In this episode I speak with Tessa, a specialist mental health midwife in the UK and she’s sharing the birth of her son Roo with us. Tessa shares her journey to becoming pregnant, experiencing a miscarriage scare around 7 weeks gestation and experiencing antenatal anxiety. Tessa planned for a midwife-led birth centre birth at the hospital where she works and she shares how the system works over there. Her waters broke at 38+5 and when it was time to push, baby presented OP (posterior) but she...

In this episode we hear Silvana sharing her two births with us. Her firstborn, Aurora, was born via emergency c-section at 35 weeks and was born with complications that led to her passing away at 8 days old. Silvana generously shares her experience going through loosing her daughter and how she and her partner managed. We talk a lot about how important it is to share stories of loss to remove the taboo that surrounds talking about miscarriage, stillbirth and baby loss. Silvana also shares...

In this episode we hear both parents, Marisa & Kes, tell the birth story of their little boy Aldo. Before having Aldo they experienced a miscarriage just shortly after the baby was diagnosed with Trisomi 13 and they both share their perspective of going through that tough time together. When they were expecting Aldo, COVID-19 hit and they share how it was going through pregnancy, birth and postpartum during that uncertain time, especially because they were going back and forth between...

‘I was watching myself from above and just kind of observing the sensations instead of feeling it as pain’ ‘The things that I have control over are my breathing, my affirmations & my visualisations and also my movement’ In this episode we hear Rachael sharing the births of her two little ones; her daughter was born in Melbourne, Australia and her son was born in her home country of New Zealand. Rachael shares her experiences going through pregnancy, birth and postpartum in two different...

In this episode we hear Anja sharing the birth story of her little boy Frederik. Anja and her husband Pavel tried for several years to have a baby and Frederik was finally conceived naturally when they last expected it. We will hear how it is going through pregnancy and birth in Germany while also going back and forth to Czech Republic for work and family. Towards the end of the pregnancy, Anja had to have more scans because Frederik was a little bit small and they found a profusion on the...

In this episode Samar shares her two births with her little girls, Sára & Lea. With Sára, Samar had an eventful pregnancy, starting with the first scan showing markers for Downs Syndrome which turned into being nothing in the end. She experienced hyper-thyroidism and didn’t gain much weight and ended up being hospitalised for about a week at 30 weeks gestation. Samar was induced around Sáras due-date and went through a long labour that in the end turned into an emergency c-section under...

Marie is a mother of 4 kids (Kristian, Luisa, Johan & Bohdan) and an entrepreneur and business owner of czechcourses.cz which she has been running since her first pregnancy all alongside being a mother. We talk about how it is chasing your dreams as well as stepping into motherhood and Marie talks us through all her 4 births. With her first, she went overdue and had an episiotomy during delivery. She shares having trouble establishing breastfeeding and how she wishes that someone would...

In this episode we hear Bori sharing the birth of her little girl Liza in Prague, Czech Republic. Before getting pregnant with Liza, Bori experienced miscarriage and describes how that journey went for her and her partner. We have an important discussion about daring to talk about pregnancy loss and miscarriage these days because so many women go through it on their own. After getting pregnant with Liza, Bori changed her care provider to a private one for a bit more personalised care and had...

In this episode we hear Vinuta sharing her two birth stories from the Czech Republic with us. Vinuta is from the UK and her husband is Ukrainian and both of her births took place in Prague. In her first pregnancy, she shares her journey dealing with a severe case of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (severe morning sickness) and having to be hospitalised and how she dealt with that. Due to undiagnosed gestational diabetes, she lost her little boy at 39 weeks and experienced a stillbirth via c-section....

In this episode we hear Katie sharing her birth story with her little girl Edie Rae in London, UK. Katie shares the journey to becoming pregnant and how it was deciding to make space for a baby in her life. Katie went through pregnancy during lockdown in 2020 and talks about the importance of community and family support and how she was able to find her way through all of that. We discuss how it is to have wishes and plans for how pregnancy, birth and postpartum will go and how that reflects...

In this episode we hear Maike telling the birth stories of her two little ones, Tjada & Tammo in Prague, Czech Republic. Make is German and her partner is Czech and they opted for a hospital birth, registering at Podoli Maternity Hospital. They also hired a midwife to support labour at home as long as possible and to follow them to the hospital in the role of a doula. Maike found that the transfer to the hospital slowed labour down a lot and needed some help to get it going again and was...

In this episode we hear Rowan telling us the birth story of her little boy Noor in the US. Rowan and her partner are both Egyptian and live in Cairo, but due to the uncertainty of the future in Egypt they wanted Noor to have another citizenship so that he could choose his own way once he is an adult. So after consideration, they chose to go to the US and give birth there. Rowan talks about and compares the care she received in Cairo vs in the US and the different approaches from her doctors...

In today’s episode we hear Lorraine sharing her two birth stories with her little ones, Coen and Esme in the UK. We hear her talk about getting a bit of help to get pregnant, using preparation methods such as Hypnobirthing and the Gentle Birth Method and going to Pregnancy Yoga. After giving brith to Coen, Lorraine experienced postpartum depression and Coen got diagnosed with reflux, but it took a little while to get the diagnosis so they had a difficult time postpartum. Lorraine shares how...

In this episode we hear from Corinna, sharing her birth story with her little girl Matilda in Czech Republic. Corinna is German and her partner is Czech and she had an induction at 41+3. Corinna shares her insights on how it was going through an induction in a hospital setting in Prague and what kind of support she received along the way. We briefly also talk about the difference in care during the pandemic and what could be expected with birth partners etc. Corinna had a lovely time...

*Trigger-warning: Today’s episode contains details of an abusive relationship. If you are not in a good place to listen to this today, then I would recommend skipping this episode. Zuzka shares the story of her son Marek’s journey through pregnancy, birth & postpartum. Zuzka was in a mentally abusive relationship with Marek’s father, but decided to leave halfway through her pregnancy. She moved back to Prague and found support in her family and friends and her new partner here. As things...

In this episode we hear from Rebecca and she’s sharing the birth story with her little girl Fern. Rebecca and her partner went through a long conception journey with IVF and experienced loss and grief along the way to finally get pregnant with Fern. Rebecca’s generously shares her story, which is a journey of strength, of perseverance and finally of really allowing ourselves to grieve the things that didn’t go our way and that it is so important that we talk about it. She shares how it was...

In this episode we hear from Karina, a yoga teacher originally from the UK who’s been living in Czech Republic for over a decade. Karina and her partner had trouble conceiving when they decided to start a family and ended up turning to IVF for help on their journey to parenthood. She shares a few losses along the way and how it was going through IVF both in the UK and through a couple of different clinics in Prague. She ended up with two beautiful boys and we discuss the differences between...

In this episode we hear from Kat and she’s sharing her two very different birth stories with us. Her first, with her daughter Lyra, it took a while to conceive and when pregnant, Kat was starting to feel really low and only later did she realise that she experienced prenatal depression. She had an hospital birth, with epidural and 30 hour long labour. There was plenty of medical interventions from medical professionals who we discuss didn’t really know how to address and support a woman in...

In this episode we hear from Lucie sharing her first pregnancy and birth with her daughter Freya in the UK. Lucie is originally from the Czech Republic but lived many years in the UK. She is now back living in Prague where she works as a hypnobirthing teacher. Hypnobirthing is a practice that aims to teach that all women deserve to experience the kind of Birth that they hope for, regardless of it being a natural, induced or a C-section birth. No birth is the same, and sometimes things don't...

Vaya shares the birth of her daughter Maria that took place in Podoli Maternity Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic. Vaya was pregnant and gave birth during the pandemic and shares insight in how her care was provided during that delicate time. They found out that Maria was in breech position and that she was also struggling to gain weight so she was delivered via a planned C-section. Vaya praises the care that she received and we also discuss some of the hardship in not being able to...

In this episode, Sascha shares her daughter Greta’s birth story with us from Stockholm, Sweden. Shea had a fast birth and even though she didn’t plan for a home birth, she ended up giving birth in her apartment just before the ambulance arrived. Sascha also shares her journey to becoming pregnant, and we discuss how maternity leave and pregnancy care looks like within the Swedish system. Listen in for a wonderful birth story that’ll keep you at the edge of your seat for a bit!

Stephanie shares her birth stories with her two little boys Sebastian & Max in Dubai, UAE. Her first birth, with Sebastian, was a natural, vaginal breech delivery and Stephanie shares how it was like finding a doctor and a support system that allowed her to try for a natural birth with a breech baby. With Max, Stephanie shares a precipitous birth in the car in front of the hospital and dealing with loosing lots of blood and having to be put under general anaesthesia so shortly after Max...

In today’s episode we hear from Polina, who shares her two birth stories with her two little boys Teo & Imro in Geneva, Switzerland. Polina is Russian and her husband is Czech and she shares a lot of comparison between how the system works in all these places. She shares her experience with early miscarriage and a bumpy ride to conception and having to courage to make your own choices and listening to your gut-feeling as a mother. Polina is a straight forward woman who doesn’t sugarcoat,...

Sharka shares the births of her two sons with us, the first one took place in Dubai, UAE, almost 20 years ago and the second one in Manila, the Philippines a couple of years later. Sharka, originally from Czech Republic, is a yoga teacher who has travelled and lived all over the world with her family and shares valuable insight in how it is giving birth and inning proper support in countries that were not her native. Tune in to hear Sharks calm voice guide us through her beautiful stories of...

Zsófi shares her birth stories with her two little ones, Ingrid and Bruno in Prague, Czech Republic. Zsófi is Hungarian and her partner Paul is German and she shares going through pregancy, birth and postpartum in the Czech Republic, while trying to learn the language and the customs around birth there. She ended up having an emergency caesarean with Ingrid, under general anaesthesia, and shares her journey of emotionally trying to process that birth postpartum. When getting pregnant for the...