INTERSECTION OF MULTIPLE BIRTHS, BIRTH TRAUMA AND PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH Connecting multiple birth parents with a diverse range of organisations that provide support
With
Danya McStein,
Clinical Team Manager
Gidget Foundation Australia
Maddison Granger,
Gidget Angel (patient)
SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney & Tahmoor, NSW | March 2026
Aussie mum Maddi was suddenly thrust into motherhood when her twin girls arrived nine weeks early. Immediately after their traumatic birth, she was rushed into the operating theatre for emergency care. Like many families of multiples, her newborns were taken straight to the NICU, where they remained for two months.
Despite the intensity of her experience – the traumatic delivery, the post‑operative complications and the daily 3‑hour round trips to sit beside her babies in the NICU – not a single healthcare professional checked in on Maddi’s mental wellbeing.
Maddi’s story reflects a broader, often overlooked gap in perinatal care for parents of multiples. Mothers of multiples are five times more likely to experience depression and have triple the rates of anxiety compared to mothers of singletons
Danya McStein is a Clinical Team Manager at Gidget Foundation Australia. She has experience as a psychologist, board-approved supervisor and educator, with a background across clinical practice, wellbeing consulting, university teaching and training facilitation.
Danya spoke with Australian Health Journal about mothers expecting twins showing prenatal depressive symptoms, while postpartum, facing higher risks of clinical exhaustion and postpartum depression.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Maddison (“Maddi”) Granger, the mother of twin girls who experienced perinatal mental health issues following the traumatic birthing experience and a terrifying post-birth operating emergency. She lives in Tahmoor, a town in Wollondilly Shire of the Macarthur Region in NSW, and is a Gidget Angel, with Gidget Foundation Australia.
Source: Supplied and adapted
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Streamlining and centralising training for gastroenterologists
Dr Amit Saha is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist and trained paediatric endoscopist based in Perth. He underwent his higher specialist training in Paediatrics within the NHS in the UK, and sub-specialised in Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology & Nutrition at busy and prestigious centres in London including The Kings College Hospital.
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Australia’s Nursing Crisis Snapshot
“Nursing, already under pressure, is reaching breaking point due to the pressures of COVID-19 and a disjointed healthcare system, including the acute, primary and aged care sectors”, says Kylie Ward, Australian College of Nursing CEO adding, “We must act now to protect our nurses and healthcare; the time has come for a national reckoning on nursing in Australia.”
Australian nurses cannot continue to work under the extreme pressure they are currently operating under – the impacts are mounting.
The almost 400,000 Australian nurses are a constant presence in every one of our major life milestones, national emergencies and global crises. The nurse of today holds a science degree, possesses highly technical training, valuable medical opinions, front-row expertise, is an effective trainer, and is skilled in population and systemic thinking. But the pandemic is inflicting a major emotional and physical toll on nurses.
In this “Perspectives” special, Australian Health Journal spoke with 4 nurses on the challenges they or nurses in their circle have experienced, the key issues as well some of the opportunities. These nurses come from national leadership & policy, large scale workforce management, a final year student completing over a year on placement across 6 Melbourne Hospitals and a NSW based ICU nurse stranded in Mexico, unable to return to a critical role in nursing to an already strained team due to incoming quotas.
While the issues are challenging, there are strategies that can be put into place to ease the pressure, to support nurses, and nursing care in Australia. These are discussed by the the 4 nurses.
– Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN CEO, Australian College of Nursing
– Adjunct Professor Alanna Geary FACN ACN Chair of Workforce Sustainability Policy Chapter & Chief Nursing & Midwifery Officer, Metro North Health
– Natalie Reyes, NSW based ICU Nurse Currently stranded in Mexico
– Hayley Pollock, Final Year Bachelor of Nursing Student & ACN Emerging Nurse Leader
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Caring for community
With a passion for helping people, Carina Fernandes in her final year at Western Sydney University received accolades as a nursing student. Now a recent graduate, having completed her Bachelor of Nursing (Advanced) degree, and recognised as an Emerging Nurse Leader 2021 by the Australian College of Nursing, Carina has her sights set on her new role in healthcare, at the same time keeping sustainability top of mind.
