Childbirth videos

All mums love to share birth stories and today is no exception. Alyssa-Jane Cook is expecting her third baby in a few weeks and doesn’t have any firm plans for this delivery. She knows all too well that each labour and birth can be completely different if her last 2 births are anything to go by. Strangely, the thing she remembers from both of them was that they hurt, a lot!

The dads on the couch talk about needing time for themselves, time away from being a dad. But do they experience ‘fatherguilt’? Or is it just the mothers who seem to experience ‘motherguilt’ at every opportunity. The answer to this question will amaze you. The one thing the Dads seemed to all agree on they have little, or no, time to spend alone with their partner.

Although the thought of talking about your post baby body makes most new mum’s uncomfortable, it can help to chat about it. The girls talk about their body image and what they really think of their post baby bodies.

We bring out into the open the common, yet unspoken, issue of incontinence affecting 1 in 3 Australian women. Don’t worry, it’s not all bad news there are ways to manage it and exercises you can do to help.

We often talk about how life changes for mothers after baby arrives, but what about fathers? Lochie Daddo and Rob Palmer join Rachel and a group of other dads to give us the bloke’s view. What’s the best thing about being a dad? And working fathers talk candidly about their disappointment at getting home and finding their kids are already asleep. We also hear about a stay-at-home dad’s view of his role.

Postnatal depression is an affliction that affects millions of women worldwide and should not be underestimated. Dr. Martine Walker emphasises that the ‘baby blues’ are perfectly normal and are due to the massive hormonal changes that occur after the birth of your baby. New mums may feel teary and low for around 24 hours or perhaps a few days but this passes and as Sheryl Sidery says can sometimes be beneficial. A mum suffering from postnatal depression will not feel the passing of this phase.

Dr Martine Walker provides an overview of the steps in getting help when you think you may be suffering from postnatal depression. She thinks that making the first step on your road to recovery is often the hardest for a new mum. The realisation that things are not OK can take some time to come to terms with but Martine’s experience is that they are usually open to the idea and are pleased to have someone suggest they need help and open the discussion.

Learn about the common causes of depression in mums and ways to identify if you are at risk or are suffering from postnatal depression.

Brett Osmond, from the Huggies Book Club, brings in a few great titles for the mums. First, Brooke Shields recent release Down Came the Rain, which has received rave reviews and a great deal of publicity, in part because of the comments made by Tom Cruise about PND not being real.