This is the Real Birth Podcast: a safe, welcoming platform to share birth stories. I'm Lucy Hill, a doula, mother, wife and total birth nerd living in Frome, Somerset in the UK. When I was pregnant, one of my favourite things to do was to listen to birth stories. During this time I read and listened to literally hundreds and hundreds of birth experiences shared by all kinds of parents, having all kinds of births. I quickly became obsessed with the narrative of birth and the power of storytelling. I am convinced that because I was so regularly exposed to hearing about REAL birth - the glory, the mess, the trauma, the comedy, the boredom, the ecstasy - I didn't fear it, because I knew so much about what could unfold. When eventually I went into labour, my planned natural home birth turned into an undiagnosed breech and very unexpected cesarian. Of course I felt shocked. But beneath this, I felt calm and safe in the knowledge that birth can and does take twists and turns we can't predict. I had, in essence, heard it all before. I felt part of a wider collective of humans, each with stories as unique yet familiar as mine. The magic of birth stories existed not just for me as an expectant parent learning something unknown, but I also noticed the profound healing and peaceful resolution which often came from families revisiting and reflecting on their births. All of the podcasts I found dedicated to birth stories were either American or Australian, and I deeply wished there had been a bank of UK birth stories I could have mined for information, particularly when it came to NHS care which is so different to care models overseas. Since having my son in 2019 I have continued to listen to birth story podcasts, but have still yet to find a consistent, birth-story-dedicated podcast in the UK. Enter The Real Birth Podcast! Series 1 launches in early 2022, featuring a range of stories from UK parents and a variety of different birth experiences. Whether you're pregnant, on the other side of birth or just love geeking out about birth, I'm so excited for you to join me.
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This is the Real Birth Podcast: a safe, welcoming platform to share birth stories. I'm Lucy Hill, a doula, mother, wife and total birth nerd living in Frome, Somerset in the UK. When I was pregnant, one of my favourite things to do was to listen to birth stories. During this time I read and listened to literally hundreds and hundreds of birth experiences shared by all kinds of parents, having all kinds of births. I quickly became obsessed with the narrative of birth and the power of storytelling. I am convinced that because I was so regularly exposed to hearing about REAL birth - the glory, the mess, the trauma, the comedy, the boredom, the ecstasy - I didn't fear it, because I knew so much about what could unfold. When eventually I went into labour, my planned natural home birth turned into an undiagnosed breech and very unexpected cesarian. Of course I felt shocked. But beneath this, I felt calm and safe in the knowledge that birth can and does take twists and turns we can't predict. I had, in essence, heard it all before. I felt part of a wider collective of humans, each with stories as unique yet familiar as mine. The magic of birth stories existed not just for me as an expectant parent learning something unknown, but I also noticed the profound healing and peaceful resolution which often came from families revisiting and reflecting on their births. All of the podcasts I found dedicated to birth stories were either American or Australian, and I deeply wished there had been a bank of UK birth stories I could have mined for information, particularly when it came to NHS care which is so different to care models overseas. Since having my son in 2019 I have continued to listen to birth story podcasts, but have still yet to find a consistent, birth-story-dedicated podcast in the UK. Enter The Real Birth Podcast! Series 1 launches in early 2022, featuring a range of stories from UK parents and a variety of different birth experiences. Whether you're pregnant, on the other side of birth or just love geeking out about birth, I'm so excited for you to join me.
EP22 Maha | 5 years TTC, Home Birth Aged 46, Natural Term Breastfeeding, Separation From Mother, Childbirth Educator
The Real Birth Podcast
54 minutes
2 years ago
EP22 Maha | 5 years TTC, Home Birth Aged 46, Natural Term Breastfeeding, Separation From Mother, Childbirth Educator
This week I interview Maha Al Musa, a childbirth educator, mother and birth activist living in Australia. Maha is the founder of EMBODYBIRTH and has been sharing her wisdom surrounding the physiology of birth for almost three decades.
Maha shares her three birth stories - including a home birth with midwives at the age of 46. We also talk about cultivating autonomy in birth, and discuss natural term breastfeeding. Maha gained a fair bit of publicity when she allowed her daughter to breastfeed as long as she wanted, taking cues from her child rather than society's rules!
We also delve into Maha's own childhood experiences, which is an incredible tale. At just 6 months of age, Maha was kidnapped by her father and separated from her birth mother, taken overseas and raised in Australia. We speak about her connection to the maternal lineage and how finding her mother helped heal parts of her which helped her to go on and have her own family.
This episode feels different to my others, and really very special. I hope you enjoy hearing Maha speak so passionately about pregnancy and birth! You can find her at https://mahaalmusa.com/ where she teaches her EMBODYBIRTH programme, and also certifies others to teach her work, too.
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This season I'm thrilled to be working with my first ever sponsor: Bridge House Pilates.
Bridge House Pilates was founded by Meaghan, a Texan-born pregnancy, postnatal and low back pain specialist Pilates teacher now living in Somerset. Meaghan is a fan of the show and reached out to see whether my listeners might be interested in a special discount for her brand new postnatal Pilates course.
As well as sponsoring the show, Meaghan has created an exclusive discount for my listeners and I'm really thrilled to be able to offer you guys 20% off the Bridge House Pilates postnatal pilates online course.
Here's a bit more about the course:
Thinking about moving your body after having a baby can be daunting, not least because you somehow need to get yourself dressed and out the house - but Bridge House Pilates' NEW online, on-demand postnatal course can be enjoyed at any time, all from the comfort of your own home.
The course is flexible, bite-sized and perfectly suited to the chaos of new parenthood! Weekly sessions focus on relaxation, building core strength, healing your pelvic floor and addressing common muscular issues such as diastasis recti and back pain.
The course is designed with busy new mums in mind. Each week is broken down into 5 videos lasting between 5-15 minutes each. The platform will even track your progress if you get stopped partway through a video
Signing up also grants you lifetime access to all the course material, so you can return to your workouts whenever you need to - even if you go on to have more pregnancies in future.
To find out more about Bridge House Pilates' course and to benefit from our sponsorship discount, click here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Real Birth Podcast
This is the Real Birth Podcast: a safe, welcoming platform to share birth stories. I'm Lucy Hill, a doula, mother, wife and total birth nerd living in Frome, Somerset in the UK. When I was pregnant, one of my favourite things to do was to listen to birth stories. During this time I read and listened to literally hundreds and hundreds of birth experiences shared by all kinds of parents, having all kinds of births. I quickly became obsessed with the narrative of birth and the power of storytelling. I am convinced that because I was so regularly exposed to hearing about REAL birth - the glory, the mess, the trauma, the comedy, the boredom, the ecstasy - I didn't fear it, because I knew so much about what could unfold. When eventually I went into labour, my planned natural home birth turned into an undiagnosed breech and very unexpected cesarian. Of course I felt shocked. But beneath this, I felt calm and safe in the knowledge that birth can and does take twists and turns we can't predict. I had, in essence, heard it all before. I felt part of a wider collective of humans, each with stories as unique yet familiar as mine. The magic of birth stories existed not just for me as an expectant parent learning something unknown, but I also noticed the profound healing and peaceful resolution which often came from families revisiting and reflecting on their births. All of the podcasts I found dedicated to birth stories were either American or Australian, and I deeply wished there had been a bank of UK birth stories I could have mined for information, particularly when it came to NHS care which is so different to care models overseas. Since having my son in 2019 I have continued to listen to birth story podcasts, but have still yet to find a consistent, birth-story-dedicated podcast in the UK. Enter The Real Birth Podcast! Series 1 launches in early 2022, featuring a range of stories from UK parents and a variety of different birth experiences. Whether you're pregnant, on the other side of birth or just love geeking out about birth, I'm so excited for you to join me.
