pregnancy-and-childbirth

Nicknames for unborn babies

So-called noms de womb can be funny, cute and just a little on the weird side.

Phoebe Payn said as soon as people discovered she was expecting twins they started to name them.

"My dad has just started calling them Jesus and Mary because they're due at Christmas," she told Helen Shield onĀ ABC Radio Hobart.

"B1 and B2 is popular. Which is actually quite fitting because in the scan you could see them and they were actually headbutting each other like the Bananas do.

What it's like to parent with mental illness

Anne Buist, professor of women's mental health at the University of Melbourne, said we were struggling to support women with severe mental health issues.

"Maternal suicide is actually the leading cause of maternal deaths," she said.

"We've managed to treat infections, we've improved our ability to bring blood pressure down, but we are still battling to get on top of these really serious mental health problems."

However Professor Buist said having a mental illness did not mean you could not parent; it may just mean you needed extra support.