,Content warning: Death, miscarriage, domestic violence  In this week’s episode we chat to mum of 3 and death doula, Amanda.  Amanda became a mum earlier in life than expected. While she breezed through conception and pregnancy, Amanda’s first birth was not what she had planned for, hoped for, or expected. Despite wanting a natural birth, Amanda agreed to have her first birth induced. After 17 long hours of back to back contractions, she was taken for an emergency c-section. She gave...

8 years ago on a Sunday afternoon, Bree walked down Kel's long drive way for an interview.  After the news that their neurdiverse son was no longer welcome at Before and After School Care, Kel and her husband had been forced to explore other care options.  While the first nanny was okay, the fit wasn't quite right.  18 and with minimal experience with children, on paper Bree was probably not an ideal candidate. In fact, on her first day she had to call her mum to walk her through how to...

In this week's episode we chat to Alix.  Alix is an eldest daughter, a mother to a 4-year-old daughter, a clinical psychologist, and a recovering ‘good girl’. Through both her post-graduate training and clinical experience, and her own lived experiences of being parented and raised in the pursuit of perfect, Alix has become intimately acquainted with the notion of "the good child” and how this presents in the mothering experience. Alix’s own introduction to motherhood was fraught, with her...

Content warning: This conversation involves mild discussion of abusive relationships and the lasting affects  this experience can have on our motherhood journey.  In this week’s episode we chat to Dr. Lisa about the transition from professional woman to mother (and back again).  Lisa is a doctor of public health and has spent her career conducting large scale randomised control studies, publishing in top ranking journals, supervising students up to PhD level, and more.  These days, Lisa...

Content warning: Child physical, emotional and sexual abuse. In this week’s episode we chat to Ebony Uamaki Ebony is an mother of 4 children under 5 (including twins), an intuitive reader and a coach. She is also completely blind.  Ebony has worked with thousands of people around the world sharing her intuition, insights and wisdom. And today she shares them with us.  As you will soon hear, in many aspects of her life, Ebony’s disability has challenged her. Growing up she endured child abuse,...

In this week’s episode we chat to Rachael Rose.  Rachael is a women's circle facilitator, teacher, doula and business woman.  While her business is multifaceted, it is connected by a common thread of wanting to build communities, connect women and offer spaces where mothers feel less alone and more loved. As her business has evolved, she has moved into the business coaching space as well.  In her words: “There is no village to return to, we must create the world we want to see.” Rachael is...

Hello beauties. Welcome back! In this week’s episode Bree and Kel get you up to speed on what has been going on behind the scenes.  What Bree is doing for work and how she is feeling about it, how Kel is navigating this new stage of parenting teens, some updates on the kids, the podcast, and so much more.  This is a vulnerable and imperfect conversation between friends.  We hope it will keep you company and offer some belly laughs when you need it most.  We can’t wait to bring you another...

For many couples, the return to sex after having a baby is slow, bumpy and sometimes even a little bit awkward. Between hormones, fatigue, contraception, changing bodies, unpredictable schedules and feeling touched out, there is a lot to contend with. So whether you are 12 weeks or 12 months postpartum, if you're not having much sex, you're certainly not alone.  In this week's episode we chat to Jo Robertson about sex and intimacy in the postpartum period. Jo has a Master’s of Science in...

Slowly but surely, we are seeing an increased awareness of the need to prepare for birth. More and more couples are investing their time and money into hiring doulas, reading books, writing a birth plan and accessing independent birth education.  We love to see it.  But the truth is, that birth is just one (very very) important day in your motherhood journey.  Once your little one is earthside, the hard work really begins.  And yet we are not seeing the same investment in preparing for the...

In this week's episode, we chat to Keely. Keely is a New Zealand, born Australian raised expert, currently living in the U S as you will, hear, Keely is a bit of a Jack of all trades. She's a military wife, a mother of two, a yoga instructor health coach, and is currently working towards both her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counselling, as well as her certification as an end of life doula. Today Keely shares with us, her two births- one quick ecstatic, very sudden birth in a...

While progress is slow, more and more we are seeing a growing awareness of the term matrescence - What it means, why it matters and how it shapes our experience of motherhood.  We now have a handful of experts, books, blogs, podcasts and social media accounts dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of this powerful rite of passage.  As the women in our community grow in their understanding of matrescence, we are seeing an increased capacity and desire to understand their partner's...

After traveling the world for 8 years straight, Megan returned to Australia single, homeless, unemployed and pregnant. Despite her circumstances, Megan felt calm, confident and optimistic about the journey that lay ahead.  After the birth of her son, Megan returned to TAFE to complete her senior years of high school. This allowed her to gain entry into Curtain University to complete a double degree in financial planning and accounting, and subsequently her CPA. While navigating the challenges...

Regardless of how you enter into motherhood, the experience of matrescence is universal.  Matrescence is powerful, irreversible and will change you to your core.   So the fact that your friendships might also change, should come as no surprise.   And yet, it often does.   The fact is, that the vast majority of women, becoming a mother changes their friendships. Sometimes this will be for the better- letting go of that toxic friendship may be long overdue. But other times it will bring...

  Christmas is the most magical time of the year. Or  is it?  Every year it feels like Christmas costs more. This year, Australians are set to fork out $23.9 billion on everything from presents to pina coladas. But there is another cost that is rarely talked about. The cost of women’s time, energy and sanity.  As Christmas draws near, women are busy working behind the scenes to pull off the work of an entire Christmas village. No Santa's little helpers. No Rudolph. Just a mum who loves her...

In this week’s episode Kel and Bree sit down together to check in, and chat about some big life changes; Building a house, moving, supporting a child with chronic unexplained illness, updates on both Kel’s doula studies and Bree’s midwifery studies, a career change.. or not, how Bree is adapting to life as a mum of two and so much more.  As they wrap up the end of the season, Kel and Bree wanted to strip it right back. No experts, no plan, just an  honest conversation, about the ups and...

In this episode, we talk to Brad and Tabitha Fennel.  Brad and Tabitha are acupuncturists with a thriving clinic on the Gold Coast in QLD, but as you will hear, their work extends far beyond this. In their day to day work, Brad and Tabitha work with couples and individuals, helping them to reconnect with themselves and reconnect with their life.  One of the reasons we sought out Brad and Tabitha as guests is that  we are a big fan of their own podcast: Turn On The Podcast.  Brad and...

In this week’s episode we chat to Sam Foster. Sam is a  Midwife and Lactation Consultant experienced in all areas of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period including lactation and infant feeding. She qualified as a Midwife in the UK in 1997 and worked in the community and the hospital until she emigrated to Brisbane in 2011. Throughout the episode we chat to Sam about her  journey from being a midwife in the UK, to now working exclusively as an IBCLC in Brisbane. Sam also indulges us...

In today’s episode we chat to Laura, an unschooling mama to 3 beautifully wild children.  Throughout the episode we talk about homeschooling and unschooling, including the logistics, the legalities and what the day to day looks like when children are in charge of their own learning.  From here we dive into, what the average parent can learn from the unschooling philosophy (spoiler alert, there is alot).  Regardless of how or where you choose to educate your child/ren, you will play an...

All throughout pregnancy, midwives, GP’s, friends and strangers alike, remind us of the importance of breastfeeding. By the time women give birth, they have well and truly internalized the message that “breast is best.” However, while our society promotes breastfeeding, it does not protect it. Medical interventions, mother-baby separation, inadequate lactation support and paid parental leave, all mean that mothers face an uphill battle in establishing and maintain breastfeeding.  As a...

In this week's episode we chat to Steven Kennedy who is the founder of Birthing Dad's and the PREPARE Foundation.  In his past life, Steven was a sparky, an engineer and an actor.  In 2017 Steven welcomed his little boy into the world.  Despite having invested heavily in birth preparation, Steven recalls this experience as being traumatic for both parents. Born by emergency c-section with an APGAR score of 1, their little boy required extensive  resuscitation and spent the first 12 hours of...

When you are pregnant, it feels as though the whole world wants to weigh in on what you can eat. Or more specifically, what you can’t eat. No coffee, no alcohol, no sushi, no fun. However, once a woman gives birth there is a not so subtle shift from focusing on the mother's wellbeing, to focusing on the baby. New mother's are sleep deprived, healing from birth, recovering from 9 months of depletion and oftentimes providing 100% of a babies nutritional needs. Despite this, postpartum mothers...

In this episode, we sit down with Yara Heary, to talk about the identity shift that accompanies matrescence.  Yara is a Perth Based psychologist who works exclusively with women throughout conception, pregnancy, and motherhood. Yara started Life After Birth Psychology following the birth of her first son which started her on yet another journey of self-rediscovery. Her experiences throughout early motherhood sparked her passion to support other women as they navigate their own family of...

In this week’s episode we talk to Rebecca Cefai from Growing Gently Psychology about all things parenting.  As a registered psychologist with many years of experience working in the childhood development and parenting space, Rebecca was perfectly positioned for a smooth transition to motherhood.  However, like everyone else, motherhood turned her world upside down and she quickly realised that there was a gap between best practice parenting and what was realistic when you were on the...

In this weeks episode we chat to Caitlin Dunsford who is a women’s health physio working across both the public and private sectors in Sydney. Throughout this episode we chat to Caitlin about some of the normal changes that your core and pelvic floor undergo in order to grow and bring a baby into this world, how to take care of your pelvic floor in pregnancy and in the early postnatal period, and how to know when things are not as they should be. We also discuss what a women’s health...