LushTums - The Podcast

Following Alan's story last week here is Lucy's.  She shares her pregnancy experience and why choosing a homebirth with doula support was so important to her.  

This episode was recorded first.  

Clare and Clair listen to Alan's honest and open story about his struggles with infertility and his journey to becoming a father.  He shares this in the hope that he might help others going through a difficult time and what learnings he has taken away.  He discusses his conversion from a homebirth sceptic to supportive Birth Partner and his life as a new Father.  This episode is a companion to Lucy's Birth Story where she shares her perspective in the next episode.   

Find out more about Clare's LushTums Preparing for Birth and Baby Course

https://www.lushtums.co.uk/antenatal-education

OR find a LushTums Teacher near you! 

https://www.lushtums.co.uk/all-locations

The fertility clinic that helped Alan and Lucy

https://agoraclinic.co.uk/

Clare and Clair are joined by Clare's student Katie who tells us about her pregnancy and birth journey and why she decided to have a homebirth.  

Clare Maddalena is joined by Erin Fung from Better Birth to discuss Induction.   (Sorry my microphone was misbehaving!- Clair McGill).   Erin shares her own induction story and how it affected her and ultimately lead her to her work as an Antenatal Educator and Hypnobirthing instructor.  Why is there so little information given about the risks of induction? We talk about what should be discussed if you are being offered an induction, the benefits and the risks as well as the alternatives.  From sweeps to pessaries to syntocinon drip we discuss the methods used and what you can expect.  Erin shares her top 5 tips for a positive birth if you make the informed choice to be induced. 

If you don’t know much about induction and are indifferent or have a “what will be, will be” attitude - you need to listen to this! 

https://www.better-birth.co.uk/

Check out Erin's incredible Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/betterbirthuk

https://doula.org.uk/

Doulas are not just for the wealthy, if you are struggling financially you can apply to Doula UK and they may still be able to support you. 

If you need support after a difficult birth or perinatal experience please get in touch

https://www.lushtums.co.uk/birth-fear-birth-trauma

Erin's Favourite Instagram recommendations

https://www.instagram.com/kemibirthjoyjohnson (check out our episode with Kemi s3.3)

https://www.instagram.com/samanthagadsdendoula/

https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmidwifelisa

https://www.instagram.com/thegreenmidwife

https://www.instagram.com/theserenitydoula

In this very special podcast, we hear from Kemi Johnson about her experiences as a former NHS and former Independent Midwife in the UK.  Kemi is passionate about her role as an experienced birth keeper and asks people to question the care they are receiving. She wants you to expect more, to ask questions and to say “no”.  For those who are not familiar with her amazing social media you are in for an awakening.  If you have always believed that medically managed birth is the safest, this may give you a new perspective.  This episode is going to be a conversation starter for sure! 

https://www.kemibirthjoyjohnson.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kemibirthjoyjohnson/?utm_medium=copy_link

Kemi references: -

Lancet report 2019 and 2020 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30063-8/fulltex

https://www.midwiferytoday.com/mt-articles/preventing-complications-nutrition/

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001670

Kemi’s Top Tips

BONUS - Give birth with people that respect and trust you 

Have you heard of gut health, probiotics, antibiotic resistance?  These are hot topics but how do they relate to birth and our babies.  

Together with her partner Alex, Toni Harman made the documentary film Microbirth asking the question 

Could birth and infant feeding affect a child's long-term health?

It won awards and instigating discussions and changes that are happening today.  Their follow up book “The MicroBiome Effect” brought together more information and questions about what we can learn about the role of bacteria in birth, feeding and our ongoing health.  

Get tickets for the conference happening on 29th & 30th April

https://microbirth.com/the-microbirth-plan/

Find out more about Toni's work 

https://microbirth.com/about/

After a little break, we reflect on some of the episodes we recorded last year.   We have started to record some new podcasts with some wonderful people.  We can't wait to share them with you! 

This episode is for anyone in a long term relationship!  

Dominique is a therapist initially working at Relate supporting couples and families in the UK’s first family counselling service.  She has trained doulas and antenatal teachers all over the world and is author of the book The Seven Secrets of a Joyful Birth.

Although our focus is on navigating the years after bringing a baby into your family we talk about so much more.  Celebrating difference, learning the right way to have an argument and mismatched libidos are all discussed. 

Clare and Clair talk with Kate Woods about her career.  What is a Doula? Why are they important?  We discuss how she started training other Doulas (including Clare) and why she is passionate about providing Doulas for refugees, the birth of Doulas Without Borders and how they are breaking down linguistic barriers to offer even better support with Mother Tongue. 

(This was recorded last year)

https://www.consciousbirthing.co.uk/

https://www.doulaswithoutborders.com/

https://www.mother-tongue-birth.org/

Clare and Clair talk to Obstetrician Dr Victoria Medland about her work, how we can help women and birthing people to have better experiences in hospital, why language matters so much and how her own experiences of motherhood and birthing gave her a new perspective. 

In the UK in 2020/2021 around 46% of Births were by Caesarean or Assisted Delivery (Forceps or Ventouse) *  

https://www.tommys.org/

https://evidencebasedbirth.com/

Dr Sara Wickham https://www.sarawickham.com/

Guidelines on Assisted Vaginal Births

RCOG- https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1471-0528.16092

www.lushtums.co.uk  

We offer specialist Pregnancy Yoga, Postnatal Yoga, Women's Yoga and Antenatal Education classes all over the UK, in Canada, France and Holland.

Enjoy our signature practices to help you be more comfortable in pregnancy and prepare for birth - online, anywhere, anytime:

https://lushtumsyoga.uscreen.io

Fancy a change of career? Sign up for our Teacher Trainings and become a LushTums Teacher too; full details are on the website https://www.lushtums.co.uk/train-with-us

* Reference Childbirth: method of delivery in NHS hospitals in England 2020/21 published Mar 24, 2022