How to Grow a Parent: The pregnancy, birth & postnatal podcast

Today I’m talking to Whitney Lodge. Whitney is a naturopathic nutritional therapist and yoga teacher. I met Whitney when she booked onto a Mindful Birth course with me at Birch. 

Although conceived naturally, her twin pregnancy was classed as a ‘high risk’ pregnancy, which triggered a deep dive into nutrition and the mind body connection, and how she could optimise her health to ensure a safe and healthy full term pregnancy and birth. 

 As a passionate believer in holistic healing, Whitney’s ambition is to educate and empower others to experience a sense of vitality through optimum nutrition & lifestyle. 

We chat about Whitney's experience of:

• Carrying monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins – which are automatically considered as a high risk pregnancy
• Why she enlisted the support of a prenatal doula
• Preparing for the births & making informed decisions
• The highs and challenges of life as a new mum of twin boys
• How Whitney makes time for herself when not being a mum, a partner or working by using Transcendental Meditation

You can find Whitney on Instagram here
Or on her website here 

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Michael and Wes, who as well as being wonderful parents to their children are also founders of the very successful parenting-related organisations, Two Dads UK, My Surrogacy Journey and The Modern Family Show. As their TwoDadsUK Instagram profile describes them they are ‘Boss Dads Campaigning for Change’ 

We chat about their experiences of:

• Becoming parents through UK surrogacy
• The birth of their 1st baby and navigating a health system not built for surrogacy
• The birth of their 2nd baby, at the same hospital where policies where updated to be inclusive of the whole birthing team
• The transition from 1 to 2 children
• The challenges they face as parents/successful business owners/a couple and how they make sure they make time for themselves too

You can find Michael and Wes as TwoDadsUK on Instagram here
My Surrogacy Journey here
The Modern Family Show here

Or their website here.

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Sammy Cox from Exhale Birthing & Beyond.

Sammy is a Mindful Birth teacher based in Exeter in Devon. We chat about Sammy's experience of:

• Feeling a severe fear of childbirth 
• The things she did to overcome this fear
• Opting for a home birth (and the midwife getting lost!)
• Reflections on her first postnatal period vs. what she did the 2nd time around
• Dealing with the challenges of her little one having silent reflux
• Supporting parents with their birth preparation- for both mind and body

You can find Sammy on Instagram here
Or on her website here 

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This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide birth, baby and postnatal preparation courses for expectant parents in-person and online. The unique courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by educating you on your options, what to expect and how to navigate unexpected turns. While sharing practical mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

Parents say that the group and private courses were everything they needed to prepare for this new chapter in their lives.

You can see all of the course options and book a group, private or online self learning course here.

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Emma Riley from Ready Prep Birth.

Emma is a Mindful Birth teacher based in the Leighton Buzzard area of Bedfordshire. We chat about Emma's experience of:

• Hyperemisis gravidarum during her pregnancies
• Home birth
• Postnatal & breastfeeding challenges
• Becoming a Mindful Birth teacher

Here are the links we promised to share:

• The Lancett review on home birth here
• Emma's blog on HG here

You can find Emma on Instagram here
Or on her website here 

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Lucy Sharpe from Days & Dream Sleep consultancy.

Lucy has worked as a nanny for 20 years and an experienced sleep coach for 6 years.

We cover Lucy's intuitive approach to sleep coaching and how being a mum has and hasn't impacted the way she supports families.

A really helpful listen to anyone in the early weeks, months and years!

You can follow Lucy on Instagram here. 

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Ashley is a Mummy, a Presenter, DJ, Dating & Empowerment Coach and a much loved Instagram Influencer. 

She also has her own podcast called Mum’s the word, The parenting Podcast, which I highly recommend listening to!

Ashley and Tommy took a Mindful Birth course with me at around 35 weeks of pregnancy in the crazy year that was 2020 and it’s been wonderful seeing them grow and navigate life as a family.

We cover:

• Becoming a mum during lockdown
• Returning to work
• Body image and nourishment post birth
• Setting boundaries for both personal & professional life
• 50/50 parenting
• Newborn vs toddler stage

Follow Ashley on Instgram here.

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Clare is a pelvic health physiotherapist with a passion to support women and men throughout their lives. 

Clare and I chat about her journey to becoming a mother, how her work impacts her parenting and vice versa and what she would say to her pre-children self, now she knows what she know!

Specific topics we cover are:

• Clare's diagnosis of hypothalamic amenorrhea
• Hospital & home birth
• Postnatal recovery
• Being open with children about anatomy

You can follow Clare on Instagram @clarebournphysio
Or visit her website for more on pelvic health here

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Zoe Cresswell, who you may know from her brilliant podcast, Motherhood Exposed. 

We talk about Zoe's experiences of:

• Living in Dubai with her young family
• Secondary infertility & miscarriage
• Her professional life as a midwife, PT, doula & podcaster

Links we mention on the podcast:

• More on Zoe's secondary infertility experience here
• Motherhood Exposed podcast here
• Zoe's Instagram here
• Robo-Babies book here

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Kicki Hansard. 

Kicki is an award winning doula, author, and founder of the Birth Bliss Academy and The Doula Directory and is CEO of The Doula Association.

Kicki has trained over 1000 doulas, me being one of them! and I am so happy to welcome her here on the podcast today to hear more about her own parenting journey which is heavily influenced by her Swedish roots, and how she supports doulas and parents in their own unique growth stories.

We cover Kicki's experience of introducing siblings to each other, respectful parenting, the postnatal period and lots more.

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I’m talking to Liv Thorne: Solo mum, author and also known as @Livsalone on Instagram.

Liv is warm, funny and entirely open about all of the steps she has taken to become a mum to her gorgeous son Herb, how her life has changed and how she's adapted to these changes. This episode will be insightful for anyone thinking about or currently embarking on a solo parenthood journey, but (and this goes for her book too!) so many of the experiences and thoughts Liv shares also apply to all kinds of family set ups because let's face it, kids don't read the parenting manuals- it doesn't matter who the parent is!

Liv's Alone: Amateur Adventures in Solo Motherhood is the title of her incredibly insightful, funny and emotional memoir in which she shares her full journey so far on becoming a solo mum.

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:

Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup

Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)