Doula and women's health practitioner Maisie Hill joins Clemmie this week to talk about the birth of her first son, Nelson. Maisie knew from the start that she wanted a home birth in a birthing pool, and that she could use her expertise to help her through pregnancy and labour. Maisie and Clemmie also discuss how an earlier miscarriage impacted the birth, and why she took the unusual decision to not have scans during pregnancy.

Maisie's book Period Power is out now. 

Follow Clemmie's Mother of Daughters account: instagram.com/mother_of_daughters/

Follow Clemmie's Gas and Air account: instagram.com/gasandair/

Birth Stories is produced by Hannah Varrall and created by Off Script

*This podcast is not to replace medical advice. Always speak to your midwife or doctor if you have any concerns. It is recommended by the NHS and the DOH that women are offered routine scans in pregnancy*

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Pre- and post-natal fitness expert Shakira Akabusi joins Clemmie this week to discuss how she managed her OCD, needle phobia and anxiety during her second birth. Shakira’s positive first birth created high expectations for the second, but she had to fight to get the care she needed and struggled to find time to connect with the pregnancy. Clemmie and Shakira discuss mental health provisions in the NHS, what it feels like to have an epidural and the unfair stigma around pain relief in childbirth. They also take a question about having a phobia of blood loss. 

Find out more about Shakira’s campaign at stronglikemum.com

Follow Clemmie's Mother of Daughters account: instagram.com/mother_of_daughters/

Follow Clemmie's Gas and Air account: instagram.com/gasandair/

Birth Stories is produced by Hannah Varrall and created by Off Script.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the first episode of Birth Stories, Clemmie meets the author Francesca Segal. Francesca's identical twin daughters were born prematurely by emergency c-section at 30 weeks, and spent the first 56 days of their lives in a neonatal intensive care unit. Francesca and Clemmie discuss instincts, how it felt to be separated from the babies and what it was like when they finally came home. They also take a question about gender disappointment and how to come to terms with something you didn't expect.

This episode contains discussion about premature births.

Mother Ship by Francesca Segal is out now.

Follow Clemmie's Mother of Daughters account: https://www.instagram.com/mother_of_daughters/

Follow Clemmie's Gas and Air account: https://www.instagram.com/gasandair/

Birth Stories is produced by Hannah Varrall and created by Off Script.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.