The First Six Months

The Scummy Mummies join me for the final episode of The First Six Months with their usual good humour, epic tales and no shits given. What a way to go out. 
Thanks for listening and may your first six months be a beautiful one, whatever's going on.
  https://www.scummymummies.com/

Neave, Joanie and Vicki have been my pals since our babies were a few months old. We get together whenever we can and here we managed to send our partners off with the bigger babies so we could have a chat about our First Six Months together and their second six months.

Wonderful to reconnect with an old pal, Jess, who lives in Paris with her Brazilian partner. What a fantastic conversation, exploring navigating being mother in a family of multiple cultures.

A delightful conversation with actress extraordinare Steph Parry on going back into rehearsal three weeks post partum, whilst then touring the whole of Asia with Mamma Mia, playing the lead part. We had so many moments of laughter in this episode, as well as navigating feelings of failure, postnatal depression and trying to do what's right by your family when your job asks you to travel.

In this episode, we discuss Mary's experience as a new mother, sharing her journey from pregnancy through childbirth and the first 11 months with her baby. Mary, a psychotherapist who had long wanted to become a mother, described her 4-day labor process, including the physical challenges and eventual need for an epidural, as well as her decision to rest intensively for about 10 days after giving birth. They discussed the importance of social support, including a WhatsApp group with other new mothers and a parent center in Edinburgh, and Mary reflected on advice she would give her past self, particularly about balancing self-care activities and allowing her baby more independent time.