Pregnancy Care Providers in Greater Bendigo Region

Bendigo Health Maternity Unit – Supported by an on-call Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Paediatric and Anaesthetic Service. The unit has 4 birthing suites and 16 antenatal/postnatal beds

St. John of God Health Care Bendigo Maternity Services –  Welcomes around 400 babies each year.  Facilities are modern and spacious with single room accommodation. Offers a high standard of clinical care, education and ongoing support

Castlemaine Health Family Birthing Suite – Castlemaine Health’s Family Birthing Suite provides three modern birthing rooms with calming décor and experienced midwives and doctors to support families in having a natural, healthy birth

Central Victoria Home Birth Midwife – Elizabeth Murphy is a midwife in private practice offering home birth options

Home Birth

Home Birth Australia – HBA is the peak National body for Home Birth in Australia.  They are committed to ensuring home birth as a birth option for Australian women

Australian Directory of Eligible Midwives – Aims to help women locate an Eligible Midwife in their local area

Elizabeth Murphy – Midwife in private practice supporting women in the Greater Bendigo Region

Birth Support/Doula

Kim Berry, Nurtured Births – Doula supporting women in the Greater Bendigo Region

Nina Isabella, Mamashanti – Doula ~ Prenatal Yoga Teacher ~ Childbirth Educator ~ Retreats & Workshops

Lynda Rooth, Sacred Pregnancy Macedon Ranges – Sacred Pregnancy Retreats ~ Doula ~ Holistic Therapist ~ Meditation ~ Body Work ~ Heart Coaching

Angela Healy, Central Victoria Doula Service – Doula ~ Trainer of Doulas at Dial-a-Doula ~Birth Educator ~ Placenta Encapsulation

Health & Wellbeing Practitioners

Peta Elmer, Dragonfly Birthing Wisdom – Traditional Chinese Medicine ~ Acupuncture & Chinese Herbalism ~ Doula ~ Childbirth Educator ~ Placenta Encapsulation ~ Caesarean Scar Repair

Kate Thompson Massage – Pregnancy Massage ~ Certified Infant Massage Instructor

Lynda Rooth – Sacred Pregnancy Retreats ~ Doula ~ Holistic Therapist ~ Meditation ~ Body Work ~ Heart Coaching

Bronte Spicer –  Creative Spirit Meditation Therapy ~ Meditation Classes and Workshops ~ Reiki ~ Spiritual and Holistic Workshops and Retreats.

Private Birth Preparation Classes

Intuitive Birthing – HypnoBirthing classes with certified practitioner Corinne Piper

Dragonfly Birthing Wisdom – Acupressure Birth Skills for Partners ~ Birth Hypnosis ~ Breathing Techniques ~ Birth Preparation & Counselling with Peta Elmer

Mamashanti – Active Birth preparation for Partners Workshops ~ Yoga for Pregnancy & Birth with Nina Isabella

A Baby is Born – CalmBirth birth preparation classes with Registered Nurse and Midwife Michelle Coutts ~ pregnancy/ postnatal pelvic physiotherapy classes ~ North Central Victoria, Wimmera & Grampions

Prenatal Yoga

Vitality Yoga – Prenatal Yoga Classes with Melanie Chapman ~ Bendigo

Mamashanti – Yoga for Pregnancy & Birth Weekly Classes ~ Retreats & Workshops ~ Hepburn Springs

Creating Pregnancy, Birth & Newborn Memories

The Birth Story Photographer – Birth, Maternity & Newborn photography by Breanna Gravener

Nascent Art by Jasmine – Pregnancy & Body Casts ~ Henna ~ Bendigo and Northern Victoria by Jasmine Steele

Online Resources for Pregnancy Health & Wellbeing

Spinning Babies  – Spinning Babies offers advice on optimal foetal position to support normal, natural childbirth

Beautiful Cervix Project – The Beautiful Cervix Project is a grassroots movement celebrating the beauty and intricacies of women’s bodies and fertility

Mind the Bump – Mind the Bump is a free Mindfulness Meditation App to help individuals and couples support their mental and emotional wellbeing in preparation for having a baby and becoming a new parent

Midwives Naturally – As midwives we believe that pregnancy, labour and birth are normal physiological processes. A normal part of family life, a powerful social and emotional life passage/event. In keeping with this belief, we do not routinely interfere with the normal process. You can follow Midwives Naturally on Facebook.

Birth Memoirs – Birth Memoirs is about more than the facts of our stories. We are less interested in controversial debates and more interested in how you felt when you held your slippery baby for the first time.

Dr. Alan Greene – Delayed cord clamping article.  You can also view his Tedx Talk.

Pregnancy Support & Guidance

Young Pregnant & Parenting Program – Bendigo Community Health Services offering support to parents 21 years and under. Contact Kristen Lummis: 5430 0500

Pregnancy Advice Helpline – Free 24hr advice and support from qualified counsellors 1800 882 436

The Royal Women’s Hospital – Offers a range of health information from Australia’s largest public maternity hospital.

Early Parenting Health, Wellbeing and Support

Raising Children Australian Parenting website – Information for babies 0 – 3months

Australian Government Parenting Payments – Providing information regarding income support for parents or guardians to help with the cost of raising children

Breast Feeding

Elizabeth Murphy – Midwife in private practice offering lactation consultations and advice

Australian Breast Feeding Association (ABA) – Community based self-help group offers information, counselling, and support services, on breastfeeding issues

Human Milk for Human Babies – Facebook page providing a space where families in need can connect with women who have breast milk to share

Post Natal Depression

Post and Antenatal Depression Association Inc. –  PANDA’s counsellors and trained volunteers are confidential and open to women and men as well as family and friends.  PANDA’s helpline is available in Australia from 10am to 5pm (AEST) Monday to Friday.  1300 726 306

How is Dad Going? – PANDA’s new website about dads whose lives have been affected by perinatal depression and anxiety

Placenta Encapsulation

Benefits of Placenta Encapsulation – article from Pregnancy, Birth & Parenting – Belly Belly

Dragonfly Birthing Wisdom – Placenta Encapsulation Service for the Bendigo region

Books to READ!

Gentle Birth, Gentle Parenting by Sarah J Buckley, MD – Sarah Buckley might be called a third-wave natural birth advocate. A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body.

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin MA, CPM, PhD(Hon.) – Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the world’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience.

New Active Birth by Janet Balaskas – “New Active Birth” will help you and your partner prepare for and experience an Active Birth. Naturally, throughout time and the world over, women have chosen to walk, stand, squat, lie – to move their bodies freely and actively to find the most comfortable positions for labour and birth.

Birth and Breastfeeding by Michel Odent – ‘To give birth to her baby, the mother needs privacy. She needs to feel unobserved. The newborn baby needs the skin of the mother, the smell of the mother, her breast. These are all needs that we hold in common with the other mammals, but which humans have learned to neglect, to ignore or even deny.’

Joyous childbirth changes the world by Dr. Tadashi Yoshimura – “No matter how science has progressed, childbirth, in essence, has remained unchanged from ancient times…[it] is the last natural process left to us,” writes internationally lauded obstetrician Dr. Tadashi Yoshimura.

Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method by Marie Mongan – Childbirth is not something to be feared; it is a natural expression of life. With HypnoBirthing, your pregnancy and childbirth will become the gentle, life-affirming process it was meant to be.

Birth with Confidence by Rhea Dempsey – In this accessible, straightforward book, Rhea Dempsey draws on over thirty years’ experience to show how a woman’s choice of caregivers, support team and birthplace, as well as her life experience and personal attitudes to pain, will affect her birth outcomes.

Birth Skills by Juju Sundin – Obstetric physiotherapist Juju Sundin shares the techniques she has pioneered over her 30-year career, while Sarah Murdoch takes you on a personal journey of her own labour and birth, describing how she learned the skills in the class then applied them on the big day.

A Modern Woman’s Guide to a Natural Empowering Birth by Katrina Zaslavsky – A Modern Woman’s Guide to a Natural Empowering Birth is a collection of inspiring birth stories, expert tips and practical insights to empower women to reclaim their birth power and overcome their fears in a modern world.

Pregnancy and birth related blogs we love

Midwife Thinking – The aim of this blog to stimulate thinking and share knowledge, evidence and views on birth and midwifery.

If you have found some other useful resources, we’d love to bear about them!