Having avidly listened to every episode and completed both Katie's lactation courses, when it came to creating a breastfeeding preparation episode I knew who would be the perfect expert to bring into the room.

In this week's episode we chat about the importance of real support and community when embarking on your feeding journey, the basics we can go back to when we're finding things challenging, and how we can stand in our power when things don't quite go to plan. Katie is a wonderful guest and had me chuckling several times (sorry to your ears about that) and I feel like this is a must-listen episode for those who are pregnant and preparing to breastfeed.

Katie James has been a midwife for 25 years, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for 18, she’s also the host and creator of the podcasts The Midwives’ Cauldron and The Feeding Couch.

Katie has worked in a variety of settings from hospital, homebirth, and community midwifery. Katie has worked supporting all areas of breastfeeding and lactation including with families of small and vulnerable babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Katie has a passion for education and has enjoyed teaching students, midwives doctors and doulas; as well of thousands of pregnant women and parents; basically, anyone who will listen to her talk about the marvels of breastfeeding, lactation and human milk!

(Katie currently spends her working time creating two podcasts, hosting online lactation and breastfeeding courses for birth workers or parents-to-be, and providing lactation consultations globally.)

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The Feeding Couch Podcast

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Resilience

Disappointment

Worry

Intuition

Medicalised birth

and everything in between.

It's no secret that there's a whole lot of fearmongering in the birth world, abut every person's story deserves a voice. There's a lot of power in people's stories and I'm passionate about keeping things real. Serious medical complications are rare, but when they happen how amazing that we have so many talented specialists at our disposal.

Placental abruption is an incredibly rare complication in pregnancy and birth, impacting between 0.4–1% pregnancies, based on the data that does exist. It is the early separation of the placenta from the lining of the uterus before the baby has been born. Its etiology is still not fully understood yet, and because it happens rarely, it is hard to predict.

But what happens when you're in that 0.4-1% of people, how do you act? How does it feel? What do you do?

Kirsten generously shares her experience today of her dream homebirth turned c-section, and the factors that proved invaluable as she moved through this experience. We discuss the feelings of disappointment and grief when our birth experience doesn't follow the path that we really wanted it to, but also the powerful and life affirming things we can take away from these experiences. The key one... maternal intuition.

See this as a further sign to connect with your instincts, the feelings in your body and start that process of connecting with your gut. Maternal instincts and intuition are a consistent theme that comes up in people's stories time and time again, and ultimately was Kirsten's biggest tool in her birth tool box.

A huge thanks for Kirsten (and indirectly her partner John) for sharing their experience.

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When I say how much of this podcast I had to edit out before we actually got to our chat, I’m not joking when I say I had to cut out half of it. From CBD lube chat, Dubai life, grief pep chats and so much more – there’s nothing that doesn’t come up when I’m chatting to this wonderful human.

Sara and I met through Lisa Sykes – a business coach in the birth and early parenting world. Sara is an absolute powerhouse of a woman, and I feel so grateful to have met her on this journey of building our businesses and supporting expectant and new parents.

Sara is a play therapist, psych teacher, mum, entrepreneur to just name a few of the strings to her bow. She founded The Lifestage Lab in the last couple of years, which offers no-nonsense tips, tools & strategy to help parents and educators manage challenging behaviour & fuel kid’s social and emotional growth with expert precision. In the episode we explore what happens to an infant brain in those all important early years, and bust some myths about how to best support your little one.

With foundations structured in psychological, therapeutic & educational insights, The Lifestage Lab approach is dedicated to empowering adults to unlock new perspectives & find their inner powerhouse to not only tackle those life-stage challenges, but propel the development and wellbeing of kids and young people.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who will be spending time with your baby – it’s a brilliant opportunity to relearn what is biologically normal behaviour for babies and little ones, and how our adult world makes us doubt what is driving us on a deeper physical and emotional level.

A big thank you to Sara for her knowledge, expertise and time. If you’d like to explore more about working with Sara (which I’d HIGHLY recommend), you can catch all of her links below.

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When I worked with Cesca and her husband Ed last year, I knew the chances of them having a positive experience were highly likely. After sadly going through a miscarriage prior to this pregnancy, Cesca was more determined than ever to be present, make informed choices and work with her body. Her experience of giving birth in her local hospital was just that - one which she felt powerful and positive.

We also explore her decision to decline augmentation of labour after her waters went and labour didn't start immediately, as well as how she handled a 'long' early labour phase. Only two weeks into her early motherhood journey, Cesca sadly lost her dad suddenly and this sent her world into unchartered territory. In this podcast episode, she open-heartedly shares how breastfeeding was a huge source of comfort as she navigated her baby blues, postpartum recovery and those early days of grief.

I'm very grateful that she (and Ed, indirectly) has been so open in sharing her experience and the ways in which antenatal preparation and hypnobirthing helped her achieve an experience which she feels positive about.

It's just how powerful working with your body and trusting your instincts can be! This story is also a testament to how it is possible to have a positive experience within the hospital environment, and how knowledge can help you feel calm and in control during moments of perceived 'emergency'. Cesca also felt the support she received from her caregivers was really positive, how her choices were respected, and this again may be of comfort to those who are choosing to have a hospital birth.

Thanks again to Ed and Cesca for giving me the trust to share their story with the wider world.

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Today, we're diving into a topic that is very close to my heart: birth advocacy. We'll explore why birth advocacy is crucial, what it looks like in practice, and I'll share five simple ways you can start your birth advocacy journey.

Before we get stuck in I feel the need to make a little disclaimer as I know certain people, often those who work within the maternity system, can feel a bit prickly when this topic is raised. And I get it, the maternity system and healthcare system is nuanced and complex. No-one gets into healthcare because they want to cause trauma.

But, it does offer healthcare en-masse. And with that comes a need to categorise people, define pathways and generalise care. We can’t minimise the reality that people are going through the maternity system and experiencing trauma. We also can't ignore the fact that people want to know more, and that the power of knowledge in informed decision making cannot be underestimated.

But we’re not here to complain about it or point fingers. My role as a doula is that of education and information. Sometimes this gets misconstrued as trying to scare people, but I wholly reject the idea that if you’re pregnant you’re a sponge that just takes it all in with no critical thought. Fear of the system and potential outcomes existed well before doulas started to talk about it.

With that in mind – I’m here to provide actionable guidance to help you make informed decisions and shape your care. This podcast is just the tip of this iceberg, but my hope is even if it just sparks one more conversation, just one more person feeling things are happening for them, not to them, then it's gone some way to make a difference.

Birth Rights

Antenatal Course

CQC Reports

Birth Trauma Report

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Carly is an experienced doula, yoga teacher and hypnobirthing practitioner. She’s an all round lovely human and is a brilliant voice of reason in the landscape of confusing maternity jargon and scaremongering.

In this episode we chat all about The Doula Club - a brilliant resource for expectant parents, the power of having doulas in the birth space and our highs and lows of working in the birth space.

A big thanks to Carly for her time and for sharing her (much valued) experience and opinions in this podcast episode.

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You're going to want to brew up for this one team! When speaking to past families I have supported, Cara and Sean's story will always stick out as one that has had a profound impact on me and the work I do as a doula. It is always such an honour to work with couples who have been through so much, and who have such a clear idea of what type of experience they want.

As a trigger warning - in this episode Cara tells her story of how a molar pregnancy and severe pre-eclampsia led to a highly complicated first pregnancy in 2013. One which ultimately led to the premature birth and sudden loss of their first baby, Alessa at 29 weeks. The pregnancy that Cara talks about in this podcast was much wanted, long-awaited and, of course, impacted by their first experience of pregnancy, birth and parenthood.

Cara had many perceived risk factors with her pregnancy with Baby Ezra - previous caesarean, advanced maternal age, potential for pre-eclampsia to mention a few. Throughout her whole pregnancy, her ambition and desire to have a healing experience where she felt powerful and the driving force in her care was beautiful to see.

We also explore her decisions to agree to an induction, how her and her husband Sean worked as a team during the birth experience and her early breastfeeding challenges in the postpartum period.

I'm very grateful that she (and Sean, indirectly) has been so open in sharing her experience and the ways in which hypnobirthing helped her achieve an experience which she feels positive about.

From the bottom of my heart, I hope that everyone who listens to this podcast realises how powerful they really are. How our history and journey to becoming parents is, and always will be, part of us and how we can honour and heal from that, even in the smallest of ways. For those whose experiences resonate in some way - whether because of baby loss, ongoing trauma or some other reason, please know I send you so much love. There are some resources linked further down which may be useful to you.

Thanks again to Cara and Sean for giving me the trust to share their story with the wider world.

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Baby Loss Awareness Week

Kicks Count

Tommy's Baby Loss Support

SANDS

Child Bereavement UK

PETALS

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Well hello there! It's been a busy ol' time in the world of birth over the past year and this corner of the internet has been much on my mind.

The second season of the Journey Ahead podcast is going to be jam packed with all the good stuff - educational solo episodes, amazing interviews and some brilliant birth stories thrown in for good measure - and that's just the start!

I wanted to kick off Season 2 with a detailed education session and so today I'm talking all about the postnatal period.

Sometimes referred to the fourth trimester - I'm talking all about the first few months after your baby arrives. If you're wondering how to feel powerfully prepared and not sure what to expect with your physical recovery, feeding your baby, biologically normal behaviours and much more - then you're in for a treat with this episode.

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