Raising with the village

Kraamzorg, Birth Boxes and Bicycles: One Dutch Mum's Honest Take on Pregnancy and Motherhood in the Netherlands A few months ago, Nina took us to Australia and showed us what pregnancy, birth and early parenthood looks like on the other side of the world. Today, we are travelling again — this time to the Netherlands. Today I am sitting down with Suzy — a Dutch mum of two — who takes us throug...

What Makes You a Parent? Liesl's Honest and Emotional Story of Infertility, IVF and Egg Donation This episode contains an open and deeply personal conversation about infertility, IVF, pregnancy loss and egg donation. Please be gentle with yourself as you listen. Resources to support you are listed below. There are stories that stay with you long after the recording ends. Liesl's is one o...

The Part Nobody Talks About: Baby Blues, Breastfeeding and How to End Your Feeding Journey This episode contains an open and honest conversation about baby blues and postnatal mood. If you are struggling, please know that support is available — resources are listed below. Candida is back. If you caught episode six — Two Boys, a Newborn and a Cold Cup of Soup — you already know that Candida brings...

The Unfiltered Truth About Fostering: What One Foster Carer Wants You to Know There are many ways to build a family. And there are many ways to be part of a village. Today's episode shines a light on one of the most generous, most profound, and most quietly extraordinary of them all. Today I am sitting down with Gillian — a foster carer with five, nearly six years of experience, a heart full...

Doing It All Alone: One Single Mum's Honest Take on the Mental Load, Sleepless Nights and Big Decisions We are back. And what a story to return with. Today I am sitting down with Beth — single mum, force of nature, and one of the most energising people I have had the pleasure of talking to on this podcast. Beth is raising her son on her own. And in this conversation, she pulls back the curtai...

See You in September: 22 Stories, One Village and a Summer Break Before the village takes a summer break, I wanted to stop — really stop — and mark this moment properly. Twenty two episodes. Twenty two extraordinary people who trusted this space with their most personal stories. And a community that has grown into something that genuinely feels like what it was always meant to be — a village. In t...

What does pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood look like on the other side of the world? Today, we find out. In this episode, I sit down with Nina, who takes us through her experience of pregnancy and motherhood in Sydney, Australia. From her antenatal care to her birth story, to those precious and overwhelming early days with a newborn — Nina shares it all with warmth, honesty, and a perspectiv...

When Nobody Believed Me: Monique's Story of Cerebral Palsy, Medical Gaslighting and Trusting Yourself This episode contains themes of medical mistreatment and dismissal. If you have experienced something similar, please know that your instincts matter, your voice matters, and resources to support you are listed below. Most of us like to think of ourselves as open minded. Non-judgmental. But w...

Some episodes make you think. Some make you cry. And some make you laugh so hard you forget you're even listening to a podcast. This is one of those. Today I'm sitting down with Liz — self-proclaimed mum of four year old twins, and honestly, the funniest guest I have had on this show to date. Fair warning: the giggles are very much part of this episode. I am not sorry. Liz didn't gr...

Breaking the Cycle: How Sye MC Chose to Become the Dad He Never Had Some people drift into parenthood. Others walk into it with their eyes wide open, having done the quiet, unglamorous work of looking at their own childhood and deciding — consciously, deliberately — to do things differently. Simon, known to many as Sye MC, is one of those people. In this episode, Simon takes us back to the beginni...

Anita: Pregnancy Loss, a Lung Defect, and the First Year Nobody Prepares You For Please note: this episode contains a discussion about pregnancy loss. Please take care of yourself as you listen. Anita first joined us in episode seven, where she shared her birth experiences with an elective and an emergency C-section — and mentioned, almost in passing, that her daughter had been born with a lung de...

The Other Half of the Village: A Chef, a Dad, and the Honest Truth About Hospitality Parenting If you listened to last week's episode with Hollie, you'll know the reality of parenting when your life runs opposite to everyone else's. This week, we hear from the other side of that story. Phil is a chef. His days start when most people's are ending. His weekends look nothing like...

What happens when both parents work when everyone else is at home? In this episode of Raising with the Village , I’m joined by Hollie to talk about the reality of raising a child while working nights, weekends, and opposite shifts in the hospitality industry. When your family life runs against the rhythm of society, parenting can look very different. Nursery pick-ups, mealtimes, weekends, holidays...

What would you do if your baby arrived early… while you were on holiday, in a country where you don’t speak the language? In this powerful two-part story, Siobhan shares her experience of going into labour at just 32 weeks while abroad in France—completely unprepared for what was about to happen. From the shock of a premature birth in a foreign healthcare system, to time spent in the NICU, and the...

What would you do if your baby arrived early… while you were on holiday, in a country where you don’t speak the language? In this powerful two-part story, Siobhan shares her experience of going into labour at just 32 weeks while abroad in France—completely unprepared for what was about to happen. From the shock of a premature birth in a foreign healthcare system, to time spent in the NICU, and the...

What does it really look like to become a father before you feel ready — and then be given the chance to grow into that role over time? In this episode, Elliott shares his deeply personal journey through fatherhood, divorce, and starting again. Becoming a dad in his twenties to two daughters, Elliott reflects on a time in his life that didn’t go as planned — yet one where he built a strong, loving...

What is it really like to give birth and step into motherhood as a solo mum by choice? In this powerful final episode, Liz shares her birth story, the emotional end of her pregnancy, and the reality of becoming a single mother by choice. From preparing for labour to holding her baby for the first time, Liz opens up about the highs, the challenges, and everything in between. We also explore what li...

In this second part of Liz’s journey, we continue her story following IVF treatment and move into the first three months of pregnancy as a lone parent. This is a deeply honest and emotionally rich conversation. Liz speaks with extraordinary openness about the uncertainty of early pregnancy after IVF, the emotional weight of waiting for results, and the realities that are so often left out of publi...

In this episode of Raising with the Village , Liz shares her deeply personal journey to becoming a parent through IVF as a lone parent. Liz takes us back to the moment she began considering IVF on her own, and the life circumstances that led her there. With honesty and vulnerability, she walks us through the IVF process step by step — from making the decision, to navigating clinics, treatment, and...

In this episode of Raising with the Village , we hear from Liam , the first father to join the podcast and share his unique journey into parenthood. Liam’s daughter arrived in the world in an unexpected and urgent situation — and within hours, both she and his partner had to be transferred to another hospital. What followed was a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) , a place many paren...

In this episode of Raising with the Village , we hear from Sarah , whose baby arrived much earlier than expected — born at just 32 weeks after what began as a routine check-in following unexpected bleeding around 30 weeks. Sarah takes us through how that moment led to an early delivery, and then into the emotional and psychological journey that followed: the uncertainty, loneliness, anxiety, and i...

A short holiday message from Raising with the Village . In this solo episode, I’m reflecting on the first season of the podcast, thanking the parents who bravely shared their stories, and looking ahead to what’s coming next — including new parenting topics and voices from dads. If you’ve been listening along, thank you for being part of this growing village. As we head into the holiday season, thi...

Emergency vs Elective C-Section: Two Very Different Births with Anita In this episode of Raising with the Village , we sit down with Anita , a mum of two, to talk candidly about her experiences of both an emergency C-section and a planned (elective) C-section — and how different those two births felt physically, emotionally, and mentally. Anita shares her first pregnancy journey, which was complic...

In this episode, Candida shares her journey from being a child who adored babies to becoming a mother of three — and discovering how motherhood can be both everything she dreamed of and nothing like she expected. She reflects on the years she spent worrying about her fertility in her 20s (not for medical reasons, but because of headlines and conversations around her), the long path to meeting her...

In this powerful episode, Melissa walks us through her three water births — two of which resulted in rare “mermaid babies,” born entirely in their amniotic sac. She also shares how she discovered she had a heart-shaped uterus , her anxiety during pregnancy, and how each labour unfolded. From a dramatic early pregnancy scare to three medication-free water births, Melissa’s story is filled with surp...