Episode 223 - Navigating Twin Pregnancy and Birth options: Part One

Melanie Jackson (0:00)

Welcome to The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Melanie Jackson. I'm a clinical and research midwife with my PhD. And each episode, I cast a critical eye over current maternity care practice by grappling with research and historical knowledge to help you get the best out of your pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey.

Welcome everybody to today's episode of The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast. Today, I am joined by three guests, but I actually have interviewed them all in two separate sessions and that was intentional. Today's topic is about twins, the type of care you can access with twins, the challenges you have if you're pregnant with multiple babies, but also this is a story of hope and how you can overcome those challenges by picking the right care team. And today we'll be talking to Hannah Muller, who is the midwife in the story, Louise Gorham, who's the Doula in the story, and also the woman, Natasha, who I'm interviewing second because I wanted to hear Hannah and Lou's story first. You'll see why. And now a huge shout out to Poppy Child from Pop That Mama, who has been a major sponsor for nearly a year now. Poppy believes in this podcast so much that she has invested a lot of dollars to make sure that it keeps going. She is an absolute queen. She's pretty much paid for your antenatal education.

The other thing that Poppy is, is a hypnobirthing practitioner and the creator of the Birth Box, which is a hypnobirthing online resource to help you get ready for birth. Because hypnobirthing is a technique, it's best to get the Birth Box during your second or third trimester, so you have a chance to practice and put into place the habit of the hypnobirthing techniques and put the oxytocin bubble tracks on repeat. This means that when you are mid contraction, your body and mind know exactly what to do and will automatically sink into the hypnobirthing techniques so you can stay focused. You can get the Birth Box in the link below in the show notes, and Poppy is giving Great Birth Rebellion listeners a unique discount code. So click on the show notes below.

But today, I really want to focus on the fact that being pregnant with multiples, I feel like, is twice the amount of work, two babies, two times the effort, and possibly three times the effort. I want you to hear this story. Welcome Hannah and Lou to The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast.

Hannah Muller (2:40)

Hi Mel.

Melanie Jackson (2:41)

Hi. Thanks Mel.

Hannah Muller (2:43)

Oh, you're welcome.

Melanie Jackson (2:45)

Now, before we kick off, I would love to give you each a chance to introduce yourself so that everybody listening understands who you are. So Hannah, we might start with you.

Hannah Muller (2:54)

Amazing. Yes, I'm Hannah and I'm a private midwife that went predominantly into the home birth world. I started up my own private business in 2025 So yeah, I wasn't expecting to have a twin mom so early in my private midwifery walk. But yes, my role throughout the process with Natasha, we didn't find out she was having twins till 20 weeks. Did she have a baby yet?

No, she didn't want any early scans. She was planning her third home birth and her fourth and now we know fifth baby.

Melanie Jackson (3:30)

So she was pregnant. She had had home births before and then she contacted you because she was just pregnant again and she's like, I want a private midwife, I want to have a home birth.

Hannah Muller (3:39)

Yes, that's what happened.

Melanie Jackson (3:41)

Okay. So then she comes to her morphology scan and twins.

Hannah Muller (3:46)

She calls me and I was in another consult and she said, we're having twins. She hadn't even told her partner yet. So it was pretty amazing. She was super excited. But yeah, it changed the landscape of her care a lot.

Melanie Jackson (3:58)

Yes. And the landscape is what I'm really keen to talk about today. And Lou, had she contacted you or Lou, introduce yourself first, but I'm curious to know if she contacted you before or after she discovered she was having twins.

Hannah Muller (4:13)

Great.

Melanie Jackson (4:13)

So I'm Doula Lou.

Hannah Muller (4:15)

I've been a doula since about 2019

I've mostly supported births in regional, Victoria and New South Wales. And I do a mixture of supporting women in a hospital setting and also in the home birth setting. And I also do both photography, which is something that I'm really passionate about. And I've just started moving into a mentorship role as well, mentoring up and coming doulas and supporting them to get more doulas in the area, more choices, more support for women.