S3 Episode 6: If these walls could talk. Postpartum psychosis

In this episode we side-step from our usual content to hear the considered insights of Dr. Nisha Khot. Nisha grew up, studied and practiced to become a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in India - where 'a feminist was born'. After further training and working in the UK she landed on Australian shores, practising and training the next generation of O&G specialists, many (including our co-host Kara) are all the better for it. Working as a consultant, Nisha realised that the i...

24 Maj 202455min

Pip had always seen herself having a family and as a driven and organised obstetrician she had clear expectations about how, and when, that might happen. But rarely do fertility journeys unfold as we expect. After an initial miscarriage that instantly her interactions and understanding of the women in her care, she found herself on an IVF journey that would bring heartbreak, complications, twists and turns that she could never have predicted. Now a mum of four, the family picture...

12 Maj 20241h 9min

Following the birth of her first child, Violet, Kirsty experienced a large post partum haemorrhage, which required a hysterectomy to save her life. This would seem to spell an end to her fertility journey and Kirsty, who had always imagined more children, began conversations around surrogacy. However, she couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that she desperately wanted to carry another child herself. Still deep in postpartum, Kirsty began a journey of discovery about uterine t...

1 Apr 202451min

Alexandra had always imagined being a mum, but the onset of baby hunger in her late 30s, while a long term relationship with a man who didn’t share her dream, led to a change in direction. After moving back in with her parents, a series of bad dates, time began to outrun her reproductive age, so Alexandra made the pragmatic decision to go it alone using donor sperm. What followed was a journey of discovery; leading her family through their unease and grief of an expected path, encount...

9 Maj 202341min

Nine years on from a traumatic birth that led to a fourth degree tear, Verity still finds herself wondering if there is more she could have done; asked a different person, articulated herself differently, said the magic words that would have got her the help she so desperately needed. The reality however, is that she pushed and pushed and pushed. Went down every avenue, was articulate in her concerns, her needs and her emotional vulnerability. Had it not been for her mother and a GP who fina...

28 Mars 202350min

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 envi...

28 Feb 202348min

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 insigh...

5 Feb 202338min

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 exacerba...

16 Jan 202346min