When Heidi was pregnant with her second child she and her partner made the decision to return to Australia to be close to family. Having managed an intercontinental flight at 34 weeks pregnant with a toddler in tow, she hoped things would be smooth from then on.

Arriving in Australia, Heidi quickly signed up with an obstetrician and, with her due date in sight, they discussed a date for induction - a decision to make based mostly, to Heidi's understanding, on their preference as the pregnancy was considered low risk.

However, with the date still days away Heidi started to feel the cramping of early labour but couldn't quite shake the feeling that things weren't progressing normally. Having called the hospital to share her concerns she was invited in and a routine check gave news that she could never have expected, no heartbeat could be found and a scan confirmed that her baby had died.

It was only when baby Sophie was born that a concealed placental abruption was discovered, the cause of her death.

Heidi is now dedicated to working to raise awareness of stillbirth, and is particularly passionate about ensuring parents have early conversations about all possible outcomes, including the tragic ones.

After the birth of her son Angus, Rebecca and her partner were keen to have a sibling for him and at the time had no reason to imagine that this would be anything but straightforward. However, what followed was a journey of recurrent miscarriage, including a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, emergency surgery and multiple IVF attempts. That journey is ongoing and Rebecca feels that there is impact in sharing her story without knowing the outcome, as many people are in that exact situation themselves.

As an obstetric doctor herself, Rebecca has found that all the training and experience she has doesn't make it any easier to be a patient herself grappling with infertility and miscarriage. She has found support in community, in books and has realised the importance of sharing her story with others. She is also grateful for the influence her experiences have had on how she works with her own patients.

Rebecca shares her story with Kara, a story yet without ending, a story of exploring your limits and finding your people.

*Two of the books Rebecca mentions are:

Hard to Bear by Isabelle Oderberg (who you can also listen to on this podcast Season 3. Episode 8)

One and Only by Lauren Sandler

When Alice went for her 20 week morphology scan she had no reason to be nervous. Her pregnancy had been straightforward and included doing all standard testing offered, but a noted anomaly of a small baby was quickly followed by referral to fetal medicine specialists, the discovery of soft markers on ultrasound and, after an amniocentesis, the words that would tip their world on its axis.

Alice talks with Kara about the heartbreaking moment that baby Marley was diagnosed and the impossible decisions that followed.

She speaks of her experience not just for herself but to open the door to others, to break the silence that can surround termination for medical reasons - a club that no family wants to be a part of and many find difficulty in speaking about. Her story is unique but it is not isolated and she hopes that speaking on the podcast will encourage others to speak openly and feel less alone.