A Village: Honest stories of birth and parenthood

"After the experiences of childbirth I realised that my body is so much more than I give it credit for." Sakhi shares her powerful reflections on viewing her body in terms of abundance not scarcity. She also talks about her expectations around the pain of childbirth, the mental load of motherhood and speaks openly about her pregnancy loss. (Please remember that every pregnancy and birth is different and if you are worried at all to contact your midwife, the triage number or your GP)

“It's brutal…but I think it's really important to talk about it” Maudie, Siobhan and I talk about what it's like to lose a parent and become a parent. This is a raw and emotional episode in which we are all open about our experiences of death. Content includes: death, cancer, covid.

“Take care of mum first and baby will be fine” Lara talks about having post-partum anxiety as well as her home birth and working with a doula.

Why do we feel so guilty about so many things? In sharing the big and the small we can put ourselves and how feelings in perspective. It's harder to parent from a place of guilt; we all do better when we share.

“Your brain turns to mush, like you left the weetabix in the milk too long.” Jake and Sam talk openly about some of the highs and lows of being a new Dad! Content: Jake talks about his partner Pippa's hospital birth by forceps after having Covid.

“Between contractions my body melted into the bed.” Fran talks about her mum's successful battle with lymphoma, a connection with Jessie J and a vaginal birth after induction. TRIGGER WARNING: Fran talks openly and in detail about her miscarriage. If you want to skip, it starts at 9minutes until 21minutes, (and at about 18minutes she talks about grief and pregnancy loss). We return to it briefly at 27-29 and she reflects again at the end of the episode.

“It's like someone doing the washing up in your tummy.” Lizzie talks through her experience of having an elective c-section. She also speaks about her husband being attacked in South Africa when she was 7 months pregnant.

“There were poo paw prints all over my yoga mat!” Jess speaks about her IVF journey, birth by c-section and her first experience of a poo-nami!

“I think I'm going to poo!” Jenn talks about pregnancy and the vaginal birth of Piper. Content includes: anxiety, bleeding (due to a polyps) and fears around baby growth.

“Don't have a curry after a c-section”. Leila and Doug started their journey nearly 8 years before having Felix. Content includes: IVF, an escalation of intervention and a caesarean birth. For more, check out Instagram: @a_village_honest_stories