Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman

Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman episodes:

• 12.14.2023

  Overcoming Birth Trauma: Heather’s Journey to Positive Birth

  In today's episode, I am joined by Heather to dive into her incredible journey from a fear-filled first birth to two positive and empowering experiences. Heather shares her deep emotional work in overcoming the negative feelings from her traumatic first birth...

  
• 12.07.2023

  Celeste’s Journey from Tokophobia to Inner Peace

  Join Celeste on a transformative journey to overcome fears and find peace with childbirth in this emotional and empowering episode.

  
• 11.30.2023

  Periods & Pregnancy: Learning to love your cycle

  In today's episode, I have a thought-provoking conversation with Elizabeth Tidwell, a menstrual cycle coach, as she shares her journey of healing and embracing the power of her menstrual cycle. I wanted to talk about periods because even though they're not...

  
• 11.28.2023

  Solo Parenting: Choosing to Thrive and Finding Balance in Work and Motherhood

  In this episode, we dive into a powerful and inspiring conversation with my guest, Steph Bennet, as she shares her experience of choosing to solo parent. Finding Balance in Work and Motherhood Steph's story is a testament to the strength and resilience...

  
• 11.16.2023

  Birth Culture: Resolving Conflict in the Birth Space, with Jenny Kozlow

  Birth is a profound and transformative experience, but unfortunately, conflicts and disagreements within the birth space can sometimes overshadow the joy and empowerment that should be at the forefront. Navigating Conflict in the Birth Space In this episode of the Fear Free...

  
• 10.26.2023

  From Phobia to Calling: From Fearful Mama to Confident Midwife

  In this episode, I have an incredible story of transformation to share with you. My guest, Jessica, was once plagued with fear when it came to pregnancy and childbirth. However, she conquered her fears and had a positive birth experience...

  
• 10.19.2023

  Spirit Babies: Exploring Fertility and Conscious Conception

  In this episode, my special guest is Emma Moon, a cosmic fertility guide and a spirit baby medium. Emma's unique background includes a Bachelor of Science in nursing and expertise as an integrative health practitioner. She blends both science and spirituality...

  
• 10.12.2023

  How to Measure Healing Progress in Pregnancy and Birth

  Welcome back to Fear Free Childbirth! In today's episode, I want to explore how we can measure healing progress when we're undertaking personal development work, or healing. And in doing so I'd like to share a tool that I think...

  
• 10.05.2023

  Gen Z Anxiety: Navigating Parenthood in Uncertain Times with Dr Lauren Cook

  In today's episode, I'm joined by Dr. Lauren Cook, who will be diving into a topic that affects many parents in the modern era – anxiety in Gen Z. Gen Z Anxiety: Navigating Parenthood in Uncertain Times Dr. Cook, a therapist and...

  
• 09.28.2023

  Postnatal meets Perimenopause with Linda Stephens

  In today's episode, we dive deep into the world of perimenopause and how it intersects with the postnatal period. With so many women waiting until later in life to have children, this is an important topic for women to get their...

  
• 09.21.2023

  From Fearful to Surrogate: Susie’s Story

  In today's episode, I am joined by the incredible Susie Hamilton as she shares her spine-tingling story of transformation from someone who wrestled with tokophobia, the fear of pregnancy and birth, to becoming a surrogate. When Susie discovered this podcast when...

  
• 09.14.2023

  Emetophobia, Fear of Vomit and Pregnancy

  Fear of Vomit and Pregnancy: How to Navigate the Emetophobia in Preparation for Pregnancy and Parenthood Today I am diving into a topic that affects more people than you might imagine - the fear of vomit and pregnancy. The fear of being...

  
• 09.07.2023

  Hidden Pregnancy & Birth Trauma

  The Power of Healing Your Hidden Pregnancy and Birth Trauma In this episode I explore hidden pregnancy and birth trauma. Discover how ancestral trauma can fuel fears and anxieties about pregnancy and birth, even if you've never been pregnant. I also...

  
• 08.31.2023

  How Drumming Enhances Pregnancy and Birth Experiences

  Welcome to another episode of Fear Free Childbirth podcast, where we delve into the incredible realm of childbirth and explore unconventional yet empowering practices. In this episode, I am joined by special guest Sophie Messager, a doula who has integrated drumming...

  
• 08.24.2023

  Conquering Tokophobia & Body Dysmorphia: Ramona’s Story

  In this week's episode, Alexia chats to Ramona, who shares her powerful story of triumphing over tokophobia and body dysmorphia to embrace and enjoy pregnancy. Throughout our conversation, Ramona imparts wisdom on communicating with healthcare providers, finding the right support, and...

  
• 08.17.2023

  Anxiety and Pregnancy

  In this episode of Fear Free Childbirth, I delve into the topic of anxiety and how it affects pregnancy. As someone who has personally experienced anxiety during my own pregnancy journey, I understand the importance of addressing and overcoming these...

  
• 08.10.2023

  Ethnicity Scans and Black Bodied Maternal Health, with Mars Lord

  In this episode, I'm am joined by the incredible Mars Lord, doula and activist dedicated to improving the birthing experiences of black and brown-bodied women. Ethnicity scans for women of colour Mars will shine a light on a pressing issue: ethnicity scans....

  
• 07.27.2023

  Overcoming Tokophobia: Heather’s Journey from Fear to Motherhood

  In this episode of the Fear Free Childbirth podcast, I chat to Heather, who shares her inspiring journey from being tokophobic to becoming a mother of two. Heather never expected to have children but decided to confront her fears for the...

  
• 07.20.2023

  How to have a fear-free childbirth

  Welcome back to the Fear Free Childbirth podcast! After a long break, I'm bringing the podcast back. Fear of birth and pregnancy is a common experience for up to 85% of women, but it is not something to be ashamed of....

  
• 08.22.2022

  How partners can support women during pregnancy & birth, with Souvereign

  The one idea that inspired and motivated me when I started working in the birth and pregnancy space was this: the birth moment is a sacred one that has ripple effects that impacts so many people. The moment of birth creates...

  
• 06.18.2020

  The Psychology of Pain, with Dr Gary Keil

  Pain is interesting. At least I find it interesting. I guess that comes from my work in helping women prepare for pregnancy and birth, because pain comes up a lot! In fact it comes up too much in my opinion....

  
• 06.18.2020

  The psychology of pain

  Pain is interesting. At least I find it interesting. I guess that comes from my work in helping women prepare for pregnancy and birth, because pain comes up a lot! In fact it comes up too much in my opinion. More than...

  
• 05.28.2020

  What’s the story behind the podcast?

  The Fear Free Childbirth and Motherhood podcast is where I help you to lose the fear, anxiety and stress that inevitably accompanies the journey to motherhood. When you listen to this podcast you can expect to listen to me and...

  
• 11.12.2019

  Anxiety in pregnancy

  Anxiety in pregnancy is currently estimated to affect around 15% of women. Through my work in supporting women in preparing for birth and pregnancy, anxiety is something that I see a lot and, dare I say, I think the numbers...

  
• 01.31.2019

  Thomas Verny, Father of Prenatal Psychology

  Prenatal psychology is an area of psychology that looks at the psychological changes that women go through from conception to postpartum. If you're going to better understand your fears and anxieties during pregnancy then I think understanding prenatal psychology is pretty...

  
• 01.17.2019

  7 signs of a woman with tokophobia

  How to tell if you know a woman with tokophobia Tokophobia is the extreme fear of pregnancy and birth. It’s not very well known and yet it can affect a lot of women. This extreme or pathological fear of birth is...

  
• 11.01.2018

  The Maternal Brain, with Jodi Pawluski

  Today's podcast is all about the maternal brain and the neuroscience of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting. A few months back I shared an article about the maternal brain on my Facebook page and it went a bit nuts. It's since...

  
• 10.25.2018

  Pregnancy Body Changes

  Worrying about pregnancy body changes is something most pregnant women worry about. Whether it's the expected changes in the shape of your body as pregnancy progresses, to the least expected changes that might happen as a result of birth complications...

  
• 10.18.2018

  Preparing for Motherhood, with Sophie Brigstocke

  In today's podcast episode I'm honoured to be joined by Sophie Brigstocke. Sophie won Doula of the Year in 2017, so this is a real treat - my second Doula of the Year guest! As well as being a doula, Sophie also...

  
• 10.11.2018

  Fearless Birthing

  The Fear Free Childbirth podcast is back! After a year off, I'm back... lots of great episodes coming too! In this episode, I talk about my new book, Fearless Birthing. I get lots of emails asking what reading people should do,...

  
• 07.06.2017

  Breastfeeding, with Cindy Leclerc

  Breastfeeding is not something you might expect to do your research on while pregnant, but there is certainly a lot of value in preparing yourself as much as you can while you have the time and space to do so....

  
• 06.29.2017

  Essential Steps of Birth Preparation

  Birth preparation is a huge part of preparing for a positive birth. Lots of women don't appreciate why doing birth preparation is so important with many leaving it last minute. The truth is if you want to stack the odds...

  
• 06.22.2017

  Conscious Conception and Pregnancy, with Jane Jennings

  I'm a huge fan of conscious conception and pregnancy and I believe that taking a conscious and deliberate approach to your journey from pregnancy to motherhood is the gold standard to aim for. But I also know that not everyone...

  
• 06.15.2017

  Gentle C-Section, with OB, Andy Simm

  Caesareans are often feared by women going into birth, but there's a new trend coming through that could hope to reduce that somewhat. The gentle c-section otherwise known as the natural caesarean is a much softer approach than the usual...

  
• 06.08.2017

  The Psychology of Pregnancy, with Leah Butler-Smith

  The psychology of pregnancy doesn't often get discussed and I don't know why, so today I'm remedying that. Pregnancy and the journey of motherhood are such a huge time of change that it's no wonder that there are psychological implications. The...

  
• 06.01.2017

  Placenta Encapsulation, with Maria Pokluda & Maryn Taylor

  Placenta encapsulation might not be something you know too much about. So, I thought it was about time I covered this on the podcast because many women report that placenta encapsulation can help them emotionally in the postpartum period. Consuming your placenta...

  
• 05.25.2017

  A tokophobia birth story; Cee Fee’s Positive Birth

  Today I'm sharing a fabulous positive birth story on the podcast. It's fabulous because it's positive and empowering birth, obviously. But also because it's a tokophobia birth story. I'm joined today by Cee Fee Dunn who admits to being completely terrified...

  
• 05.18.2017

  Essential Oils in Pregnancy, with Amber Duncan

  Using essential oils in pregnancy can be a bit of a minefield. There is so much confusion as to what you can and can't use that it can be stressful. So I knew I had to do an episode on...

  
• 05.11.2017

  Recurrent Miscarriage, with Naava Carman

  Today on the podcast I'm tackling yet another important - but not talked enough about - topic; the recurrent miscarriage. Baby loss is taboo enough as it is, but recurrent miscarriage is even more so, and neither should be. To help...

  
• 05.04.2017

  Being pregnant with PTSD

  This week it's maternal Mental Health Matters Awareness Week here in the UK and to honour it, I'm delighted to be talking to Susanne Grant about being pregnant with PTSD, birth trauma or baby loss. Not long ago Susanne found herself...

  
• 04.27.2017

  How to have a happy birth, with Beverley Turner

  On today's podcast I'm joined by journalist and radio presenter (and now best-selling author!) Beverley Turner. Bev is also the lady behind The Happy Birth Club ante-natal classes that are run out of a pub in Chiswick, London. I first heard...

  
• 04.20.2017

  Save the midwife

  It's time for a rallying cry "Save the midwife!". I've talked about this already on the podcast, but this week, I'm giving it focus. Save the midwife is a campaign that needs support and not just here in the UK,...

  
• 04.13.2017

  Pregnancy as a rite of passage, with Charlotte Kanyi

  Our pregnancy journey has the potential to be one of the most transformative and expansive periods in our lives, and I don't just mean in terms of our body! The opportunity for personal growth is huge, and yet this important...

  
• 04.06.2017

  Taking responsibility for your birth

  In today's episode I want to talk about taking responsibility and share with you something that happened to me last week that was a huge wake-up call. It's not exactly birth related but it is ... [spp-player] Last week I had a...

  
• 03.23.2017

  Looking after your Pelvic Floor, with Anita Lambert

  Your pelvic floor is one of those things that you take for granted before giving birth. It's just there. Then you give birth and it's not! After my first pregnancy, I went to a weekly buggy workout where we were...

  
• 03.16.2017

  Childbirth Self Efficacy with Sophie Fletcher

  Today we're talking about childbirth self efficacy. I'm taking a deeper look into the psychology of birth with birth expert and best-selling author, Sophie Fletcher. In this episode we're going to be talking about what childbirth self efficacy is, why...

  
• 03.09.2017

  Why the ‘winging it’ birth plan sucks, with Shalome Stone

  Today I'm thrilled to be joined on the podcast by Shalome Stone from Rockstar Birth Magazine. [spp-player] When Shalome and I first chatted, it took us a while to figure out what we'd focus on for our pocast chat because we could've...

  
• 03.02.2017

  Expecting Multiples with Mars Lord

  If you're expecting multiples then today is your turn! I can't tell you how many times I receive emails from mamas expecting multiples asking.. no BEGGING.. me for podcast episodes for them and believe me when I say this: I...

  
• 02.23.2017

  Cord Clamping – Why we need to Wait for White, with Amanda Burleigh

  Cord clamping is something that you might not even think to consider when it comes to your birth plan, but let me tell that it most definitely is. In today's podcast I want to help you to undersrtand why delayed...

  
• 02.09.2017

  When all your worst birth fears come true

  [spp-player] Imagine if all your worst birth fears came true. What kind of birth experience would that be? It would be easy to think that this could be the most terrifying birth experience ever. And for some it might well be, but in...