Hospital

Hospital closure leaves woman screaming

Julie Robotham Medical Editor A first-time mother endured a traumatic ambulance transfer after Katoomba Hospital, where she was booked to have her baby, failed to warn her of the imminent closure of its birth unit.

Packing your hospital bag

The days of grabbing your keys, mobile and wallet and heading out the door are soon to be over, and it all starts with the birth!

Midwife home birth as safe as hospital, says study

Louise Hall Home birth assisted by a trained midwife is just as safe for low-risk mothers and their babies as a delivery led by a midwife in hospital, a study of more than half a million women has found.

Choosing a hospital

When it comes to your pregnancy, choosing where you will give birth is one of the biggest decisions you will make.

Public hospital care

Public care offers several options, each of which are free of charge if you are a Medicare cardholder.

Private hospital care

Choosing where you will give birth is a big decision. One of the attractions of private hospital care is the high standard of comfort and quality of food.

Packing your hospital bag

Essential Baby members The days of grabbing your keys, mobile and wallet and heading out the door are soon to be over, and it all starts with the birth! Here is a comprehensive checklist devised by Essential Baby members...

Fears for mothers as hospitals up the ante for birth classes

Natasha Wallace The cost of antenatal classes should be means-tested and made uniform across all hospitals, according to the Australian College of Midwives.

Miscarriage - one woman's story of grief, loss and growth

Rebecca Mar Young Miscarriage. It’s one of those things you hear about and hope doesn’t happen to you. But when it does you realise how devastating it is and what a silent grief it has become, because for some...

Coalition to offer six months off to parents

Phillip Coorey A six-month scheme of paid parental leave and plans to extend to nannies similar pay and conditions as childcare workers are at the heart of a Coalition policy being designed to woo family and female...

EB members' feedback on our maternity system

EB members express their concerns regarding the Australian maternity system and we examine the key issues for those entering the birthing experience.

Rise in induced births worries doctors

Kate Benson One in three pregnant women in NSW has her labour induced - a rise of at least 15 per cent in the past 10 years - with almost half of inductions done without a medical reason.

Home birth program that delivers

Kate Benson It took Bailey Mannion only 75 minutes to slip calmly into the world, amid the comforts of his own loungeroom, unaware he was quietly making history.

Designing principles at birth of a new era

Genetic screening of human embryos may eventually eradicate inherited diseases ranging from breast cancer to cystic fibrosis.

Blood worth banking on, say parents

Jill Stark It's an insurance policy she hopes she'll never have to cash in. Vicki Georgakopoulos believes the decision to store her baby's umbilical cord blood could one day save her daughter's life.

Thanks for the memory loss, baby

Danielle Teutsch Could you repeat that please? Heavily pregnant women may not be imagining it when they say they have "placenta brain" and easily forget what people tell them.

Losing a baby

Stillbirth Foundation Australia Stillbirth is a word that we don’t hear nor talk about in today’s modern society. Usually, the first time a parent hears the word “stillbirth” it is to describe their own child.

Angry mums against midwife legislation

Kate Dennehy A group of angry mothers and mothers-to-be have gathered in Brisbane to discuss tactics to overturn a Federal Government proposal they say will ban home births with a midwife.