The Ultimate Birth Partner Podcast

In this week's episode, I had the privilege of chatting to the incredible human rights lawyer Hermine Hayes-Klein, who shares so much of her knowledge of the law of informed consent and refusal in relation to a pregnant woman or person's rights in childbirth. Hermine and I chat in detail about how to provide support during this time, as partners, doulas, or family members - in order to m...

In this episode, I am chatting to Louisa, a mum of 3, who recently gave birth in a Midwife Led Unit to a breech baby. Louisa had a C-section with her first baby who was also breech and then went on to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) for her 2nd. Her preparation for her 3rd baby was very thorough, in order to achieve a similar experience to her 2nd birth.    After realising at the end o...

In this week's episode, we catch up with Carmen, who shares the VBAC birth story of her 3rd baby after having 2 previous c- sections.  Her birth story is so inspirational and she describes how her mindset and certainty in her ability to give birth to her baby really worked in helping her to achieve her dream birth, despite circumstances unfolding in a way that was not expected.   Carmen runs...

In this episode, Teresa Coote shares her journey of supporting two families to become parents through surrogacy. Through her research, she chose to use Brilliant Beginnings - a fully supported surrogacy service that matches intended parents with their surrogates and takes them through the entire journey to ensure a positive and safe surrogacy journey.  https://brilliantbeginnings.co.uk If you woul...

At the end of 2021, I had the privilege of spending an hour with the wonderful Blyss Young,  a licensed midwife who practices in California, USA. We chatted about a wide range of subjects, including why she became a midwife, physiological birth, antenatal education, birth partners and more... You can find Blyss here - https://www.birthingblyss.com Follow her on Instagram - @birthingblyss   Listen...

In the second of two episodes, Sheryl Wynne shares with us what it means to become trauma-informed and what it is like in her experience.   In becoming aware of trauma, she has moved forward to support others to recognise trauma and is now running monthly courses to help birth workers, hypnobirthing instructors and others, to open their eyes to the best way to support women and birthing people thr...

In the first of two episodes, Sheryl Wynne shares with us her two very different birth experiences.  Sheryl honestly and openly describes how her first birth was very traumatic for her, and how the support she received was lacking, throughout her experience.  She also takes us on the journey she went on postnatally to discover, that she wasn't to blame for the experience she had.  In becoming...

In this episode, I give my top 3 reasons why I hate contraction apps. I have a good old rant about this seemingly innocent gadget, that is in fact an intervention. You would be amazed at the amount of births that are sabotaged by an app that does not take into account what is actually happening in the birth room - as it cannot take into consideration the behaviour of the labouring woman or person....

In this episode, I am sharing my views on the differences between physiological birth and a medically managed birth with interventions. I share tips on how to succeed in achieving a physiological birth, and what to look out for if you have a managed birth. I cover vaginal examinations, positions, sounds, monitoring the baby, pushing and much more. Here is a link to more information on cervical rec...

In this episode, I am excited to be in conversation with the amazing midwife Dr Rachel Reed. Rachel is most commonly known for her blog 'Midwife Thinking' and is the author of two incredibly popular books, aswell as being the co-host of the brilliant Midwives' Cauldron podcast. Rachel is originally from the UK, but now lives in Queensland Australia.  She is a researcher, speaker, te...

In this week's episode of the podcast, I had the privilege of chatting to the very lovely Professor Amy Brown.   Amy is a professor of maternal and child public health at Swansea University. She is the director of their research center - LIFT (Lactation Infant Feeding and Translation), and the author of 10 books and numerous research articles which can be found on her website.  During this ep...

In this episode, I had the privilege of chatting with community based obstetrician Dr Stuart Fischbein, about many of the issues that pregnant women and people are facing in maternity services today, both in the US and the UK. We discuss information on twin birth, breech birth, vbac, gestational diabetes, home birth, microbiome and much more. You can contact Dr Stu via his website - http://www.bir...

Have you been wondering if hypnobirthing is for you? Have you looked at the pro's but not considered the con's? This episode will help you to identify 5 reasons why you might want to avoid taking a hypnobirthing training.  As a hypnobirthing teacher, I believe it is important for you to know ALL the facts when it comes to hypnobirthing training.  Most people get the best out of the techn...

In today's episode I am chatting to Carly Lewis who is a placenta remedies specialist. Carly runs Prism placenta training and also chairs the PRN (Placenta Remedies Network). She shares with us the benefits of placenta encapsulation and talks about the wide variety of remedies that can be made from the placenta. She also answers some of the frequently asked questions that she gets from potent...

In this week's episode, I am chatting with Rob Geraghty who candidly shares his experiences of being a birth partner, and becoming a father of 3 children. So often the focus in maternity care is around supporting the women during pregnancy and birth, so it is easy to forget the partner and ask how they are doing.  Rob admits that he didn't always find it easy in the beginning, and was ha...

In today's episode, I am chatting with birth rights activist Emma Ashworth about the need to understand your rights in pregnancy and birth, in order to ensure that your plans for birth are not affected by the fear-based practice that we see in maternity services today.   We also hear Emma talk about the current midwifery crisis in the NHS and how to navigate your birth options during this tim...

In today's episode, I am speaking to Leonie Rainbird-Savin who candidly shares her experience of giving birth 3 times with only her husband present. During each pregnancy, Leonie's thoughts and feelings varied regarding how much care she wanted to access. Listen to her describe each birth, and the planning and preparation that went into those 3 pregnancies. Leonie also shares her feeling...

In this episode, I am speaking to Carmen who is expecting her 3rd child. Her journey so far, through 2 C-sections and 1 devastating miscarriage, has led her to use positive mindset tools to help her to conceive and prepare for her upcoming birth.  We hear all about how Carmen's plans are unfolding during her pregnancy and are looking forward to catching up with her again after the birth. Carm...

In this episode, I am chatting with birth activist Michelle Quashie about the very different birth experiences she had with her 4 children.  These include a premature birth via emergency c-section, a crash c-section after haemorrhaging with placenta previa,  a hospital VBAC and a home VBAC with an independent midwife. Michelle shares how her confidence in her own body led her to finally achieve he...

In this episode, I am speaking to James, a male midwife who is a true inspiration to so many birth keepers. James has a real passion to support pregnant women and people through physiological childbirth, and he shares with us his story, of how he always wanted to be a midwife from a very young age - and his journey to fulfilling that dream.   He now works in rural Wales, where the service is midwi...

In this episode, Aimee and Tom talk candidly about their journey through the very fast birth experience of their first child, and the subsequent anxiety Aimee felt in the early months of becoming a mother. They also share their reasons why they decided to plan their next birth at home.    Tom's role as a birth partner is enlightening as he shares with us his feelings about the role throughout...

In this episode, I am talking to the very knowledgeable midwife Molly O'Brien about imbalances in the body that can affect the labour and birth process.  It is important to remember that most women and birthing people will not have an issue giving birth to their babies.  In modern times, however, we sit a lot, we drive everywhere, and sometimes we have accidents or falls that can affect the f...

In this episode, inspirational midwife and author Becky Reed share's with us the story behind establishing the well-known Albany case loading practice in South East London during the 1990's.  Listening to her incredible journey through the years of being both an independent and NHS midwife, helps us to see how amazing support can affect a labouring woman or birthing person and their fami...

Welcome back to the podcast after the summer break.  In this episode, I am talking to the wonderful Alex Burner, who is sharing with us her experience of prodromal labour. This is when labour starts and stops before switching into active labour - often lasting days or weeks in some cases.  Alex talks us through her 3 births, and explains why she thinks this happened to her. We also explore other r...

During the summer break, I thought it might be nice to release a bonus episode. I was so happy to be able to talk to the lovely Keira, from the multi-award-winning Mama Designs,  about the amazing business she set up when her eldest was a small baby.  She now makes a wide range of baby and toddler products and has over 66k followers on Instagram.  Keira also shares with us the brief story of her 3...