The First Six Months

The Scummy Mummies join me for the final episode of The First Six Months with their usual good humour, epic tales and no shits given. What a way to go out. 
Thanks for listening and may your first six months be a beautiful one, whatever's going on.

  https://www.scummymummies.com/ 

Neave, Joanie and Vicki have been my pals since our babies were a few months old. We get together whenever we can and here we managed to send our partners off with the bigger babies so we could have a chat about our First Six Months together and their second six months. 

Wonderful to reconnect with an old pal, Jess, who lives in Paris with her Brazilian partner. What a fantastic conversation, exploring navigating being mother in a family of multiple cultures.  

A delightful conversation with actress extraordinare Steph Parry on going back into rehearsal three weeks post partum, whilst then touring the whole of Asia with Mamma Mia, playing the lead part. We had so many moments of laughter in this episode, as well as navigating feelings of failure, postnatal depression and trying to do what's right by your family when your job asks you to travel. 

In this episode, we discuss Mary's experience as a new mother, sharing her journey from pregnancy through childbirth and the first 11 months with her baby. Mary, a psychotherapist who had long wanted to become a mother, described her 4-day labor process, including the physical challenges and eventual need for an epidural, as well as her decision to rest intensively for about 10 days after giving birth. They discussed the importance of social support, including a WhatsApp group with other new mothers and a parent center in Edinburgh, and Mary reflected on advice she would give her past self, particularly about balancing self-care activities and allowing her baby more independent time.

*Content Warning* We talk about premature birth and haemorrhaging so perhaps not an episode to listen to if you are anxious about birth. Great one to listen to if you are, yourself, in the midst of a first six months in the NICU.

Thanks to Shari for sharing her story and reminding us that even when it isn't plain sailing, there can be hope and there can be laughter.

A delicious conversation with Helen Foster about becoming a mother, rules we place on ourselves and failing. Accept the fail!

Chine McDonald has many hats and she wears them well. However, during those first six months, she had to figure out which hats to wear, when. This is a brilliant episode for any 'highlighter girls' out there - the kinda of person who might be looking to get an A* in motherhood. We unpack the many mysteries around where our unconscious ideals might be coming from, as well as visiting Chine's first six months which included forceps, A&E, Bursitis, so much love and a poonami in a Board Meeting. 

You can follow Chine on Instagram @chine_mcdonald and her book Unmaking Mary is on sale now. Her podcast Motherhood vs The Machine is also worth a listen. 

After reading Mother Animal by Helen Jukes I KNEW we would have such a fantastic conversation about all things pregnancy and matrescence. Helen was a wonderful guest and we get right into it about what the animal kingdom has to teach us about our still pretty victorian birth and parenting practises. We discuss everything from chaos and structure, baboons, the use of the phrase 'baby brain' and why we love bats. 

You can find Helen on Instagram @helen.jukes and her book, Mother Animal, is out now in the UK.

Elizabeth Oldfield is one of my wisest pals and I am so glad she agreed to come on The First Six Months. We talked about leading a ThinkTank whilst being secretly pregnant (spoiler:no one noticed), the pros and cons of having a Midwife for a mother and missing that soft, soft baby. 

Elizabeth is the host of @sacred_podcast - an exploration in talking to people different than ourselves.