Today’s guest is Hannah, who shares her two births - which could not be more different from each other. Her first son was born when she was 21, and as a young mum Hannah felt she was continually ignored by the medical staff - who denied her pain relief, refused to listen when she said she felt something was wrong with her baby, and left her alone and unable to sit up or hold her baby immediately after birth. Hannah's intuition was right, as her baby was born with a broken arm, something which was continually referred to as 'impossible'. What Hannah went through was extremely traumatic, and whi ..read more

Hello and welcome back to The Real Birth Podcast! This week I chat to Jo, whose daughter was diagnosed with a heart defect at her 20 week scan. This meant she needed surgery very soon after birth, and so Jo and her husband were preparing for an induction in Bristol, where a team of paediatric experts would be on hand. However, Jo's waters broke early and what followed was an incredibly stressful journey to hospital during a bank holiday weekend, where they encountered several major road collisions and more than quadrupled their estimated journey time, all without pain relief. When she arrived ..read more

Hello everyone! Welcome to this special bonus episode of The Real Birth Podcast. I actually wasn't intending to release something so soon after the last episode, but sometimes an opportunity presents itself and it's just too good to pass on! This special episode features Ashley Winning, the host of the VBAC Home Birth Stories podcast. VBAC stands for vaginal birth after caesarean and is a safe and valid choice for most - if not all - women having a subsequent baby after a surgical birth. However it's rare that home birth is encouraged or discussed, and it largely comes down to famili ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Real Birth Podcast! This week my guest is Sabina, who had her baby by caesarean under general anaesthetic, after a long and difficult labour. Sabina's story is important to acknowledge - as after growing up in a family where natural, unmedicated birth was the norm, she felt huge amounts of grief and anger at her caesarean experience - especially given the restrictions placed on her and her husband due to covid.  Sabina has some very raw, honest reflections on what she would now do differently given her knowledge, and some great advice for new parents when it ..read more

Hello and welcome back to The Real Birth Podcast! This week to start the New Year right, my guest is Stefanie, a mother of three from Canada. Stefanie has been a Lamaze® Educator and doula since 2002. After the birth of her second son, Stefanie saw just how valuable it is to be prepared for birth and to have good support around you. Stefanie trained as a childbirth educator and doula, running classes from her basement. Now, over 20 years later, she is the founder of Doula School which offers training for birth and postnatal doulas, as well as prenatal yoga teacher training and doula educa ..read more

Hello and welcome back to The Real Birth Podcast! This week our birth story comes from Hannah, who discovered during her first pregnancy that she has coeliac’s disease. Hannah’s condition presented with almost no symptoms but the implications of having coeliac disease during pregnancy are far more serious than I knew. As well as managing a brand new health condition during her pregnancy, Hannah’s baby was also breech and she had a successful ECV to turn her. At almost 40 weeks, Hannah was involved in a car accident - not ideal for building those lovely oxytocin vibes which kick start labour! T ..read more

Hello and welcome back to The Real Birth Podcast! This week my guest is Laura, who shares the birth story of her son after two heartbreaking miscarriages. Just so you know, Laura and I talk about these losses in depth at the start of the episode, so you can skip a little ahead if you’re not feeling in the right place to listen just now. Laura was encouraged to accept an induction after her waters broke before labour began. Although it’s not something she initially wanted, Laura made the decision to have an epidural to allow her to rest properly. I’ll let Laura tell the rest of her story, and s ..read more

This episode is the final episode of season 2! Thank you to everyone who has listened and supported me this series, it's been an incredible time and the stories I've been able to share have been amazing. To mark the season finale, I'm thrilled to have interviewed Cat Strawbridge, who you may know if you're on instagram in the TTC/IVF/pregnancy after loss space. Cat and her husband started trying for a baby when they got married in 2016, but it was almost a decade of trying, IUI, IVF and pregnancy loss before their beautiful rainbow baby Wren was in their arms. Due to a shortage of beds in her ..read more

This week my guest is Oona, who shares two very different birth stories. Oona planned home births for both her babies, but was transferred to hospital with her first daughter for suspected meconium (that's baby poo!) in her waters, and with her second daughter Oona was admitted to the birth centre for having a rare antibody show up in her blood tests in pregnancy. This meant her baby may need additional care after birth (which no one could predict or know about until the day) and so their plans understandably changed. During her second pregnancy, Oona had a negative experience with her NHS app ..read more

This week's guest is Andrea, whose son Bodhi was stillborn at 30 weeks. Andrea suffers from endometriosis, and after two failed rounds of IVF, Andrea and her husband Sam found themselves unexpectedly pregnant naturally. At just over 29 weeks, Andrea noticed Bodhi had stopped moving, and immediately knew something wasn't right. It is every parent's worst nightmare to be told their baby has died - and this episode is understandably very emotional. After Bodhi's death, she and husband Sam made a conscious choice to live good, full lives in their son's honour - and Andrea went on to donate her bre ..read more