Melanie The Midwife

Melanie The Midwife Midwife in Private practice, Host of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast, Midwifery Mentor and Research

Melanie lives in the Blue Mountains with her Husband and two children and has been a midwife in private practice, and providing homebirth services, since 2009. She has a passion for providing minimal intervention care and has respect for the physiological process of pregnancy, birth and the early postnatal period. Melanie loves to see the powerful process of birth unfold and watch families blossom as pregnancy and birth unfolds. Her passion for midwifery led her to complete her PhD, called "birth outside the system", in 2015, and she has held positions in midwifery research, midwifery lecturing and National Policy development at the Australian College of Midwives along side her work as a midwife. Melanie has a degree in Naturopathy and incorporates alternative therapies and nutritional guidance into her midwifery care.

14/09/2026

Rule one of managing shoulder dystocia. The baby's head is not a handle! Do not pull or apply traction to the baby's head. I repeat, the baby's head is not a handle. To know exactly what to do instead, listen to episode 220 of the great birth rebellion podcast.

13/09/2026

Shoulder dystocia filled clinicians with dread and women with fear - but you'll be surprised to know that is incredibly rare, occurring in approximately 0.5-1.5% of births. This week is all about shoulder dystocia on podcast and I've had a look at the research on current shoulder dystocia practice and techniques to see which ones work best, and which ones we can skip over.

For 18 years I've also been discovering from other midwives which manoeuvres are their go-to manoeuvres every time (because they work incredibly well!). For me, it's inviting the woman to turn onto hands and knees to take advantage of the generous amount of space in the posterior part of her pelvis and accessing the posterior arm.

Have a listen to episode 220 of The Great Birth Rebellion podcast out now to get a handle on how to manage shoulder dystocia effectively without having to memorise mnemonics.

06/09/2026

Restless legs in pregnancy - do you seem unsettled in bed because you have an irresistible urge to kick, stretch or move your legs? There is a name for that, it's called restless legs and affects up to 20% of women during pregnancy.

Episode 219 of The Great Birth Rebellion podcast explains the diagnostic criteria and midwifery management of restless legs... there are some helpful solutions to help you get a more settled night and reduce the symptoms of restless legs, you don't have to tolerate it, it's time for a good nights rest!

Listen to episode 219 and grab the cheat sheet for some of the management options, including the recipe for a magnesium spray that you can make at home. Type URGE in the comment section 👇👇👇 and i'll send you a message with the link to the cheat sheet

Comment URGE 🥑🥑🥑

03/09/2026

If you just listen to the first half of the video, you'll have a skewed understanding of the cascade of interventions... it can go both ways... when you accept an intervention, please know that they are powerful and will impact your labour and birth. Interventions have both intended (desired) and unintended consequences (undesired side-effects). The cascade of intervention describes what happens when the unintended side-effects start to stack up because you need to add more interventions in order to remedy the impact of the previous interventions...

However, interventions are also powerful enough to be beneficial and life saving.

Because interventions are powerful and impactful, it's important to select them wisely and carefully in order to reap the full benefits and avoid as many side-effects as possible. To get a more full understanding of the power of labour and birth interventions and the cascade of interventions, listen to episode 218 of podcast.

If you want to avoid unnecessary interventions for your own birth comment GUIDE 👇👇👇 and i'll send you a link to something that will help you avoid the cascade.

03/09/2026

Some people say that the intervention rates are rising because women are ‘sicker, fatter and older’… could it be true that women’s genuine medical needs are the driver for increasing intervention rates during labour and birth?

Turns out, no, recent research shows that intervention rates are rising at a similar rate for women who have high medical needs AND those who have low need for medical intervention.

The research paper, ‘why are cascade birth interventions rising’ showed that it’s far less likely that women’s needs are the driver and far more likely that the rise is primarily due to institutional practice styles and culture.

This research paper highlighted that clinical practice styles that are defined as ‘more aggressive, technologically intensive and/or invasive’ is one explanation for increasing intervention rates. What this study indicates is that If you want a low-intervention birth you have to choose a clinician and birth location that have a culture and propensity for low-intervention care.

Get the full story on this research and the cascade of interventions on episode 218 of The great birth rebellion podcast podcast.

Comment GUIDE if you are keen for a low-tech birth and I’ll send you a link that will help you prepare

01/09/2026

Are we ready to stop pretending that inductions and epidurals for low-risk women are harmless?

This research paper ‘why are cascade birth interventions rising’ is from August 2026 and included 1.3 million births. They discovered that interventions are rising steadily for women at low risk who have no medical need for them… then they showed that by intervening in normal birth for low risk women, their chance of actually having a normal birth reduces to 26.4%

Get the full story on episode 218 of the great birth rebellion podcast and if you are keen to avoid interventions during birth comment GUIDE 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽, I’ve got something you’ll be interested in.

31/08/2026

If someone says, 'women get more interventions during labour and birth now because women are sicker now', show them this study... The argument that interventions are rising because women are 'sicker, fatter, older and less fertile' is BS. We've known for a while that the cause is not women themselves, it's medicalised ideology and the culture of the facility and individual practitioner preference that is increasing unnecessary interventions. Women are not asking for more interventions and they are not so sick that they need more interventions. The study below explains it:

Research paper: 'Why are cascade interventions rising' (2026) - available in full-text online, just type the title into your search engine.

This paper shows that intervention rates are increasing similarly in both women with risk factors and women without a need for those interventions. Regardless of their health status, birthing women are being exposed to increasing interventions, especially women with no medical need for them.

Listen to the full episode 218 of the great birth rebellion podcast for a discussion on the research and to understand the 'cascade of intervention' and how to avoid it

30/08/2026

Have you heard of the cascade of intervention? It acknowledges that not all interventions during labour and birth are bad, but also that they are not all good and beneficial. The truth is that every intervention has both intended and unintended consequences and one of the undesirable consequences of interventions is that they have a cascading effect.

Episode 218 of The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast explains the research behind the cascade of intervention and shows that the cascade of interventions happens when the unintended or undesirable impact of one intervention needs to be remedied by the use of another intervention... and interventions snowball from there as the unintended consequences build.

Interventions can be life saving, but when used flippantly and without medical indication they can introduce the risks associated with the cascade of intervention. Get the full story and the research on todays episode episode 218 - The cascade of intervention

26/08/2026

Why do midwives decide to leave midwifery? I feel like being in midwifery is a death by a million cuts... midwives are expected to sustain ourselves so that we can survive and put up with unsustainable working conditions. That's why the recent midwifery workforce reports show that the average career span for a midwife is 3-5 years and we are currently unable to sustain the midwifery workforce into the future - it's simple, the high level organisation of midwifery workplaces creates an unsustainable work environment that ends up destroying midwives.

There is no doubt the system needs to change to make midwifery a safe profession to work in... but in the meantime, while we wait and hope for change - there are a few things you can do to survive and hopefully thrive in midwifery - the survival is the topic of episode 217 of podcast.

Have a listen now.

24/08/2026

We've got the secret sauce to surviving and thriving in your midwifery career. On episode 217 of the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast, myself Melanie The Midwife and Lynnelle Moran of talk about how midwives can survive and thrive in careers despite the pressures we work under and the systemic barriers inherent in working in the maternity care system.

The reality is that the system isn't designed to care for midwives, for that reason we experience vicarious trauma, moral distress, horizontal violence and eventual burnout within hostile work environments. The antidote to burnout is connection between midwives and supporting and connecting with each other.

Episode 217 of details the hazards and solutions for midwives and Lynnelle explains the findings of her research. This episode is medicine for midwives and information for higher-level leaders who have the power to affect change to make midwives working conditions more sustainable

If you are wondering how you are going to survive and thrive in your midwifery career, this episode of the great birth rebellion podcast is for you.

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Springwood, NSW

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