Notes: From Motherhood

Did you feel that instant rush of love the moment your baby was placed on your chest? Jade didn't — and on the surgical table after her emergency c-section, when the nurses offered to lay her daughter on her chest, she said "no, not right now." If you've ever carried that quiet guilt, this episode is for you. This week on Notes From Motherhood, Jade unpacks the myth that bonding...

What if the hardest part of giving birth has nothing to do with the birth itself? In this episode, Jade sits down with Emma — a mother of two and small business owner — for a tender, honest conversation about the things we carry into pregnancy, labour and motherhood long before our babies arrive. Emma had two C-sections, four years apart, and two completely different experiences. The difference wa...

Jade sits down with Carla — a Venezuelan-born, Montreal-based urban planner and mum to a two-year-old — for an honest, unhurried conversation about matrescence and the long, slow work of becoming a mother. Carla doesn't sugarcoat any of it. She talks about the year of therapy before trying to conceive, the pregnancy loss that came before her son, the eighteen months of feeling "uncomforta...

Almost every mother has told her birth story. But almost none of us have told the whole thing. We've told the dinner party version. "It was long but fine." "Ended up being a C-section, but the baby was healthy, so." The edited, tidied-up version that fits into the space other people are comfortable holding. Meanwhile, the full story — the one with the feelings attached, the...

That constant checking. The "what ifs" you can't turn off. The feeling like you're the only mum experiencing this? You're not broken. About 1 in 4 postpartum women experience maternal anxiety—and it looks different from regular worry. In this episode, Jade (an accredited mental health social worker) explains the difference between worry and anxiety, why motherhood changes eve...

You were cleared at six weeks. So why does your body still feel like it's trying to tell you something? In this episode, accredited mental health social worker and mum Jade Marklew gets real about C-section recovery — starting with her own emergency surgery after sudden onset preeclampsia, and the moment she walked out of her six-week check feeling anything but healed. Jade breaks down why the...

Welcome to the Mama Inner Circle 'How To' Podcast Series! TODAYS TOPIC - How to navigate transitions in motherhood! You know that feeling when your child starts daycare or school and everyone's asking "how are THEY handling it?"—and meanwhile you're having a full identity crisis in the school car park? When you're supposed to feel excited about finally getting time back, but instead you're crying...

Welcome to our FIRST 'HOW TO' series! These recordings are made for both our Mama Inner Circle online mums group AND our podcast community! I noticed that across my clinical practice, social media and in our mums group, so many mamas post questions about different topics. They ask ChatGPT, they ask friends and they Google all night long. But the answers are confusing or it's exhausting...

Christmas as a mother can feel really really hard. And I'm still wearing a Santa hat. Not because you don't love your kids or aren't grateful—but because it comes with enormous pressure to make everything magical while managing everyone's expectations, doing all the invisible work, and somehow not losing yourself in the process. In this special Christmas episode, we're talking...

What happens when a psychologist experiences birth trauma herself? In this powerful episode, Jade sits down with a fellow mother and mental health professional, Kayla who shares her story of an emergency c-section under general anesthesia — where neither she nor her husband were present when their son entered the world. You'll hear about the unexpected disconnect between professional training...

What changes in you between your first and third baby? In this episode, Jade sits down with Ruth — a teacher, play schema educator, and mum of three boys — who shares the wild ride of three completely different birth experiences. From an unexpected breech birth that went from "there's no chance I'm that far along" at home to giving birth in an ambulance, to a lightning-fast secon...

We’re told to expect sleepless nights after birth — but no one warns us that looking in the mirror might feel like staring at a stranger. In this episode of Notes from Motherhood , I share my own postpartum body story — the scar, the hair loss, the numbness, the night sweats — and the quiet grief that came with them. More importantly, we’ll explore how cultural pressure and “bounce back” expectati...

What happens when your birth doesn’t go the way you hoped? In this episode of Notes from Motherhood , I’m sharing openly about my own unexpected birth experience, and what I’ve learned as both a mother and therapist walking alongside so many women facing the same reality. We spend so much time preparing for the “perfect” birth, but very little time preparing for how to process the birth we actuall...

Birth trauma is more common than most people realise. Around one in three mothers describe their birth as traumatic, and many go on to experience postpartum PTSD, anxiety, or feelings of failure. In this episode of Notes from Motherhood , Jade shares her personal story of an emergency C-section, explains what birth trauma really is, why it happens when birth doesn’t go as planned, and how it can a...

In this very first episode of Notes From Motherhood , Jade shares a bit of her world — as a mum, a therapist, and the woman behind Your Mama Journey . She opens up about her unexpected birth story, the emotional aftermath, and how it changed the way she shows up for other mothers. You'll hear why she created this space, what this podcast will cover, and what to expect from the episodes ahead....