Parenting Powerhouse by Parenting Genie

Exceptional Maternal Care: A Midwife’s Journey in Remote Australia and Essential Insights for New Parents

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What does it take to provide exceptional maternal care in one of the most remote areas of Australia? Tracey Foster, an extraordinary midwife living on a secluded island off the coast of Arnhem Land, joins us on Parenting Genie to share her compelling journey. From overcoming challenges like limited food deliveries and unreliable telecommunications, to her transformative work with Aboriginal communities, Tracey’s story is a testament to dedication and resilience. Hear firsthand how she evolved from an enrolled nurse to a midwife, and learn about the critical importance of continuity of care in rural settings. Discover how her extensive skills in lactation consultancy and child and family health have profoundly improved the health outcomes for women in these isolated communities.

In our second segment, we welcome a new member to the Parenting Genie community, offering fresh insights on one-on-one consultations and the crucial role of evidence-based research in addressing postnatal challenges. Learn why antenatal education is a game-changer, empowering women with the knowledge they need for a smooth transition into motherhood. We also highlight the indispensable role of a robust support system involving family members, and the need for comprehensive education for everyone involved. For first-time parents feeling the weight of new responsibilities, this discussion provides valuable guidance on making informed decisions and exploring all available options. Don't miss this enriching conversation filled with expert advice and inspiring stories.

Thank you for listening to Parenting Genie Podcast. For more parenting information, visit our website https://parentinggenie.com.au. or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter @parentinggenie.
We value your feedback, so please feel free to reach out to us via email at admin@parentinggenie.com.au.

Carey:

Hello and welcome. This Carey from from Parenting Genie, your go-to source for all things parenting From the joys of pregnancy to the challenges of raising a vibrant five-year-old. Every Tuesday, we dive deep into pregnancy and then on Thursday, we switch gears to cover everything about parenting. Rest assured, we're committed to providing you with loads of insights and expert advice every week. Hi everyone, Carey from from Parenting Genie. We have a very special guest on our podcast today, a midwife, but I must say she is a woman of many talents. So please, let's all give a warm welcome to Tracey Foster. Hi, tracey, how are you going? Hi, how are you? I'm good, yeah, good. Thank you, and I must say we are really excited that you're joining the Parenting Genie team. So, thank you, we're looking forward to it. No, thank you for having me. Well, before we dive yeah, it is exciting. Before we dive into your amazing work, could you please tell us a little fun fact or something unexpected about yourself?

Tracey:

A little fun. Fact is that I live on a remote island off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and it can be challenging. Food is only delivered to the island once a fortnight, wow.

Carey:

So it's not very different.

Tracey:

No, it's very fresh. It comes from the markets in Adelaide, which is a bit funny, so it comes all the way from Adelaide, but it's very fresh when it comes.

Carey:

Oh, that's good. So what is it like living in a remote island?

Tracey:

Wow, it's very challenging, hence the internet and phone access. Very challenging, hence the internet and phone access. Millingimby actually had no telecommunications for three months back at the beginning of the year. So it can be pretty challenging.

Carey:

Yeah, it is.

Tracey:

Gosh, yeah. So the only way to get to the island is by boat, or you can fly on a plane a small plane.

Carey:

How long does it take by plane to get there? Is it just like a short flight?

Tracey:

Roughly an hour from Darwin Okay wow, Gosh, wow.

Carey:

What an experience, Tracey. That's amazing. Well, can you share your professional background and how you got started in midwifery and maternal child health?

Tracey:

Sure, I started initially as an enrolled nurse and I completed my enrolled nurse training and wanted to do more, so I then went to university and became a registered nurse, and during my registered nurse training I was working in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit at Westmead Hospital in Sydney and my husband was away studying, so I was kind of home alone and the opportunity came up.

Tracey:

It was back when the government was looking at putting midwifery into tertiary education, and so I was in a pilot project that did midwifery full-time university-based, but it was full-time, clinically based as well. So I actually got paid to go to university. Hence there was only 17 in my cohort and we all graduated and that was the end of the course, because it cost too much money and but from from there were lots of little pilot courses and from that it evolved into what it is today. So, yeah, I left intensive care to go and do my midwifery for 12 months and my nurse unit manager said that she would hold my position for me, and I only ever went back to tell her that I was going to the sixth floor and not coming back to the third floor.

Carey:

So I didn't come back. I did yeah. Wow, yeah, I did yeah. Amazing. Well, what drew you to specialize in lactation consultancy as well?

Tracey:

So in about 1995, I think it was I went rural and when you work rural and remote, once you kind of step outside that urban zone then you actually have to be everything to everybody. So that embarked. I embarked on a quest of all these different things that I needed to do. So I um did a course in vena puncture. I became a well women's nurse. I did my lactation consultants um exam and passed um I. What else did I do? My child and family health and I've done various midwifery courses along the way to help women of rural and remote Australia, because women like to see or like to have a relationship with that one person and so somebody that can do everything for them makes a big difference in their health outcomes, I think.

Carey:

Oh, I totally agree. You know, when you're seeing different people all the time and have no consistency, yeah, it's awful really, isn't it? And the health outcomes aren't as good, I totally agree, wow. Well, you've been recently picking up, like you said, remote and in the Northern Territory, looking after Aboriginal communities. What have you learnt from that experience?

Tracey:

I think what I've learnt the most from that experience is that the continuity of care that women all around Australia really cherish and they like having that one person that's providing the care for them.

Carey:

Yes, yeah, wow. What challenges? Or do you see any challenges when you are looking after Aboriginal parents? How do you adapt your care to meet those challenges?

Tracey:

I think for all women, but especially for Aboriginal women. They need to feel that they're culturally safe and that they're being listened to and that they can talk to you about any concerns that they have, about anything. And it's good to have that wide variety of knowledge to be able to engage with them. And sometimes it's not. You know the first, second or third. You know consultation. It could be a little bit further down the track, but you have to earn that trust with the webinar.

Carey:

I'm glad to say, do you really need to earn that trust like and build that rapport with them before they sort of open up or feel comfortable with you?

Tracey:

yes, absolutely yeah. So um, it's, yeah, it's, and making yourself available to be in their space is important, remotely anyway.

Carey:

Yeah, so you go out to the communities in their space and speak with them and engage with them out there. Yeah, right, so they're not just coming into like a sterile clinic, you're actually going out to their communities, into their space. So that's amazing, yeah.

Tracey:

And you're not necessarily going into the houses. A lot of the women spend a lot of time outside, so there's always mats set up outside under a tree that you can talk to the women about. A lot of the women on the island here where I am, they go hunting, so they often will invite the midwife or the child and family health nurse or whoever's providing their care to go hunting with them, and there's a lot of talking and exchanging of information, which is really nice.

Carey:

What an experience. So you've been hunting.

Tracey:

Yes, I have, yes, and we also. The island that I live on has one of the still highest cultures that are, you know, quite traditional. So English is their third language here, wow, and they still practise a lot of their traditional practices. So women have hunting days, days. Men have hunting days. They hunt different things wow um, so it's very, it's very interesting the women still smoke, smoking ceremonies for their babies.

Tracey:

Um. So there's there's lots of traditional practice that still goes on on the island, which is nice so they would be giving birth in their homes, would they if? No, unfortunately, um, they are airlifted at 36 weeks to go to gov, which is quite sad because they don't really have a choice about it, and they don't have a choice really of who they have at their birth, which you know. If they were on the mainland, it would be very different for them.

Carey:

Yeah, it would be Wow. So they can't just say, look, I'm choosing to stay home and have my baby. No, no, no. Well, that's a shame, isn't it?

Tracey:

no, some of them, some of them choose not to go when the flights because the health service books the flight for them, and I have lots of women that don't get on the plane. And then, um, this especially when I first started on the island and then I was discussing with women why they weren't getting on the plane and when they told me it was like, well, that makes sense, like can we engage with the women and come up with a date they're happy with, kind of thing. So sometimes there's a lack of communications with the powers to be above, you know, wanting what they want and not really listening to what the women want, which is a little bit sad.

Carey:

It is. I think that really goes on a lot't it throughout hospitals all over Australia. You know um not listening to what they want often. Yeah, yeah, what can parents expect from your Facebook antenatal live sessions when you start them Tracy, tracy?

Tracey:

Well, I'm hoping that it will be just snippets of really good information that might not give too much away but will encourage women to delve into researching and seeking out further information and giving them some sort of just a little bit that they are passionate about going and finding out more for themselves, because there's so many good resources out there for women to be able to make really good, informed decisions about their care. Now, um, it really is. It's really distressing when you hear someone say, oh, you know, um, I was told I had to have an induction of labor, you know, so there's, you know that's a classic one. So, um, there's, there's lots of lots and lots of really good evidence-based research out there now in various forms around podcasts, people doing the live facebook um chats, like we just said um, and being able to get small snippets of information and then seeking out further information, if it's something, yeah, absolutely yeah well, I say knowledge is power, isn't it like you?

Carey:

really? Absolutely, baby is such the biggest thing someone you know, a woman, will ever probably do in her life, and I think it's really important to you know, be well informed and even think about what type of a birth you would like, and then build upon that and research that. Yeah, absolutely yeah. We're excited about your lives. I think they'll be amazing and we are thrilled. I haven't done them before, but we're going to give it a go. Well, we're thrilled to have you join Parenting Genie. What excites you most about joining our community?

Tracey:

Well, I'm actually stepping outside my comfort zone. I think I've been too cosy doing things the way I do things. So, this is something that's new and it's a challenge, and I'm looking forward to it, so yeah, yeah, that's good, isn't it?

Carey:

Yeah, yeah, you'll also be offering one-on-one consultations. What can parents maybe expect from a personal one-on-one consultation with you?

Tracey:

I think having you know if there was a postnatal hiccup in the journey or it was just about getting more information, having that really solid one-on-one time and me having access to various different evidence-based research, I think makes a big difference to be able to put it at the person's fingertips straight away.

Carey:

Exactly. You've had so many years of experience and such a wide, varied experience, you know you'd be able to really help you know, parents with all of that information like you said, quick and easy and give them the resources.

Tracey:

Yes, and also sometimes it's an easy well, not easy. And also sometimes it's an easy well, not easy, but it can be something that's quite simply resolved with getting the right information at the right time. Having to wait is often how things kind of escalate and then it becomes very difficult to come back down to where you need to be exactly. I think, um yeah, having that scope of being available, um more so than not, is a good thing yeah, exactly, wow, that's amazing are there any particular issues that you feel passionate about when helping parents?

Tracey:

I'm really passionate about the antenatal education journey and really empowering women to explore a toolbox for themselves and their partner to be able to achieve, you know, a really good outcome to their journey antenatally and birthing, and then postnatally, I'm passionate really about everything postnatal. I love breastfeeding, I love empowering women and educating them on, sort of like, the first 24 hours, then the next 72 hours, and I love talking about how prolactin, you know, keeps the baby awake of a night until your milk supply settles. And there's so many things that you can educate and support families around with their babies. Yeah, and I think it's just adapted to each individual person at the time of what their needs are.

Carey:

Yeah, that's exactly right. Like it's not. Like. A one script fits everybody. You know, everyone is each family is an individual. You know unit, so yeah.

Tracey:

Yeah, yeah.

Carey:

And I often find, too, that women sort of don't often look beyond the birth, like it's the big build up to the birth, and then you know they're not really thinking of thereafter and that's like the whole main journey, isn't it? It's like a life's journey.

Tracey:

It is yes absolutely.

Carey:

Do you find that?

Tracey:

Yes, absolutely, and I think postnatally it's just as important, if not probably even more important than the birth, because it's a longer journey than the birth. And, yeah, I think that having the right systems in place and the right tools again in your toolbox to be able to, you know, deal with fatigue and deal with, you know, your milk increasing, deal with your bleeding postpartum and, you know, having that village around you that's supporting you, is really important. Well and women often will forget about that.

Carey:

Yeah, yeah.

Tracey:

Yeah, you know, know, they've got to do it all.

Carey:

You know the themselves. They just have to do it by themselves, which is impossible really, isn't it? Yeah, what advice do you give to first-time parents who might be overwhelmed, um, or might not even know what to expect?

Tracey:

Yeah, I'm thinking that education and knowledge is very, very important to be able to make that informed choice and also having the people that are important to the birth mother being part of that as well, so they know what to expect. Because often I hear you know grandmothers, aunties, older aunties, and they say, oh, you know, I had my baby 30 years ago. It's all changed now. I can't help, but actually they can help. It's just about engaging with them and educating them as well. And you know, even for some of the postnatal consults, if the women are wanting to have their village there, I think that that's an important thing as well. So everybody's on the same page and everybody can understand what. You know, what the changes are and that you know some changes in the postnatal period are very normal and we would expect them to occur. So, yeah, I think, offering the support, education and empowerment to women.

Carey:

Yes, yeah, amazing yeah. Education is just so important, isn't it really? It is For our pregnant listeners, or if you are thinking about starting a family Tracy, what's one piece of advice you would like them to take away to to their heart? Um?

Tracey:

that they have to, um, be empowered to make really well informed decisions, and I feel that over the last like I've been a midwife for over 30 years it's very rare that a decision has to be made within a two-second. You know, dash, that's right, and I often say to people when I'm doing their education if you're feeling overwhelmed and people are at you in your space to make a decision, you can just say to them I just need five minutes, yeah, make a decision. You can just say to them I just need five minutes, yeah it's.

Tracey:

It's not often that they can't give you five minutes, so I think being able to be empowered to say that is a very important thing, so you can clear your head and the people that you're with and you can make a decision on your ongoing care and and journey from from from that and not be pushed into anything or rushed.

Carey:

So yeah, that's really correct yeah, what would you say? Um, would you think? Would you say that making a birth plan would be important?

Tracey:

um, so I usually um like to call them um, just like a birth, birth journey. I feel that plan often is a little bit too concrete and this is how it's going to be um, but I don't mind what women call them and I think it is important because it's good to be able to have everything down on paper.

Tracey:

especially, I find women feel empowered when they actually hand it to the midwife if it's somebody they don't know and says you know, these are all the things we've discussed and these are our preferences. And I actually also find I get the women to make up a sign for their birth space so people aren't walking in and out, and I know from speaking to health professionals it does make them think twice about going into the room and I think that that's really important because sometimes health professionals think that they can come and go out of spaces when they're actually not invited, and I've had really good feedback about that, so I think that that's something that everybody should should do yeah, that's.

Carey:

That's really great advice and feedback, because there's nothing worse when you've got a woman who's you know, right in the midst of labour and then someone you know people are just barging in and out. It can really put you out of labour, can't it, you know?

Tracey:

Yeah, it can. Yes, and it's not good for the headspace of everybody that's in. That, that's right Birth room.

Carey:

Yeah, yeah. Well, is there anything else you'd like our families to know?

Tracey:

Tracey before we finish up. No, that, I'm just looking forward to meeting and working with everybody. It's exciting. As I said, it's a little bit outside what I've been used to doing, but I think that it's a very important service and I think more and more people whether it's due to time restraints or remoteness, or rurally where they live I actually think it's a wonderful tool for women to be able to access. So I think, it's really great, so I look forward to meeting everyone.

Carey:

That's fantastic. Well, it was really lovely to have you on our podcast today, tracy, and for everyone out there, if you'd like a consultation with Tracy, just head to parentinggeniecomau and you can just book a one-on-one consultation with Tracy. So have a think about all of that. But once again, tracy, thank you so much for being on our podcast and we look forward to okay.

Tracey:

Thank you for having me you have a lovely day.

Carey:

Thank you, kerry, here signing off. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. We're looking forward to hearing from you, so please don't hesitate to send us your questions and the topics you're eager for us to explore. Join us next time for more tips and stories that make parenting a joy. Until then, happy parenting and see you in the next episode.