This week we are welcoming Kerri back to the podcast! You may remember Kerri as the woman behind the local business, Buddy Bags.

This time, we are switching gears and talking about Kerri's experience of being a Mum to identical twin boys- do Kerri and her husband Adrian ever get the boys mixed up? Do the boys have similar personalities or are they complete opposites?

Kerri takes us through her pregnancy, giving birth to premature twins and recovering, and having to leave hospital without her babies on her first Mother's Day.

We also talked about the dreaded Mum guilt, mental health after babies, and swapped stories of how we each coped with the huge changes that take place with having a baby.

On this week’s episode we are talking to Martha from Martha Grace Birth Photography.

Martha is so passionate and absolutely loves what she does, and her birth photography work is just breathtaking!

We talk about how she got started in the business, why she chose birth photography as her primary focus, why she’s never photographed a C-section birth, as well as another one of her passions she’s re-visiting now that her own children are in school (and it’s such a good one!). We also answered a few questions that were sent in for Martha on social media- including one regarding medical coercion.

“Only bad mothers get postnatal depression, if you were a good mum why would you be sad?”

Yep, this. This was my mindset before I had any kids. How naive was I?!

This week is part 2 of our honest discussion around mental health after having a baby.

It’s no secret that I’ve struggled with my mental health after having children. A number of things play a part in it- hormone imbalances, circumstances around pregnancy and birth, sleep deprivation, childhood trauma, genetics. It’s so bloody common and there’s still so many of us that suffer in silence because we don’t feel safe enough to say “hey, this fucking sucks right now” or “yea, I screamed at my baby today”

But- there is light at the end of the tunnel. I promise.

You are not broken.

You are not your illness.

Things will get better.

Things will feel a bit easier.

You will sleep again.

The babies will sleep again.

You will find joy in the small moments.

Yes, there will still be plenty of days where it’s unbearable.

But remember, you’ve made it through 100% of your worst days so far. Please just hold on.

On this week’s episode, myself and Simone, one of our local Mums will share our separate experiences with postnatal depression. This episode may be difficult to listen to, for some. It’s very raw and honest, not the polished or airbrushed version we see on social media so often these days.

We discuss and make admissions about things that we know every mother has experienced, but so many of us hesitate to share.

If you are triggered by discussion around topics such as severe postnatal depression, suicide ideation and mum rage it might be better to sit these episodes out. But, if you are able to, I really recommend listening to both episodes around this topic because they are so bloody important. It is a huge deal to share our stories- especially these ones...

We are starting off the year with a very motivating episode with the lovely Kirra!

Fitness With Kirra is a local business providing group fitness classes, and today Kirra takes us through what a typical class looks like, why she encourages Mums to bring their babies & children along, how she caters to the different abilities of her clients, and her approach to exercise and fitness.

We go a bit deep on this episode too, with Kirra touching on her own experiences postpartum and the very important lessons those experiences have taught her.

This week we are welcoming Dani back to the podcast. You’ll remember Dani as the Wonder Woman from our Quad Care episode.

This time, Dani shares her experience of giving birth to her youngest child, Milo.

Dani takes us through her very quick birth, advocating for herself and her husband Zac in hospital (right smack in the middle of all those Covid restrictions!), those early days in the newborn fog, the beautiful relationship her sons have with each other, how cheeky Milo is and some of his hilarious shenanigans!

This week's holiday revisit is one of our most popular episodes where we sat down with Harriet to chat about her experience as a first time Mum to Billy!

Harriet takes us through what she thought motherhood would be like vs what it’s actually like and the unexpected turn her birth took, among other things!

Harriet has this contagious positivity and is a ripper of a storyteller. There’s some parts of this episode that will have you cracking up just like I was!

This week's holiday revisit is one of our most popular episodes - Buddy Bags!

Kerri does such important work in our community, and it wouldn’t be possible for the team at Buddy Bags to do what they do without the generous support they get from our local community.

In this episode, Kerri takes us through how Buddy Bags came to be, why she finds this kind of work so fulfilling, and how our wonderful community supports Buddy Bags. We also talk about the massive goal Buddy Bags has recently achieved!

Ok, I know I said last week was our last episode but SURPRISE!

These bonus episodes come out monthly and they are a 10 minute dose of lighthearted musings fresh from the brain of my 4 year old 😍

It’s our last bonus episode for the year, and this time we cover sea creatures, mermaids, what the cheeky elves have been up to in our house, the sadness of finishing kindy forever (including her compliments for her teachers 😂), how she’s feeling about starting big school and more!

She also had some great advice for me about her brother!

Over the Christmas break we are going to revisit some of our most popular episodes.

Today's revisit is Jessie's experience finding out during pregnancy that her baby had a large hole in her heart.