The Midwives' Cauldron

Sophie Messager joins us in the Cauldron to talk about her new book Why Postnatal Recovery Matters
We talk all things becoming a mother, including how a lovely pigs trotter soup or lotus birth is the perfect way to avoid too many visitors. We explore the raw, real and forgotten side of the 4th trimester and the misconception that mothering is 'just doing nothing' and the mother guilt and expectations put upon women. Sophie discusses the best ways to support women as they navigate the early days of mothering. And lastly, we discuss the beautiful 'closing the bones' ceremony', which aims to bring the new mother back to herself energetically, spiritually and physically.

This episode is for new parents and anyone who cares for new parents in the postnatal period.

LINKS

• Book: https://sophiemessager.com/why-postnatal-recovery-matters-book/
• Courses and more: https://sophiemessager.com/mums-and-mums-to-be/
• Instagram: @sophie_messager

Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10 at checkout.

Support the show

• Please support the show via Patreon or BuyMeACoffee
• MERCH here!
• Music Joseph McDade

Like this podcast? Leave us a review here
Want more from Katie and Rachel?
Katie's website
Rachel's website
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical or legal advice; instead, all information available on this site are for general informational purposes only. The Midwives' Cauldron podcast reserves the right to supplement, change or delete any information at any time.
The information and materials on the podcast is provided "as is"; no representations are made that the content is error-free. Whilst we have tried to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information we do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness.
The podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content.

In this episode we have with us Dr Florence Wilcock , an obstetrician who has been working in NHS maternity services for more than 25 years. Florence has a special interest in improving women’s experience of maternity care & has been a consultant in London since 2007 where she is currently the lead obstetrician for Perinatal mental health as well as working with the Birth Options team, and homebirth team.
As a member of the London Maternity Clinical Network Florence was responsible for the innovative Maternity ‘Whose Shoes’ co production workshops piloted across London in 2014. As a result she co-founded #MatExp with Gill Phillips; a grassroots movement of women, families and staff caring for them & working together to improve maternity services, and is also a clinical representative on the Royal College of Obs & Gyn women’s network.
Florence hosts the podcast TheObsPod. Where she works towards demystifying obstetrics and help both maternity staff and families.
Today we talk about how midwives and obstetricians can work more collaboratively in the hospital system.
We discuss safety, the current discussions on physiological birth as radical thinking and the thoughts of some who propose inductions for everyone!
Florence talks us through her Lithotomy challenge & the simple power of nurturing touch. She clearly points out how this education tool can spark our knowledge of how disempowering this can be for a woman.
And we discuss how the small changes, or what is often known as the 'warm and fluffies' for both obstetrician and midwife, can make a significant difference for the woman physiologically as well as emotionally.
And Florence leaves us with her zesty "nuggets" for us all to work in a space that benefits and protects women, midwives and obstetricians.
Links:
Dr Florence Wilcock:
The Obs Pod podcast
Twitter @FWMaternity and @TheObsPod
Instagram @TheObsPod
"Whose shoes" #matexp with Gill Phillips

Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10 at checkout.

Support the show

• Please support the show via Patreon or BuyMeACoffee
• MERCH here!
• Music Joseph McDade

Like this podcast? Leave us a review here
Want more from Katie and Rachel?
Katie's website
Rachel's website
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical or legal advice; instead, all information available on this site are for general informational purposes only. The Midwives' Cauldron podcast reserves the right to supplement, change or delete any information at any time.
The information and materials on the podcast is provided "as is"; no representations are made that the content is error-free. Whilst we have tried to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information we do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness.
The podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content.

Rhea is a former PE teacher turned childbirth educator, and counsellor and feels privileged to have attended more than a thousand births in hospitals and home settings as a birth attendant as well as connecting with many more women, their partners and support people during birth preparation workshops and personal birth counselling sessions.

Rhea has spoken extensively around Australia and internationally and is the author of two books – ‘Birth with Confidence: savvy choices for normal birth’ and the most recent ‘Beyond the Birth Plan: getting real about pain and power’.

Rheas thoughtful, gentle voice takes us on a look back over the world of birth from the past 40 years from England to Australia.

How Rheas home births led to her passion into childbirth education and birth attendant work.

How home births were parties back in the days!

Rhea talks with us about how sadly, in more than forty years of birth work, she’s witnessed an unprecedented rise in unnecessary medical interventions and the development of a culture that, rather than supporting women to birth naturally – physiologically -, is actually undermining them.

We discuss the f&@k1ng epidural, as Rhea terms it, and how she feels it has hijacked what labour and birth discomfort means. The ‘thank goodness births’ and what this means for society.

And we discuss the importance of what it is we ‘choose’ to focus on when providing childbirth education. Attachment styles and how that impacts how we go into birth. How shame plays a role in how we may or may not ask for help.

Rhea leaves us with an oxytocin fuelled story from her book and makes Katie cry!

LINKS
Rhea Dempsey website, courses, books

Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10 at checkout.

Support the show

• Please support the show via Patreon or BuyMeACoffee
• MERCH here!
• Music Joseph McDade

Like this podcast? Leave us a review here
Want more from Katie and Rachel?
Katie's website
Rachel's website
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical or legal advice; instead, all information available on this site are for general informational purposes only. The Midwives' Cauldron podcast reserves the right to supplement, change or delete any information at any time.
The information and materials on the podcast is provided "as is"; no representations are made that the content is error-free. Whilst we have tried to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information we do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness.
The podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content.

In this episode, we have the absolute delight of interviewing Jane Hardwicke Collings about women's rites of passage and how they shape our lives. We pay particular attention to the peri-menopause and the role of Autumn Women as leaders and change agents in the maternity system. This episode is jam-packed with intelligent, jaw-dropping and wonderful insights into womanhood.
Let us introduce Jane...
Jane Hardwicke Collings is a post menopausal grandmother. She was an intensive care and operating theatre nurse, and then a homebirth midwife for 30 years. Now her work focuses on teaching the Women’s Mysteries and writing about them. She gives workshops on mother and daughter preparation for menstruation, the spiritual practice of menstruation, and the sacred and shamanic dimensions of pregnancy, birth and menopause. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Womancraft, an international Women’s Mystery School.
Links:
More about Jane

• Jane Hardwicke Collings
• School of Shamanic Womancraft
• Jane's forthcoming online courses:
  Autumn women, harvest queen
  Snake medicine: shedding menstrual shame

Mentioned in the podcast

• About Bloody Time by Karen Pickering & Jane Bennett:
• Dr. Christiane Northrup
• More about the slang use of 'Karen'

Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10 at checkout.

Support the show

• Please support the show via Patreon or BuyMeACoffee
• MERCH here!
• Music Joseph McDade

Like this podcast? Leave us a review here
Want more from Katie and Rachel?
Katie's website
Rachel's website
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical or legal advice; instead, all information available on this site are for general informational purposes only. The Midwives' Cauldron podcast reserves the right to supplement, change or delete any information at any time.
The information and materials on the podcast is provided "as is"; no representations are made that the content is error-free. Whilst we have tried to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information we do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness.
The podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content.

In this episode Katie interviews Rachel Reed on her new book 'Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage'; from conception to birthing, including tea and toast at the end!
LINKS:
https://rachel-reed.website/reclaiming-childbirth-as-a-rite-of-passage/
Chapters

Part One: The Weft

1. Herstory: an overview of the herstory of childbirth from early humans to the emergence of modern maternity systems.
2. The legacy: how the legacy of herstory continues to influence the modern cultural landscape of childbirth.
3. Blood mysteries: an exploration of women’s bodily rites of passage and how they are interrelated with the childbirth experience.
4. Childbirth as a rite of passage: key elements of childbirth as a rite of passage and the role of care providers (setting the scene for Part Two).

Part Two: The Weave

1. Preparation: pregnancy and cultivating self-trust for birth
2. Separation: early labour and releasing the external world
3. Liminality: labour, betwixt and between, and transition
4. Emergence: birthing the baby and witnessing body wisdom
5. Integration: birthing the placenta and mother-baby enchantment
6. Medical birth rites: how to centre the woman when her childbirth rite of passage includes medical intervention.

Get 10% off Katie's Breastfeeding & Lactation: the fundamentals online course today with code POD10 at checkout.

Support the show

• Please support the show via Patreon or BuyMeACoffee
• MERCH here!
• Music Joseph McDade

Like this podcast? Leave us a review here
Want more from Katie and Rachel?
Katie's website
Rachel's website
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical or legal advice; instead, all information available on this site are for general informational purposes only. The Midwives' Cauldron podcast reserves the right to supplement, change or delete any information at any time.
The information and materials on the podcast is provided "as is"; no representations are made that the content is error-free. Whilst we have tried to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information we do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness.
The podcast accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content.