How to Grow a Parent: The pregnancy, birth & postnatal podcast

This week Emiliana talks to Jacob Stokoe, a trans dad of two and founder of Transparent Change CIC. The organisation aims to create trans-inclusive environments through easy-to-access training.
Jacob facilitates workshops for The Mindful Birth Group antenatal class teachers and contributes content to the Mindful Birth Parent Hub specifically for trans expectant parents.

If you are a trans person, please be aware that we discuss topics that may be distressing, particularly if you are currently expecting a baby.
The topics we cover on this episode include:

• Jacob's experience of becoming a trans dad and supporting others as a doula
• Why it is critical that professionals who support trans people during the perinatal and postnatal period are educated in inclusivity in order to provide safe care and support
• The growing number of trans parents, and why that number is growing
• How perinatal and postnatal professionals can access education in order to support the trans community better

You can find more information here:

• Jacob's website here - sign up to the mailing list to receive updates on the events that Jacob facilitates.
• Jacob's TikTok @jacobtheseahorse here
• The CQC Maternity Survey 2022 here
• The LGBT Foundation here

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.
You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:
Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup
Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

After a short break whilst we were at various Baby Shows, enjoying the Easter holidays and many bank holidays, I’m delighted to be back today and talking to Dr Frankie Harrison about experiencing Neo-natal intensive care with your baby.
Frankie is a clinical psychologist and co-founder of Miracle Moon, an organisation that provides support for the NICU community past, present and future.
Frankie also provides invaluable content to our online Parent Hub so subscribers can access educational and supportive information about NICU should they ever need it.
The topics we cover on this episode include:

• Frankie's own experience of NICU
• How an expectant parent can prepare for the unexpected
• The realities of the impact needing NICU support can have on your mental health and what support is available
• Ways in which friends and family can support you - here is the link to the list mentioned: Ways to support
• How to approach this period with siblings - here is the link to the book mentioned: The Invisible String

Follow Dr Frankie and Miracle Moon:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Miracle Moon website:
https://www.miraclemoon.co.uk

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.
You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:
Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup
Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

Today I am talking to Sonah Paton who is a co-founder of Black Mothers Matter. We’ll be talking about the importance of understanding black maternal health disparities and nuances, particularly as a birth professional.

All of The Mindful Birth Group® teaching team attend a workshop with Black Mothers Matter to ensure they are equipped to better support black and brown expectant parents and today’s episode will be slightly more angled towards birth professionals who may be wondering what work they need to do to become a true ally to black and brown families.

The topics we cover include:

• Who are Black Mothers Matter and what they do
• The training course that they offer for birth professionals
• Why it is important to have a wider understanding of the issues and disparities being faced by black and brown families
• The importance of community and celebrating joy

Find out more about Black Mothers Matter:
https://www.blackmothersmatter.org

Follow them on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/blackmothersmatteruk/
MBRACE report information
https://www.birthcompanions.org.uk/resources/mbrrace-uk-saving-lives-improving-mothers-care-2022

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.
You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:
Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup
Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

This week Emiliana talks to Kicki Hansard, author and founder of the Birth Bliss Academy and The Doula Directory.
Everyone who takes a Mindful Birth Group® course or subscribes to the Parent Hub gets access to a one hour postnatal doula session on Zoom once their baby is born. We view the recovery period as very much a part of the birth and support shouldn't stop as baby is born.
The topics we cover on this episode include:

• What is a postnatal doula, and what can they help a new parent with?
• How can you find a postnatal doula?
• What if you can’t afford a postnatal doula?

World Doula Week starts next week on 22nd March and so there will be lots of content on social media about doulas so do look out for that to learn more.

You can find more information on the topics we discussed today here:

• Learn more about postnatal doula's here
• Affording doula support here
• Find a doula on The Doula Directory here
• Kicki's personal website here

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.
You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:
Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup
Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)

To kick off our second series, Emiliana is talking to Lorraine Pryce from Birth Rights, a UK charity that champions respectful care during pregnancy and childbirth by protecting human rights. They provide advice and information on your legal rights, train doctors and midwives, and campaign to change maternity policy and systems.
We do not discuss birth trauma in detail but do take care when listening to this episode as we do discuss challenges faced in the maternity system which may be upsetting. We do recommend becoming informed and getting support for this reason, though.

The topics we cover include:

• The current healthcare situation and why it is important that you know about your birth rights during pregnancy
• Where to go if you do not feel listened to or confident in your care
• What do to if you want to talk about, feed back or complain about your experience with a hospital trust or individual
• Hiring a doula to support you

You can find

• Birth Rights website here including fact sheets & FAQs
• Request advice here
• How to find a doula here
• Birth Rights on Instagram here
• Lorraine's Instagram here and website here

This show is sponsored by The Mindful Birth Group® who provide award-winning antenatal, hypnobirthing and postnatal courses for expectant parents in-person and on Zoom. The unbiased and informative courses are designed to bring calm and confidence to your experience by making sure that you know your options, what to expect from a birth experience and how to navigate unexpected turns. All whilst sharing practical hypnobirthing/mindfulness tools and techniques to use for pregnancy, birth and beyond.
You can see all of The Mindful Birth Group® courses and resources here:
Follow us on Instagram @themindfulbirthgroup
Parents:

• Courses and the Parent Hub

Professionals:

• Train to teach with TMBG (FEDANT accredited course)
• FREE training for midwives (CPD accredited)