsay and others are advocating for ‘Barton Babies’ to be a thing of the past and for the reactivation of the Yass maternity service. They’ve successfully seen an outreach midwife instated but this is for antenatal and postpartum care, and does not solve the issue of ‘birth before arrival’.
The Rural Births Podcast
This podcast has been created to provide a platform for sharing rural Australian women’s birth stories. Rural women can be isolated from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birthing and postpartum care models available to women living in urban environments and city centres. I want to record and share stories from the many rural women who have birthed, to allow them to voice their experience and learn from them. I want rural women who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or entering their postpartum period to feel supported and know that, although care may be via distance, there are options.
