This week’s episode with Adrienne Oliver holds a number of reflections on the experience of Black motherhood. We talk about Black mothering as an act of defiance, engaging in joy as resistance and the cosmic reparations we are hoping to seed through our very existence as a new age of Black mothers. We also unpack the truth and weight of the work and hopes we hold, for our generation and especially our children. I am full of joyful thanks to Adrienne for coming on this journey and sharing such...

At the time when Elena received her daughter’s diagnosis for down syndrome she had doubts, she couldn’t image herself, as a special needs mum, which was heavily influenced by the colouring given to her daughter diagnosis from the medical community. If only that person could see and know all that Elena does now. Four years down the track Elena is now mum to her daughter Wynter with Downs syndrome and her son Nova who is a typically developing child. Elena shares the arch of her journey....

This week I’m talking with Mary Beth La Rue about her journey of awakening, experienced through her transition into motherhood, coming to adopt her son through the foster care system. Mary Beth shares how she came to realise that she wasn’t meant to meet her baby the way she thought she was. Trying to conceive with her husband and then being directed to try fertility treatments it wasn’t until she mentioned the idea of adoption that Mary Beth felt a true spark of excitement at the idea of...

Get ready, In this week’s episode I have the joy to be talking with Lacey Haynes! Unpacking the often unexplored power of the feminine essence, our creativity and sexuality. Lacey unpacks her sacred triangle theory, we talk about the lasting power of language, how our children can often helps us to find the way, defining a new feminine, aligning our energy and intention to reflect our truest selves to the world and the power of the erotic to elevate each aspect of our lives. My curious mind...

In this week’s episode Hollie de Cruz treats us to the births of her two boys, Oscar and Cosmo, how she came to discover the power and science of our bodies and birth through hypnobirthing. A teaching that would not only hold space within her own birth experiences but lay down the path for her future career. Hollie unpacks the ending of her first relationship and the vision she had held for her life at that point in time. Moving forward to the unexpected and incredible trajectory her life has...

This week I have the pleasure of talking with Vean Ima. Having grown up with a large family unit becoming a mother was always something Vean wanted to experience. It was after a long awaited diagnosis of endometriosis and corrective surgery she was told that she wouldn’t be able to conceive and become pregnant. This left her feeling deeply disorientated and devastated. Fast forward a number of years down the track and Vean is now mother to six babies. Vean explores her journey of motherhood...

Today I have the pleasure of capturing Abi’s Smissen’s story of motherhood, who  talks through her journey, beginning in the UK with the birth of her daughter and her current pregnancy, navigating a new maternity system in Australia. Abi opens up about the experience of her first birth, the medical trauma that surrounds it and the complex beginning she had with motherhood. Struggling to connect with her baby but also feeling fiercely protective. It would take the best part of a year and a...

In this episode Bethen Crisdale shares her experiences, reflections and learning on birth, motherhood and the growing into her own power. Having had three very different birth experiences, two miscarriages and fallen into the depths of despair while suffering from Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) Bethen traces the her arch of discovery, coming to love and feel confident in who she is, both as a woman and mother. A journey that has brought her to question and actively challenge the system of...

In this week’s episode I am so excited to bring you the motherhood journey of Aimee Aroha of https://www.instagram.com/ripsnorter/ (@ripsnorter) who opens up about the way her first birth, that at the time seemed golden, but came to see things differently in regards to institutionalised birth and the normalised and often unnecessary interventions that have become part of standard care with deeper education and through the birth of her son. Aimee takes us through her journey, coming to...

Giovanna’s motherhood journey first began with a miscarriage. After taking time to heal and begin to trust her body again Gi was ecstatic to discover she and partner Tom were pregnant again, right before flying to the US to surprise her in laws at Disneyland. A shadow of concern lingered over the first few weeks of her pregnancy, but Gi would go on to have three empowering and very different birth experiences with her sons, Buddy, Buzz and Max. It would take Giovanna five months after...

This week’s I’m lucky enough to get to talk to Zainab Yates who opens up about her birth stories. The first, the birth of her son, was very much planned but proved to be deeply traumatic, with coercive care that resulted in a caesarean birth. Unexpectdly falling pregnant a number of years later Zainab was terrified by the trauma of her first experience and worked hard to cultivate a different outcome for herself and daughter who was born vaginally and provided great healing. Zainab is the...

This week’s guest is Naomi Evans who shares some real truths about her journey, thus far, into motherhood. She opens up about the physical and emotional impact of HG during both her pregnancies, the effect it had on her relationship and her two birth experiences. Naomi also shares how the different stages of her son’s childhood have shifted in the way they impact her own life and self. We also touch on the importance of connection and representation of Black mothers and mixed families. The...

This week I’m in conversation with my dear friend Kezi who opens up about her journey growing into the role of motherhood. Kezi suffered a miscarriage during her first pregnancy and, perhaps not having healed from the experience, came to find it difficult to let her emotions go during her second pregnancy. She was taken by surprise by the massive and overwhelming sensations of birth. The moment when she finally held her son Eden was complicated by the absence of emotions she had expected to...

This week’s episode with Nicola Dellard-Lyle is a truly reflective experience. She takes us on an immersive journey, through her pregnancy, connecting with her partner and baby in preparation for her birth. Her presence within her birth, working through the labour with her partner and baby made for an incredibly powerful and connecting experience. Nicola also takes us through her journey as a responsive and considered parent, having brought their child into their lives, Nicola and her partner...

This week I am talking to Sarah Gwonyoma who has a lot to share and jumps straight in, talking about her ectopic pregnancy and the removal of her fallopian tubes. After meeting her husband to be and moving to Fiji Sarah was surprised by how easily she conceived her son, Isaiah, who was born abdominally in a very supportive and respectful space. This joyful initiation into motherhood was followed by dark and difficult times. Sarah lost her twin pregnancy at around 12 weeks, underwent treatment...

In this week’s episode I’m talking to Cat Strawbridge about her trying years and journey to finally becoming a mum. We talk about the seven years filled with rounds of IUI, IVF. The toll of her mental health, capacity to work and impact on her relationship. Cat endured several miscarriages, including loosing the twin to the baby who was to become her daughter, Wren. Cat opens up about the community of those on a journey trying to conceive and the unique space held by those who are finally...

Laura is mother to two daughters, Mabel and Peggy. Close in age, Laura takes us on her journey of learning, through pregnancy and birth and how the experience of motherhood has provided an awakening of her authentic and creative self that she hadn’t been able to express before becoming a mother.

This week’s guest is the honest and riotous Clemmie Telford. Clemmie opens up after the trauma of her first birth and how that carried into her initial moments of motherhood and propelled her to find a way to do things differently in her subsequent births. We also mange to chat about the way having children impacts your relationship and how Clemmie and her partner Ben switched things up in supporting their family.

Megan from birthed is the guest in this week’s episode of the borntogether podcast. This is a fantastic episode and a great example of how Megan’s inside knowledge of the birth experience within our health care system (gleaned from her train has a midwife) was supported by the tools she developed through hypnobirthing. Facilitating a birth that, though not as she had envisage, proved to be an experience of growth, pride and empowerment. Believing and engaging with the best birthing advice...

Charlie opens up about her first year of motherhood. She discovered a new appreciation and love for herself and body while pregnant. Loving herself for growing someone she loved so much already. Supported by her partner Matt and mother Charlie was able to take the deviation from her ideal birth in her stride and had a very magical labour in hospital. It was the lack of care she received when it came time to deliver her baby boy, being given an episiotomy without consent and being left alone...

Natalie shares her birth stories, beginning with her experience of being a midwife and the way that helped shape the type of birth she wanted to try for. In the end Natalie birth her daughter by emergency c-section, with her daughter needing to be resuscitated and monitored under hospital care. The trauma of this event didn’t make itself known to Natalie in the early days but rather in subsequent years. A number of years later Natalie found herself pregnant again and decided a planned...

Charly shares the story of her first birth and postpartum experience. After the birth of her daughter Etta, Charly found herself going through the motions but not able to connect. She opens up about this experience and how she is now looking to do things differently in her second pregnancy during Covid 19.

Chaneen takes us through her two different birth experiences and talks openly about raising two daughters close in age. This includes her tandem breastfeeding journey and the continued dance in being a mother to our children whilst acknowledging and cultivating our own dreams and development. It was also a surprise to discover that we have both been able to work through breastfeeding aversion and still continue to breastfeed until this day.

Emily takes us through her journey into motherhood, starting with her being diagnosed with Endometriosis and how that affected her ability to conceive naturally, setting her on the path of IVF. After giving birth to her daughter, Foxx, Emily had a difficult but determined beginning to her breastfeeding journey which is still growing strong two years later and inspired Emily to begin training as a breastfeeding consultant. Emily’s story is rich in detail and information and illuminates common...