Our birthing scars stay with us forever.

Abdominal scars from caesarean sections run deep.

Layers of various tissues need to heal and lay down scar tissue, and this scar tissue has an effect on overall health.

With the caesarean section rate so high, there will be many mothers living with abdominal scars. This episode is for you, and for your care givers.

Understanding your scar and how it can affect your health is an important part of recovery.

Learning to care for our scars will help us return to vitality.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• how scar tissue forms
• what adhesions are
• how to care for your scar in the first 6 weeks after birth
• how massage helps
• how scars impact health

Jo can be found at https://www.joanna-anderson.co.uk/

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode Suzanne speaks with Tami Lynn Kent. 

Tami is a holistic women’s health care provider with a master’s degree in physiotherapy, advanced training in multiple bodywork techniques, and the ability to read energetic patterns of the body. She is the creator and founder of Holistic Pelvic Care™, and she runs a training program in this from Portland Oregon (where she lives) and also travelling internationally to train practitioners around the world.

Tami’s work helps women to understand the wisdom that is in their pelvic bowl, and to work with the healing – or the medicine – that this understanding brings. She is also the author of 3 books - Wild Feminine, Wild Creative, and Wild Mothering.

Listen to this episode to find out about

• how Tami developed Holistic Pelvic Care™
• recognising patterns of blockage and flow in the body in the pelvis for health
• including ovaries and womb as part of pelvic medicine
• the power of the medicine in the pelvic bowl
• how Tami began to use energy work alongside physical work
• birth field energetics
• healing the birth field when the birth is interrupted or traumatic
• how to mother without becoming depleted
• mothering in a patriarchal culture
• mothering as a creative act
• connection between the heart and the womb
• reconnecting the love and creativity for mothering
• how tuning in to the support of the Great Mother energy (Earth) can help with modern mothering
• reasons why accepting imperfection in mothering is important
• tapping into ancestral wounding and strengths
• effective ways of using worry in motherhood
• using blessings in motherhood

Tami's work, courses and books can all be found at www.wildfeminine.com

Her Ted talk The Vagina Whisperer: Moving from Shame to Honour in the Female Body can be found on YouTube

If you are interesting in training in-person with Tami in Scotland, please contact Suzanne at MotherHeal

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

Have you considered having a home birth?
A few generations ago, birth was moved from primarily the home into the hospital. We are now facing record high numbers of medical interventions in birth including caesarean sections and instrumental deliveries. The research is clear that for "low risk" pregnancies home birth is just as - if not more - safe than hospital birth.

Home birth is on the rise in Scotland, but still only makes up just over 1% of all births. Why?
In this episode Suzanne speaks with women who have recently given birth at home, midwives who work in a dedicated home birth team, and the Chief Midwifery Officer for Scotland to explore the reality of home birth in Scotland.

We discuss

• reasons for choosing a home birth
• having your first baby at home
• home birth to avoid the cascade of intervention
• using hypnobirthing, and how that works well with home birth
• government strategy supporting choice of place of birth
• how midwives work in a dedicated home birth team
• what the midwifery care is like for a home birth
• how choosing a home birth results in less fragmented care
• practicalities of preparing for a home birth
• pain relief at home
• having other children, or pets, at your birth
• the postpartum care at home
• birth as a mainstream choice
• the safety of home birth from the midwifery perspective
• recommendations for choosing home birth

The mothers on this podcast were Laura Somers and Simone Bowie.
The midwives were Diane Cunningham, Jenni Conway and Rachel Heron and they work in the Ayrshire and Arran Home Birth team.
The Chief Midwifery Officer for Scotland is Justine Craig.

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Isabelle Milot, a midwife working in the Chatham-Kent region of Ontario. Isabelle is originally from Quebec, and has been practising midwifery in southwestern Ontario since 2006. She has chaired an Association of Ontario Midwives’ committee for five years and is currently an elected council member of the Ontario College of Midwives. Isabelle shares with us how the model of midwifery care works in Ontario.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• how women can choose midwifery care in Ontario
• the difference between midwifery care and obstetric care
• the wide scope of care midwives have in Ontario
• how better postnatal care has led to better results for families
• the postnatal program started by the Chatham midwives
• how the Covid pandemic has affected midwifery retention in Ontario
• reasons why midwives in Ontario have been leaving the profession
• how the landscape of working conditions in midwifery is changing in Ontario 
• what happens if a woman’s pregnancy becomes high risk during midwifery care
• what is a woman’s choice in homebirth
• how midwives individual scope of practice may differ, based on their experience

Isabelle is with the midwives at https://midwivesofchathamkent.ca/

The Association of Ontario Midwives is at https://www.ontariomidwives.ca/

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

What is advocacy in birth?
Why would anyone need an advocate for their birth and during their birth experience?
This episode includes a discussion with Cáitlin Heavey, a birth doula and mentor, active birth and yoga teacher, birth educator and woman's health physio.


Our discussion includes

• how you might figure out what you'd like and not like for your birth experience
• why you might want a birth worker to support you during the birth of your baby
• how informed consent is dependent on where you get the information from
• working out your negotiables and non-negotiables in your birth plans
• partners and working out their needs during birth
• how advocacy changes between a home birth and a hospital birth
• thinking birth as an event that includes more than just a baby coming out of a vagina
• what are considered outcomes of birth, and the longlasting effects that are not audited as outcomes 

Cáitlin can be found at https://caitlinheavey.co.uk/

Cáitlin is on Instagram at caitlinheavey_yogabirth

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Dr Justice Reilly, a specialist breast doctor and lactation consultant, about some of the challenges you may face while breastfeeding.

Listen to this podcast to find out:

• the function of colostrum
• how factors during the birth can affect birth weight
• that the weight of a baby is only one factor of assessing health
• variables that can delay a baby's return to their birth weight
• how type of delivery can affect a baby's ability to breastfeed
• about the "breast crawl"
• why babies suck their hands, and how that helps them to learn to breastfeed
• how to manage mastitis, some of the causes
• why mastitis incidences spike over the Christmas period
• why causes nipple damage and how to help it to heal
• working with an oversupply of milk
• how to manage a fast letdown
• using human milk banks for babies in the NICU
• how low breastfeeding rates are a systemic issue
• expectations, and how they can affect breastfeeding issues

Justice can be found at www.breastmed.co.uk

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode Suzanne and Kat Prangle of Breastfeedinglens offer practical tips and considerations when preparing to breastfeed.

Pregnant women often say they want to breastfeed, but go into the experience with little or no preparation or education.  Many factors can influence the ease of the breastfeeding journey. What happens during labour and the birth, and in the first few days and weeks afterwards, makes a big difference to how successful breastfeeding is.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• the importance of skin-to-skin - what it is, and how to use it
• how labour and birth can affect a baby's ability to feed
• how often newborns need to feed
• what are feeding cues - how to recognise them
• how to tell your baby is getting enough milk
• why it's not a good idea for other people to handle your baby in the first days
• antenatal hand expressing - should you do this?

If you're in the East Lothian area of the UK, follow Kat's Facebook page here

Breastfeedinglens info is here

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with India Elyn – folk herbalist, birthkeeper, artist and a healer who helps people tend the threshold of pregnancy loss. 

India is the author of the book Honouring the Loss: A Holistic Guide to Healing with Ritual and Herbal Medicine after an Abortion.

As a society, do we care for women who have made the difficult decision to have an abortion?

When women have medical assistance for an abortion -whether that is in hospital or clinic, or even these days completely within their own home – do they have the knowledge to care for themselves emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally?

As women, do we care for each other after abortion?

Do we know how to honour the loss?

Do we feel deserving of that honouring and care?

Should we honour our losses through abortion?

How can we care for ourselves or other women after an abortion?

These are the questions we explore.

India can be found at www.indiaelyn.com

and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/_india_elyn/

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Lyssa Clayton, a homeopath who is passionate about working with women and families.

Homeopathy is an intricate interplay of healing substances and a person's energetic balance, along with close connection of the practitioner to their client. Yet, like many holistic healing practices, you can buy do-it-yourself kits! And a popular one is the homeopathic kit for labour and birth.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Do these remedies work without the input of an experienced practitioner?
• Where does homeopathy come from?
• How homeopathy can be helpful during pregnancy, the birth and the recovery
• How homeopathy can be used with babies

Lyssa can be found at www.lyssaclaytonhomeopath.co.uk

and is available at her in-person clinic in East Lothian and for online consultations for those further afield.

and is on instagram

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier

Helen Cummings is the Calm Baby Sleep Expert.

Helen educates pregnant parents in how to care for their newborn babies. She is a maternity nurse who can help with feeding, daily caring tasks and most importantly – helping people learn how to soothe and calm their babies into a restful sleep.

Helen is a qualified nursery nurse, and began working as a maternity nurse 20 years ago. Since then, Helen has helped all kinds of parents learn how to recognise their baby’s cues for sleep, and how to help the baby self settle, which can allow parents to have a better quality of sleep themselves.

Listen to this podcast episode to find out:

• what babies need for good sleep
• how to become aware of when a newborn is tired, and able to sleep on their own
• how newborns can sleep “not on a parent”
• how newborns can learn to self settle
• why Helen thinks sleep regression isn’t really a thing
• how to help with sleep regressions
• different needs for different weights of babies – and why
• if there a difference between sleep times for formula fed or breast fed babies
• where newborns should sleep
• how to safely swaddle
• what newborns should wear to sleep
• that parents are not taught how to look after their newborns
• when and how to move a baby to their own room overnight
• what the startle reflex is and how to help babies with this
• when to work with multiples
• why to look at baby’s behaviour and feeding/awake periods over a 24 hour period

Helen on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/helenthecalmbabysleepexpert/?hl=en

Helen on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076355500476

Send us a text

You can support this podcast here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/motherheal

Suzanne's website - podcast, blog, booking and resources:
www.motherheal.com

Suzanne is mother.heal on Instagram

Suzanne is at Suzanne.mother.heal on Facebook

music by Shooglenifty with Dhun Dhora
https://www.shooglenifty.com/

The Mother Podcast is produced by Garry Finlayson and Suzanne Maier