The Mama Podcast. Pregnancy, Labour & Giving birth in an Uber
Season 1 Ep 1
Listen here
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hi mama you’re listening to the mama
podcast
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my name is Sumayya and i’m the co-founder
of mama ME app
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i’ll be your host today mama me is a
platform dedicated to connecting moms
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and moms to b where you can meet
like-minded mamas and create
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lifelong friendships connecting mamas is
all about
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empowering women and we continue this
mission with this podcast
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in our very first episode i am joined by
my very good friend anim celine we talk
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all things pregnancy
birth labor and how i gave birth
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in an uber so let’s get stuck in anam
has
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two children she has a son who’s nearly
five
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and a daughter who’s nearly two might as
well start from the beginning
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yes okay so pregnancy with my son um
i’ll be honest it was not the most
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enjoyable experience
now the first i’d say 16 weeks
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i was actually pretty sick so i mean
look i’m sorry for all the information
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but vomiting about two three times a day
feeling nauseous i just was generally
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very very miserable
so all those stories of mothers glowing
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and really enjoying their pregnancy
they just seemed really really far away
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from how i was
um i managed to get through eating lots
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of crackers
and finding comfort that morning
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sickness was actually
very very common i wouldn’t call it
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morning sickness though it was more like
all day sickness
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so people who say morning sickness is a
lie
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and it was tough i was working full time
as a dentist
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and sort of juggling a very very busy
schedule and feeling
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tired and sick was something that i did
really struggle with
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but around 16 weeks i began to feel much
much better
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and i was actually getting very very
excited to have my baby
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so i was in full nesting force
sorting out lots of things lots of
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shopping really excited
thinking about baby names all the things
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that you sort of
can think of the nice parts basically of
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having a baby um
there was a lot i didn’t know so i spoke
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to other moms i read books
i took leisurely naps which are a thing
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of the past
um and yeah so i pretty much thought i
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knew everything um i went to all my
antenatal classes and read lots of
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things online
and i thought yeah this will be this
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will be fine
i’ll be absolutely great and then
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yeah and then the birth story
so um when you did suffer from the
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the sickness did that make you feel
really low in mood
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or was it just kind of something you
knew that you just had to get through
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um i think for the first
so a few weeks i i saw it as something
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just to get through
and i was still very much excited about
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being pregnant
um but as the weeks went on and it
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wasn’t really easing i did start to feel
very low because it really impacted my
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my lifestyle completely um you’re not
just working but even just going out
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and socializing with friends going for
meals all of these things became
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somewhat of a challenge because i was
quite scared of of actually being sick
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and you know i can i can recall times
where
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i vomited in my car um
you know sometimes it was so spontaneous
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that i wasn’t really
ready for it um i vomited at work even
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in a car park of a shop
um you know it sounds pretty awful and
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i’m i’m just blessed though that it
didn’t get to the level where it was
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actually
hyperemesis where it was so bad that i
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had to go to hospital i managed to just
about
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just about avoid that and so
i guess that is a challenge in itself
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which
i mean my pregnancy was completely
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different to yours and i
didn’t have many pregnancy symptoms as
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such i mean i had the
sort of tiredness in the first trimester
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and a little bit of heartburn towards
the end of pregnancy
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but for so even someone like me who has
experienced pregnancy
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that’s quite interesting to hear because
i can’t i mean i can’t truly relate
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because it’s not something i actually
experienced but i think
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it will be comforting for other moms to
hear that actually
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this is i mean normal in inverted commas
i guess because
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as much as it’s normal it’s it’s okay to
feel
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low and it and and that’s that’s that’s
how you
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people will feel yeah absolutely i think
some people may experience that yeah i
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think you know
like you were very blessed to have a
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good pregnancy
um and i think that you know that shows
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that there is a positive side and many
many people they will actually
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be fine um but i think we need to
recognize the other side that
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some people don’t enjoy their
pregnancies um
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or they may not enjoy a certain part and
then they begin to
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you know to feel more comfortable with
it um and that’s okay
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because you know we all experience
things in different ways and have
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different perceptions of how things are
yeah absolutely at least it eased up for
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you after 16 weeks and it did get better
was that the same with your daughter too
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yeah you know interestingly
um i would say that the pregnancies were
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pretty similar
um i think second time round
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it was i would say maybe i was very very
mildly
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less sick although it could have just
been that i was so busy running around
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after my
two-year-old that i wasn’t really paying
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as much attention on my pregnancy as i
did with my first
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because you know when you’ve got ample
time and you just sort of
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with your first you just you concentrate
on every little thing you know you look
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at your app and you see
um this many weeks and this many days
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with my second pregnancy i was so busy
the weeks just sort of passed me by so
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in a way second one was easier
but also it was a little bit more tough
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just because i was juggling things
i’ve met people that have had different
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pregnancies with two different
um children so it’s quite interesting
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that yours were pretty similar
the only thing i would say that was
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different i felt like my cravings were a
bit different
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interestingly they fit quite a lot with
this sort of
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the stories that people tell you so when
i was pregnant with my son i
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really really loved salt and vinegar
crisps and ready salted crisps like i
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just loved that kind of thing
and i went through many many and then
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with my daughter
i really really like sweet things so i
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was having lots of juices
and these little um strawberry sweets
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that i used to get and they used to
really help my sickness but i just
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really like the sweetness
i don’t know whether there’s a
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scientific backing to these different
cravings with a different gender but
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for me absolutely i felt that so it’s
it’s quite interesting you say that
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because my cravings were
completely different and i felt that my
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cravings
were potentially my body wanting a
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certain nutrient
and i don’t know again whether this
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there’s some scientific backing to this
but early pregnancy i used to
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like i would crave milk and then mid
pregnancy that sort of turned into
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oranges
where i thought my body may need vitamin
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c
and then later into pregnancy that
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turned into
um potatoes and chips specifically
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i thought it was because my body was
like growing and it needed the carbs and
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so i felt like it was potentially my
body needing
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it could be quite interesting that
everyone’s cravings are so different
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right yeah definitely
i think it’s um i think milk is a very
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common one actually even i went through
lots of milk
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um i think i found that it helped with
my heartburn as well i think
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one thing that i do want to point out as
well is that with my pregnancies both of
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them
i know how most people want to sort of
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wait until after 12 weeks
to tell people and that was my plan but
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with me being so sick
i did not have a choice i had to tell my
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work and i had to tell my family and
friends because
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it was very obvious that something was
was different and also
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i needed that support you know i think
this waits after 12 weeks because it’s
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more of a
sort of a safer time and i completely
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understand that but at the same time i
think if you need
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support and you need to tell people then
tell them because being isolated and
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feeling
miserable are sort of the two worst
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things you can put together
and when i tell people i got lots of
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support and my colleagues at work were
great you know they were checking in on
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me bringing me cups of milk and
you know it was it was very very nice so
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i think sharing sometimes is the best
way to go
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if you need help yeah definitely i mean
i remember
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calling you literally after i did my
pregnancy test
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i remember for me it was it was nice to
have the support from very very early on
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yeah
definitely and we spoke about our
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pregnancies and trying to work out you
know
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is this normal is this not normal i just
like any bunch of friends and all you
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know sisters would do
yeah exactly part of the reason why we
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did this podcast because we want
everyone to feel that they’ve got
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someone listening to i mean i listen to
a lot of podcasts throughout my
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pregnancy and even now i spend a lot of
time listening to podcasts
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and i just feel like when i’m listening
it’s it’s like you’re having a chat with
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somebody
yeah yeah definitely that’s uh my
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pregnancy is
talked about so how how was your samaya
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so mine was
pretty different in that i didn’t like i
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mentioned earlier i didn’t really have
many symptoms as such
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um which luckily that meant that my life
didn’t
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change drastically i have a huge
interest in wellness and fitness and so
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i continued working out for my whole
pregnancy that involved weight training
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and i pretty much did weight train
towards till towards
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the end so a few weeks before i was due
to give birth is when i actually stopped
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working out
in terms of weight training and i did
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take up prenatal yoga
as well which i have continued yoga
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since i’ve given birth
and like i fell in love with yoga during
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pregnancy
and towards the end of labor that sort
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of transitioned to walking lot so
because i was so into fitness and i knew
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the advantage of
um how walking would help labor and
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naturally induce labor as well i was
walking sort of three or four miles a
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day
um leading up yeah to the labor which
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but i mean at the time i was like i’d
taken my leave from work at that point
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so i had a bit more free time
i would put my hypno birthing um tracks
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on my phone
headphones would be on and i’d be off on
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my way for like a three
to four mile walk every single day
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that’s great and i mean
i was in london at the time so the
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weather was really nice it was a really
nice time to be sort of enjoying
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the pregnancy and luckily i didn’t have
many symptoms i was pretty small
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in terms of how i my pregnancy and how
much i was carrying
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so i know some people struggle towards
the end of pregnancy where they get like
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swollen feet or they’ve put on quite a
bit of weight and the weight holds them
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down
but luckily i mean i’m really blessed
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and really grateful that my pregnancy
was pretty straightforward
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and i could walk all the way to the end
that’s great you know the fact that you
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could
carry on with your fitness and you
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stayed very active i think
that is great for your body and for your
0:11:07.279,0:11:10.640
mind and i think
the hypno birthing sounds very
0:11:10.640,0:11:13.440
interesting so i think that’s something
we should definitely touch
0:11:13.440,0:11:16.640
uh on a later podcast because i’d like
to hear all about it
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yes definitely we i think that’s a big
topic in itself so it’ll be good to sort
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of um
chat about that at some point and that
0:11:23.440,0:11:27.839
guess leads us on to
labor and then yeah um do you want to
0:11:27.839,0:11:31.839
sort of touch on your labor tell me
how how how is it different with the two
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it’ll be really interesting to hear
actually okay
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so with my son um i
went into labor when i was 39 weeks and
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four days so i was due it was
sort of middle of may um the weather was
0:11:45.920,0:11:51.120
gorgeous i was going for long walks
basically every day as much as i could
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and the day before i went into labor me
and my husband went for a long walk um
0:11:56.240,0:12:00.240
just around our area
i was trying to sort of get my labor
0:12:00.240,0:12:03.519
started because you know you sort of
read these things where
0:12:03.519,0:12:06.959
the things you should do to try and
start labor and i was getting quite
0:12:06.959,0:12:10.160
tired and
very big so i thought the sooner this
0:12:10.160,0:12:13.279
baby comes the better
so we went for a long walk and then the
0:12:13.279,0:12:18.079
next morning
around 5 a.m i woke up and i was having
0:12:18.079,0:12:22.079
contractions and they were i wasn’t i
was quite confused
0:12:22.079,0:12:25.279
as to whether like what was going on as
in i thought it was contractions but
0:12:25.279,0:12:27.680
obviously until you’ve had one you don’t
really know
0:12:27.680,0:12:33.839
if it’s even a contraction right um yeah
so i waited like a sort of a lay in bed
0:12:33.839,0:12:36.720
for like
a bit longer and then another one came
0:12:36.720,0:12:39.040
and i woke my husband were you timing
them
0:12:39.040,0:12:42.480
no not initially i just was just just
lying down trying to figure out like
0:12:42.480,0:12:46.160
what’s going on because i had had sort
of braxton hicks so you know the sort of
0:12:46.160,0:12:51.360
the fake contractions before
so i thought is it just them um yeah and
0:12:51.360,0:12:53.920
i was sort of half asleep as well so it
was a very
0:12:53.920,0:12:57.360
yeah it was a very strange morning um
and then as they got worse i want my
0:12:57.360,0:13:01.440
husband up
and he sort of obviously the men are
0:13:01.440,0:13:03.440
just
more clueless than us really i mean they
0:13:03.440,0:13:08.720
can’t feel anything so they don’t know
um and then i rang the hospital
0:13:08.720,0:13:11.760
i told them and then they just said to
me just to
0:13:11.760,0:13:18.320
hang on they said try a warm bath etc
and then i i felt like my waters had
0:13:18.320,0:13:21.440
broken
but again i wasn’t sure so i rang them
0:13:21.440,0:13:24.079
again
and they just said okay if that’s what
0:13:24.079,0:13:27.200
you feel then come in
right because of course you know they
0:13:27.200,0:13:31.040
don’t want it to be too long until
like from the birth and three waters
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breaking so we went in and i remember
when my husband was driving in the car i
0:13:35.360,0:13:37.519
think it was quite it was rush hour it
was about
0:13:37.519,0:13:41.680
well about half seven um and you know
there was a bit of traffic and i was
0:13:41.680,0:13:44.240
sort of
i was moaning in the car and i was like
0:13:44.240,0:13:48.480
saying hurry up hurry up
because i’m going as fast as i can um
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and then we got to the hospital and when
we got there
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they they checked me and everything and
they said that i was around three
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centimeters so they said you can either
stay
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or you can go home so i just decided to
stay
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and then pretty much the the labor
progressed
0:14:03.360,0:14:07.839
very well and quite quickly i had said
initially that i didn’t want an epidural
0:14:07.839,0:14:10.800
and i had made it quite clear because i
had a birth plan
0:14:10.800,0:14:15.040
however when it got to a certain point i
was asking for one
0:14:15.040,0:14:18.560
well i say asking i think i mean
shouting
0:14:18.560,0:14:24.000
for one and um unfortunately you know
unfortunately and things were moving
0:14:24.000,0:14:26.399
very fast so they couldn’t give me an
epidural
0:14:26.399,0:14:30.480
i was in the water and for most of the
labor and
0:14:30.480,0:14:34.720
it was it was nice in terms of it was it
did help me
0:14:34.720,0:14:38.560
um but i chose to give birth out of the
water on a bed
0:14:38.560,0:14:42.160
right i just felt more secure and more
comfortable doing so everything went
0:14:42.160,0:14:45.600
well
and he was a lovely healthy baby
0:14:45.600,0:14:50.720
seven pounds eight um and yeah that’s
that’s it really i mean you know i think
0:14:50.720,0:14:55.360
until you actually go through that
experience yourself it’s very hard to
0:14:55.360,0:15:00.079
to relate i did have my husband and
you know my family support and they were
0:15:00.079,0:15:04.000
great as well and
i think the first few days of of
0:15:04.000,0:15:07.760
motherhood
they are a haze and you are somewhat you
0:15:07.760,0:15:11.199
feel like you’re in a dream
you know all the days are rolling into
0:15:11.199,0:15:13.600
one but ultimately you know it’s a great
blessing
0:15:13.600,0:15:17.760
and everything everything was fine so
with your second baby it was different
0:15:17.760,0:15:22.000
and with um your daughter you had to
have a c-section
0:15:22.000,0:15:28.160
yes um and that’s because she was breach
so she chose not to turn around
0:15:28.160,0:15:35.199
um quite stubbornly which she’s still
quite stubborn um and so she was breach
0:15:35.199,0:15:38.079
presentation
and they they gave me options in
0:15:38.079,0:15:41.440
hospital they said that we could try to
turn her around or we could just book
0:15:41.440,0:15:46.320
you in for an elective c-section
um i i sort of put it in the doctor’s
0:15:46.320,0:15:48.880
hands and i said well
you know you decide what’s the best
0:15:48.880,0:15:52.800
thing to do so the consultant said
that he actually preferred not to try
0:15:52.800,0:15:56.399
and turn her around and said
a c-section would be the best way to go
0:15:56.399,0:15:59.519
so you know they’re the expert so i said
that’s fine
0:15:59.519,0:16:03.839
so we were booked in and interestingly
it was on it was when i was 39 weeks and
0:16:03.839,0:16:07.680
four days exactly like
my son and when i had the c-section
0:16:07.680,0:16:11.360
booked for
and again it went well you know very
0:16:11.360,0:16:15.920
surreal a different experience
quite clinical and you know being a
0:16:15.920,0:16:19.680
dentist
i do have some knowledge of surgical
0:16:19.680,0:16:22.480
things what they were saying and things
like that it was very interesting and
0:16:22.480,0:16:24.639
you know they were they were great they
were lovely
0:16:24.639,0:16:28.560
great team of midwives and obstetricians
and
0:16:28.560,0:16:32.480
everything went well and yeah so my
daughter was born seven palm too
0:16:32.480,0:16:36.800
and it was a very very surreal
experience so having experienced
0:16:36.800,0:16:40.959
both ways of of you know having a child
giving birth
0:16:40.959,0:16:44.800
i think they are very very different and
there’s actually pros and cons to both
0:16:44.800,0:16:47.839
but either way you know they’re both
very safe and
0:16:47.839,0:16:51.040
you get to meet your baby at the end
yeah and so
0:16:51.040,0:16:55.440
with your c-section did you have
skin-to-skin contact with your daughter
0:16:55.440,0:16:59.120
yes pretty much immediately after yes
and did you
0:16:59.120,0:17:03.040
opt for delayed cord cutting for either
of them do you know what no i didn’t
0:17:03.040,0:17:06.319
i’ll be honest i didn’t
well with my son i didn’t really know
0:17:06.319,0:17:11.360
much about it back then
and you were 26. i was 26 when i had my
0:17:11.360,0:17:15.679
son and i was 29 when i had my daughter
so with my son i didn’t really know much
0:17:15.679,0:17:19.439
about it and then with my daughter it
was something that i was thinking about
0:17:19.439,0:17:22.160
but you know with the whole
procedure of the c-section and
0:17:22.160,0:17:25.679
everything going on it i just
sort of was just happy for them just to
0:17:25.679,0:17:27.919
do what it the way that they wanted to
do it
0:17:27.919,0:17:32.320
um it wasn’t like a major thing for me
looking back perhaps i should have given
0:17:32.320,0:17:35.520
it more thought
if in the future i i choose to have
0:17:35.520,0:17:38.559
another one then
something i may consider that’s amazing
0:17:38.559,0:17:41.280
that’s i mean i was just curious i just
wondered whether
0:17:41.280,0:17:44.640
um you’d done it with either even i
didn’t know that detail so now that you
0:17:44.640,0:17:47.679
know about mine
i think we need to tell everyone about
0:17:47.679,0:17:53.520
yours because your story
is very interesting and something which
0:17:53.520,0:17:58.799
made me very very shocked and surprised
and even to this day when i hear your
0:17:58.799,0:18:04.799
story like i learn new details
and i still can’t believe it so go on
0:18:04.799,0:18:07.919
do you remember receiving the text
message when i sent you to say that i
0:18:07.919,0:18:12.960
was sat in john lewis
with my mom and my son and baby daughter
0:18:12.960,0:18:17.600
she was only like i think five
four or five weeks old and um
0:18:17.600,0:18:20.960
yeah i was we were having lunch and you
text me and literally
0:18:20.960,0:18:25.600
i just left my put my knife and fork
down and i just was reading my phone
0:18:25.600,0:18:30.400
yeah i think you need to tell everyone
it’s everyone needs to hear this
0:18:30.400,0:18:33.919
so um i know you’ll remember that at the
time i was
0:18:33.919,0:18:38.240
doing my postgraduate degree in
dentistry and so i actually had an exam
0:18:38.240,0:18:43.120
which was three days before my due date
luckily my daughter did hold off and she
0:18:43.120,0:18:46.320
waited till the day after the exam to
actually arrive
0:18:46.320,0:18:49.440
um but i hadn’t felt anything until this
point i had
0:18:49.440,0:18:53.440
i mean i’m not aware of any contractions
maybe my body was having contractions
0:18:53.440,0:18:56.799
but i wasn’t really aware
now looking back and in hindsight i
0:18:56.799,0:19:00.960
think oh maybe like that tightening that
i felt was probably a contraction
0:19:00.960,0:19:04.960
but at the time it was nothing to stop
me in my tracks you know i was going on
0:19:04.960,0:19:07.280
on
about my day as normal and there was
0:19:07.280,0:19:10.240
nothing that was happening in my body
that would stop me and i would think
0:19:10.240,0:19:13.840
oh that’s something that i should be
aware of and then so
0:19:13.840,0:19:18.000
on the day that she was actually born
which was two days before my due date
0:19:18.000,0:19:22.320
i woke up in the morning as normal and
this was around 7 a.m
0:19:22.320,0:19:27.520
and then i had a show um so i called the
attendance department as you do
0:19:27.520,0:19:32.000
and spoke to a midwife and she said you
won’t feel anything now for
0:19:32.000,0:19:35.120
for a while it may be days before you go
into labor
0:19:35.120,0:19:39.360
so i had my breakfast um because i
wasn’t expecting anything to happen
0:19:39.360,0:19:42.640
i didn’t have any contractions at this
point it was just a show
0:19:42.640,0:19:47.520
and so i had toast avocado eggs like my
favorite breakfast
0:19:47.520,0:19:51.200
um had a podcast i was listening to
happy babies happy births
0:19:51.200,0:19:54.960
and i carried on like with my day as i
would but this is like in a span
0:19:54.960,0:19:59.039
i’m talking about 10 minutes span like
this wasn’t a long
0:19:59.039,0:20:04.080
time frame and then 10 minutes later i
felt something like tightening
0:20:04.080,0:20:07.520
quite intense tightening i woke up my
husband
0:20:07.520,0:20:11.200
because he was still asleep at this
point and at this stage
0:20:11.200,0:20:14.640
i still didn’t know i was in labor like
i i just felt some tightening and i
0:20:14.640,0:20:18.080
thought this was my first contraction
it’s going to take days before i give
0:20:18.080,0:20:21.919
birth you know there’s like going to be
a gap and this might be i might not feel
0:20:21.919,0:20:25.039
anything for a while
but i did like pretty soon after i felt
0:20:25.039,0:20:29.120
another timing
at this point though neither of us had
0:20:29.120,0:20:32.320
realized what was going on so
we weren’t timing anything and at this
0:20:32.320,0:20:35.120
stage i don’t think we either we
we really knew that they were
0:20:35.120,0:20:39.360
contractions
right like we knew that i was in pain or
0:20:39.360,0:20:42.799
like it was uncomfortable because i
don’t like to use the word pain but like
0:20:42.799,0:20:47.280
it was uncomfortable but
um yeah like we didn’t know i was in
0:20:47.280,0:20:50.320
labor
i ran the like so i started the shower
0:20:50.320,0:20:53.360
thinking i’ll go in the shower i’ll help
with the discomfort
0:20:53.360,0:20:57.919
and my husband got dressed and they just
kept coming like i never actually ended
0:20:57.919,0:21:01.200
up getting into the shower because they
just kept coming and coming
0:21:01.200,0:21:06.799
and at this like we were still like very
bad at timing our contractions so i
0:21:06.799,0:21:10.159
would time one
my husband would time one then we’d miss
0:21:10.159,0:21:12.880
one
but they were happening like now
0:21:12.880,0:21:15.679
thinking back it was obviously because
they were happening so quickly that we
0:21:15.679,0:21:18.000
were
and we were rushing around to get things
0:21:18.000,0:21:20.880
together
and that we didn’t realize that they
0:21:20.880,0:21:24.400
were happening so close together so at
what point did you
0:21:24.400,0:21:29.120
think okay i need to go so this was like
10 past seven
0:21:29.120,0:21:32.400
i probably woke him around ten past
seven quarters past seven at
0:21:32.400,0:21:36.159
half seven we called our doula because
we had a dealer book that was supposed
0:21:36.159,0:21:38.559
to like sort of guide me they’ll help me
through
0:21:38.559,0:21:43.520
pregnancy and labor sorry and when my
husband called her
0:21:43.520,0:21:48.000
she she later told me it’s because she
heard me in the background but she told
0:21:48.000,0:21:50.000
him
that we shouldn’t wait around and we
0:21:50.000,0:21:53.440
should get to the hospital straight away
so she even said don’t call the midwife
0:21:53.440,0:21:57.360
do you want to just
um just run through what a doula is for
0:21:57.360,0:22:02.480
some any listeners that might not know
so a doula is somebody that can support
0:22:02.480,0:22:05.919
you through
prenatal postnatal and labor so it’s
0:22:05.919,0:22:11.120
they’re not clinically trained
but they are there for emotional and
0:22:11.120,0:22:14.559
support they’re just there for support
they don’t do any of the medical stuff
0:22:14.559,0:22:17.280
they’re just there to support you
through your labor
0:22:17.280,0:22:21.120
and it’s a i guess it comes hand in hand
with hypno birthing
0:22:21.120,0:22:24.240
i mean you can’t have a doula without
the hypno bear thing but it
0:22:24.240,0:22:28.640
i i felt after i did the hypno birthing
that i would like a doula as well
0:22:28.640,0:22:32.080
we don’t live close to my family or my
husband’s family at the time we weren’t
0:22:32.080,0:22:35.760
close to
either of our families and so we didn’t
0:22:35.760,0:22:39.360
really have much support
other than just having each other so we
0:22:39.360,0:22:42.960
opted to have a doula
um so she advised us to go straight to
0:22:42.960,0:22:45.679
the hospital so my husband ordered an
uber at this point
0:22:45.679,0:22:48.720
okay and that’s when i mean i don’t know
how long it took
0:22:48.720,0:22:52.080
the uber to arrive i probably i wasn’t
really paying much attention to be
0:22:52.080,0:22:54.799
honest
i did make him though put my tens
0:22:54.799,0:22:59.039
machine on before we left
and i also changed into my labour dress
0:22:59.039,0:23:03.600
because i had a labor dress planned
we picked up my bag my hospital bag
0:23:03.600,0:23:06.080
which was packed from like the week
before
0:23:06.080,0:23:09.600
but we forgot my daughter’s medical
notes
0:23:09.600,0:23:12.960
which he had to come back and collect
after all like the the whole sort of
0:23:12.960,0:23:16.240
process of labor happen because we
didn’t have medical notes when we got to
0:23:16.240,0:23:19.360
the hospital
we left for the for the hospital when
0:23:19.360,0:23:23.440
the uber arrived when we were in the
in the car from that point on in the car
0:23:23.440,0:23:25.600
however
it was pretty early in the morning so
0:23:25.600,0:23:30.480
rush hour traffic in london
is pretty intense and so it did take us
0:23:30.480,0:23:34.159
much longer to get to the hospital than
what we’d originally planned
0:23:34.159,0:23:39.840
and i was progressing really quickly
and so i had my hypno bathing tracks on
0:23:39.840,0:23:42.880
which i’d put on from the morning
so they were still going i was in the
0:23:42.880,0:23:47.039
back of the taxi so my arms and my upper
body rested against the
0:23:47.039,0:23:51.279
the car door and then like so i was
pretty much on all fours
0:23:51.279,0:23:54.400
and then my husband was kind of like
leaving me to get through the
0:23:54.400,0:23:59.120
the surges because i think at the time
like like now thinking back
0:23:59.120,0:24:02.400
the hypno breathing really helped get
through the contractions
0:24:02.400,0:24:06.640
suddenly i just felt like the head and
it’s it’s strange until you go through
0:24:06.640,0:24:08.799
labor
now i mean you’ve been for natural labor
0:24:08.799,0:24:13.039
so you know what i mean when
like you can feel the head right yes
0:24:13.039,0:24:15.200
like you can feel the baby coming i said
to him that
0:24:15.200,0:24:18.559
she’s coming she’s coming i can feel the
baby coming and so he looked and he
0:24:18.559,0:24:22.240
could see the top of the head
wow so the next contraction came and so
0:24:22.240,0:24:24.960
the head was delivered my husband held
the head
0:24:24.960,0:24:28.640
and then i remember it’s so strange that
i remember this really sort of
0:24:28.640,0:24:32.400
the conversation so clear to me even to
this day where he said
0:24:32.400,0:24:36.400
push the rest of her out push the rest
of her out i had to remind him
0:24:36.400,0:24:40.880
that the antenatal classes taught us to
wait for contractions before you push
0:24:40.880,0:24:44.480
so i said to him we have to wait for the
next contract when the next contraction
0:24:44.480,0:24:47.600
comes
out push and then so actually we
0:24:47.600,0:24:50.400
actually arrived a couple of minutes
away from the hospital
0:24:50.400,0:24:53.520
so on waterloo bridge road which is
literally the road
0:24:53.520,0:24:57.039
that turns into the main hospital car
park so we were
0:24:57.039,0:25:00.240
literally around the so you know before
we get to the bit where you actually
0:25:00.240,0:25:03.679
arrive
just tell me like what was the uber
0:25:03.679,0:25:07.279
driver doing
like i can’t even imagine like what did
0:25:07.279,0:25:10.400
he say what did he
i mean i don’t remember him saying much
0:25:10.400,0:25:14.080
i do remember at one point throughout
the journey like before i gave birth
0:25:14.080,0:25:18.880
i heard his voice and i remember asking
my husband later that
0:25:18.880,0:25:22.320
i did i thought he was on the phone to
somebody but because you’re so like
0:25:22.320,0:25:26.640
involved in what’s going on in your body
i didn’t really pay attention
0:25:26.640,0:25:30.159
um but it’s just so happened he was
actually praying
0:25:30.159,0:25:36.960
so he must have been quite like shocked
um so yeah i mean he was he’s lovely and
0:25:36.960,0:25:41.120
we’re still in touch with him and i
think he was really happy he felt like
0:25:41.120,0:25:44.720
it was a blessing at the time he was
probably quite surprised and shocked and
0:25:44.720,0:25:48.880
he carried on driving
we spoke to his wife afterwards and yes
0:25:48.880,0:25:51.360
it was a nice
i think it was a nice experience for him
0:25:51.360,0:25:56.240
because he felt possible that’s amazing
so so then when you pulled up to the
0:25:56.240,0:25:58.480
hospital
like how did you get out of the car how
0:25:58.480,0:26:01.919
did you get into the hospital so i
i mean living in london like the london
0:26:01.919,0:26:05.440
hospitals are sort of tower blocks
i was still like baby in my husband’s
0:26:05.440,0:26:08.960
hand umbilical cord still attached
placenta’s still inside
0:26:08.960,0:26:12.000
so there’s no way i was walking through
the hospital so i had to actually
0:26:12.000,0:26:15.919
convince the driver to take me to a
e so we we managed to get to the
0:26:15.919,0:26:19.200
entrance there was a paramedic stood
outside so my husband went and sort of
0:26:19.200,0:26:22.880
spoke to the paramedic
it was like a movie scene in my head he
0:26:22.880,0:26:25.919
was smoking a cigarette and
he threw the cigarette to the floor i
0:26:25.919,0:26:29.120
like ran inside the hospital
and then he came back out with the
0:26:29.120,0:26:31.840
doctor and a couple of nurses and a
stretcher and then when i
0:26:31.840,0:26:35.600
then got taken into the hospital into a
bed they checked me checked
0:26:35.600,0:26:39.360
my daughter and then the cord was cut
and i gave birth to
0:26:39.360,0:26:42.559
center after wow well do you know at
least
0:26:42.559,0:26:47.200
you know everything ended well that is
an amazing birth story
0:26:47.200,0:26:51.520
and it would be interesting to hear if
anyone else has had any experiences like
0:26:51.520,0:26:53.919
that
but i’m just glad that everything worked
0:26:53.919,0:26:57.919
out well and you and
baby are safe yeah and i think at the
0:26:57.919,0:27:00.320
time
it doesn’t cross your mind and you kind
0:27:00.320,0:27:02.640
of just let your body and your instincts
just
0:27:02.640,0:27:06.880
do what it needs to but we’re really
lucky that she was healthy and we had no
0:27:06.880,0:27:10.159
complications and
yeah like you mentioned it’d be really
0:27:10.159,0:27:12.960
interesting to hear other people’s
stories to see if anybody
0:27:12.960,0:27:17.039
else has had something similar i’m sure
somebody else has given birth in a car
0:27:17.039,0:27:20.640
yeah or an airplane like somewhere like
traveling
0:27:20.640,0:27:23.840
yeah absolutely right so we’re so
interesting to hear so
0:27:23.840,0:27:26.640
yeah if anybody wants to share their
story if you’re a listener and you want
0:27:26.640,0:27:30.159
to share a story with us
then yeah get in contact we’d love to
0:27:30.159,0:27:34.320
hear it yeah brilliant
so i guess that leaves us with the end
0:27:34.320,0:27:38.720
of this episode right now because
we just wanted to share a little bit of
0:27:38.720,0:27:42.720
how we got to becoming mothers
and how many children we have and a
0:27:42.720,0:27:46.240
little bit about ourselves
i hope you have all enjoyed it you know
0:27:46.240,0:27:50.640
i’m sure that there are many many
things that people can relate to things
0:27:50.640,0:27:52.799
that they
like was similar things that were
0:27:52.799,0:27:57.919
different that the two stories of
my two births and samaya’s story all
0:27:57.919,0:28:00.399
three of them are different
just goes to show there’s so much
0:28:00.399,0:28:04.880
variation there’s not really a normal
which is quite comforting yeah i agree
0:28:04.880,0:28:07.679
with that and i think if
one thing that i can give in terms of
0:28:07.679,0:28:10.399
advice to any mother or pregnant woman
that’s
0:28:10.399,0:28:14.559
um due to give birth is have your birth
preferences be prepared because
0:28:14.559,0:28:16.399
obviously that makes you feel
comfortable
0:28:16.399,0:28:19.840
and secure because you’ll feel prepared
but
0:28:19.840,0:28:23.120
be flexible because there’s no way of
knowing
0:28:23.120,0:28:26.240
really where labour’s going to take you
yes i think if you have
0:28:26.240,0:28:30.480
preferences as opposed to an actual
rigid birth plan
0:28:30.480,0:28:34.640
you are more likely to be sort of
happier with the outcome
0:28:34.640,0:28:37.840
because things don’t always go as they
are planned
0:28:37.840,0:28:42.640
sometimes what we think is a good idea
is perhaps not one at the time
0:28:42.640,0:28:46.799
and i think it’s important to trust in
the medical professionals that are
0:28:46.799,0:28:51.200
looking after you because
this is their job they know a lot more
0:28:51.200,0:28:53.679
than us
in terms of all these things and yeah
0:28:53.679,0:28:55.919
you know there is a there is mama
instinct as well
0:28:55.919,0:28:59.039
if there’s anything that you feel that
you have to say or tell them
0:28:59.039,0:29:02.559
absolutely you know you make your
preferences and thoughts known
0:29:02.559,0:29:06.000
but the main thing is just making sure
that you and baby are safe
0:29:06.000,0:29:10.880
and everybody’s happy yeah exactly
realistic expectations i think and that
0:29:10.880,0:29:14.000
follows through with motherhood as well
because
0:29:14.000,0:29:17.919
i think it’s so easy to get caught up in
what we think should be the right way
0:29:17.919,0:29:23.840
yes but actually um your expectation may
be unrealistic yeah and trust in your
0:29:23.840,0:29:28.000
body i guess i know as well like because
i think we hear a lot of negative birth
0:29:28.000,0:29:32.320
stories and my like i i’m hoping
sharing my birth story shows people that
0:29:32.320,0:29:36.720
actually your body does know
what it needs to do there was we had no
0:29:36.720,0:29:41.120
medical support
women’s bodies are amazing and
0:29:41.120,0:29:44.480
our bodies are built for this you know
we
0:29:44.480,0:29:47.600
we carry the children we give birth you
know we
0:29:47.600,0:29:52.480
we have babies i think it just shows how
strong we really are and let’s be honest
0:29:52.480,0:29:56.559
if men had to do it i don’t think we
could
0:29:57.200,0:30:01.360
i think on that note we’ll call it the
end of the episode and i’m hoping that
0:30:01.360,0:30:04.559
you all
sort of join us again next week and
0:30:04.559,0:30:09.840
we’ll have a guest with us next time
0:30:43.840,0:30:45.919
you
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