Rose is a planner, and her story is about what happens when a highly organised woman meets the unpredictability of motherhood. Rose loved being pregnant, but when her 16-week scan showed an abnormality in her baby, and the rest of her pregnancy became an emotional rollercoaster of scans every fortnight right up until birth.

We talk about going back to work before you feel ready. Rose also shares a confronting story about pumping breast milk at work, one that shows how many modern workplaces still lack proper parents' rooms and basic understanding. 

It raises a bigger question: why are mothers expected to pump on their lunch breaks and in their own time?

We finish with Rose's love for mothers' groups. She describes them as a safe space where you can show up as you are, without judgement.

If you're a type A planner, or a mum returning to work before you’re ready, this one’s for you.

In this episode:

• Moving cities through pregnancy and postpartum
• Being a planner and learning the unpredictability of pregnancy, birth and motherhood
• Receiving an abnormal 16-week scan and the fortnightly scans that followed
• Returning to work before you're ready
• Pumping at work and why workplaces need to do better
• Why mothers' groups matter

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Mentioned in the episode:

• Book: The Birth Map by Catherine Bell
• Book: Nurture Revolution - Grow Your Baby's Brain and Transform Their Mental Health through the Art of Nurtured Parenting by Dr Greer Kirshenbaum, PhD. Greer is a neuroscientist, doula, and mother. Available on Spotify, Audible and hardcopy.

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Be a guest on the podcast - https://www.bymothering.com/guest-submission

Music for Mothering was composed by Christina Higham, post classical composer, pianist and collaborator based in Melbourne/Naarm. 

• Find out more about Christina here
• Support a fellow mother and check out her music on Spotify here 

Follow Mothering on Instagram: @bymothering

Thank you for listening!
- Carli xx

Christina, who goes by Tee, is a pianist, composer, performer and teacher, and she wrote the music you hear at the start and end of every episode. She is also a mother of two, who had two under two.

In this conversation, Tee speaks with real honesty about her breastfeeding journey, and about the cultural message so many of us absorb without question: that because breastfeeding is natural, it should also be easy. Tee unpacks how deeply that message affected her, how it delayed her in seeking the help she needed, and how much harder it made an already challenging experience.

We also talk about the striking contrast between her two births. Her first, an induction where she had an epidural. Her second, a spontaneous labour and a water birth, shaped in large part by what she'd learned the first time around, and by knowing how to navigate the system and ask for what she wanted.

Tee also shares what it was like returning to work as a sole trader and a musician, and leaves us with some genuinely beautiful reflections on parenting.

This one holds so much for anyone who has struggled to feed their baby the way they envisioned they would.

Music for Mothering composed by Christina Higham. Find her work linked below.

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Things mentioned in the episode:

• Thompson Breastfeeding Method (click for link)
• Bonnie Maplestone Osteopathy Melbourne (click for link)
• Joelleen WP - IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), Melbourne. Instagram: @joelleen.ibclc
• Dr Nicole Gale - Perinatal GP & Lactation Consultant, Melbourne

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Find the complete show notes here - https://www.bymothering.com/podcast

Be a guest on the podcast - https://www.bymothering.com/guest-submission

Music for Mothering was composed by Christina Higham, post classical composer, pianist and collaborator based in Melbourne/Naarm. 

• Find out more about Christina here: https://www.christinahighammusic.com/about. 
• And listen to her music on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1417raofJQL3dwDIBXsEJ9.

Follow Mothering on Instagram: @bymothering

Thank you for listening!
- Carli xx

This week I sit down with Amy, and it’s a big one.

Amy's road into motherhood started long before she was pregnant. Endometriosis and adenomyosis shaped her decisions about when and how she would try to conceive, and she eventually fell pregnant through IVF. Then, while she was pregnant, she was diagnosed with a melanoma that had to be removed,  which meant undergoing surgery while carrying her baby. It's a wild story to listen to, and Amy tells it with extraordinary clarity.

But the heart of this conversation is what came after. Amy's first twelve months were rocky, and she speaks with real honesty about the mental health of becoming a new mother: what it feels like when the transition is that hard, and what happens when the support you need isn't there to catch you. She talks openly about postnatal depression, about suicidal thoughts, and about being admitted to a psychiatric hospital with her baby.

We also go somewhere I've wanted to go on this podcast for a while, our complicated relationships with our own mothers, and how that history quietly shows up in the way we mother. It's a thread I think a lot of women will recognise in themselves.

This is a heavy episode. If you're not in the space for it today, that's completely okay - skip it, come back to it later, or leave it. 

But if you are ready, I hope you find something in it. So much of what Amy describes carries shame with it, and shame thrives on silence. My hope is that hearing her say it out loud makes another woman feel less alone, and reminds us that help exists, and that there are people whose whole job is to help us through it.

Support:

PANDA — Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia. A national helpline specialising in supporting new and expecting parents. 1300 726 306

Lifeline — 24/7 crisis support. If you need to speak to someone right now. 13 11 14

Both are Australian services. If you're outside Australia, please reach out to your local crisis line or your GP.

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• Find the complete show notes here - https://www.bymothering.com/podcast
• Be a guest on the podcast - https://www.bymothering.com/guest-submission
• Music for Mothering was created by Christina Higham, post classical composer, pianist and collaborator based in Melbourne/Naarm.
  Find out more about Christina here: https://www.christinahighammusic.com/about. 
  And listen to her music on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1417raofJQL3dwDIBXsEJ9.
• Follow Mothering on Instagram: @bymothering

Thank you for listening!
- Carli xx

Bridgid shares her journey to conceive, and the road that eventually led them to IVF. She experienced three miscarriages, including one at 12 weeks that was deeply traumatic. She's also honest about how much she didn't enjoy pregnancy, having been diagnosed with polyhydramnios, a condition where there's excess fluid around the baby, which lead her to having a cesarean birth. 

We talk about the intense first days and weeks which included visits to NICU for her baby who was unwell after birth. Bridgid shares her thoughts on breastfeeding and the intensity around it. 

We also have a decent chat around the role of a paid job once you become a mum and how becoming a mother has completely reshaped the way she thinks about work, especially as a self-proclaimed workaholic. 

Bridgid has a lot to say about how modern society has it wrong for young families, and I think you'll find yourself nodding along.

This episode will not disappoint. I hope you love it.

Carli xx

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Find the complete show notes here - https://www.bymothering.com/podcast

Give Blood - Book here 

Dr Leesha Nesarajah — Obstetrician at Frances Perry House, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville VIC

Be a guest on the podcast - https://www.bymothering.com/guest-submission

Music for Mothering was created by Christina Higham, post classical composer, pianist and collaborator based in Melbourne/Naarm.
Find out more about Christina here: https://www.christinahighammusic.com/about. 
And listen to her music on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1417raofJQL3dwDIBXsEJ9.

Follow Mothering on Instagram: @bymothering

Thank you for listening!

We talk about the deep anguish of returning to work and starting childcare while her baby was still so small, and the painful mismatch between standard maternity leave timelines and the age when babies crave closeness and attachment the most. Lindsay opens up about being a high achiever and how that identity collided with the realities of new motherhood.

She also shares the story of a miscarriage at a young age and how it changed the course of her life, along with the mental health struggles she faced during pregnancy, including anxiety around genetic screening results and the disorienting experience of stopping her ADHD medication abruptly. Even in the middle of that, she had the foresight to seek out psychological support to help her through it.

We also touch on her partner's experience with paternal postpartum depression, and how that shaped her own journey into motherhood.

This is a raw, honest conversation about the gap between how motherhood is "supposed" to look and what it actually feels like, and the strength it takes to ask for help along the way.

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Find the complete show notes here - www.bymothering.com/podcast

Be a guest on the podcast - www.bymothering.com/guestsubmission

Music for Mothering was created by Christina Higham, post classical composer, pianist and collaborator based in Melbourne/Naarm. Find out more about Christina here: https://www.christinahighammusic.com/about. 
And listen to her music on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1417raofJQL3dwDIBXsEJ9.

Follow Mothering on Instagram: @bymothering

Thank you for listening!
- Carli xx