In this episode Suzanne speaks with Tami Lynn Kent. 

Tami is a holistic women’s health care provider with a master’s degree in physiotherapy, advanced training in multiple bodywork techniques, and the ability to read energetic patterns of the body. Tami’s work helps women to understand the wisdom that is in their pelvic bowl, and to work with the healing – or the medicine – that this understanding brings.

Home birth is on the rise in Scotland, but still only makes up just over 1% of all births. Why?
In this episode Suzanne speaks with women who have recently given birth at home, midwives who work in a dedicated home birth team, and the Chief Midwifery Officer for Scotland to explore the reality of home birth in Scotland.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Isabelle Milot, a midwife working in the Chatham-Kent region of Ontario. Isabelle is originally from Quebec, and has been practising midwifery in southwestern Ontario since 2006. She has chaired an Association of Ontario Midwives’ committee for five years and is currently an elected council member of the Ontario College of Midwives. Isabelle shares with us how the model of midwifery care works in Ontario.

What is advocacy in birth?
Why would anyone need an advocate for their birth and during their birth experience?

In this episode Suzanne speaks with Cáitlin Heavey, a birth doula and mentor, active birth and yoga teacher, birth educator and woman's health physio.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Dr Justice Reilly, a specialist breast doctor and lactation consultant, about some of the challenges you may face while breastfeeding.

We discuss birth weight and factors that may influence this. How the birth weight can weight loss can affect a breastfeeding experience. We also discuss mastitis, sore nipples, oversupply and the breast crawl.

In this episode Suzanne and Kat Prangle of Breastfeedinglens offer practical tips and considerations when preparing to breastfeed.

Pregnant women often say they want to breastfeed, but go into the experience with little or no preparation or education. Many factors can influence the ease of the breastfeeding journey. What happens during labour and the birth, and in the first few days and weeks afterwards, makes a big difference to how successful breastfeeding is.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with India Elyn – folk herbalist, birthkeeper, artist and a healer who helps people tend the threshold of pregnancy loss.

India is the author of the book Honouring the Loss: A Holistic Guide to Healing with Ritual and Herbal Medicine after an Abortion.

As a society, do we care for women who have made the difficult decision to have an abortion?

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Lyssa Clayton, a homeopath who is passionate about working with women and families.

Homeopathy is an intricate interplay of healing substances and a person's energetic balance, along with close connection of the practitioner to their client. Yet, like many holistic healing practices, you can buy do-it-yourself kits! And a popular one is the homeopathic kit for labour and birth.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Helen Cummings, the Calm Baby Sleep Expert.

Helen works with pregnant people and parents-to-be to educate and support them with learning how to help their babies to self settle. Her techniques are gentle and loving, and allow parents to get to know their baby’s needs to reduce burnout and postpartum depletion.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Lucie Bradley, a medical herbalist who is eager to teach people how to use and integrate herbal medicine into their lives.

Lucie runs a busy clinical practice in Glasgow alongside teaching online courses to the public on remedies for simple ailments at home.

Lucie is also an ethnobotanist and has lived in Africa, working alongside doctors and nurses integrating herbal medicine alongside Western medicine.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks with Lena Fong, a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner who uses acupuncture, herbs, moxibustion and cupping to heal to maintain vitality and wellbeing.

Lena is a highly learned and experienced practitioner and explains the TCM approach to health.

Lena is also a yoga teacher and a doula, and is passionate about working with pregnant and postpartum women to maintain health and wellbeing.

In this episode Suzanne speaks to postpartum doula Jenny Smith-Nicol about pelvic steaming.

Pelvic steaming - or yoni steaming, vaginal steaming - is practised worldwide by women for reproductive health and is now being rediscovered in the West. Steaming helps gently cleanse the womb to help with menstrual problems, or to be used postpartum for better healing.

In this episode, Suzanne speaks to midwife and birth trauma expert Gemma Nealon. Gemma discusses some causes of birth trauma and ways in which she treats it. Suzanne and Gemma discuss ways to prevent trauma during a birth and what to consider when preparing for birth.

In this episode, Suzanne talks to Daisy Dinwoodie, a doula living and working in the Edinburgh area. Their discussion focuses on choice in childbirth - how it is affected by the medical establishment and how birthing families navigate their own birthing journeys. Daisy has been supporting parents with their birth experiences for many years and also trains doulas around Scotland.

In this episode Suzanne speaks with Abby Lord, director of Hypopressives Scotland and a founding member of the International Hypopressive Council. Hypopressives use breath work and posture to help tone the pelvic floor, and can be used to heal pelvic organ prolapses, urinary incontinence and pelvic floor disorders. 

In this episode Suzanne interviews Jo Anderson, a highly skilled and experienced specialist in abdominal therapy and scar therapy for women.

Jo is also an advanced practitioner in the Arvigo techniques of Mayan abdominal therapy. She combines different complementary therapies to individualise her care and helps women to learn to love their bellies.

In this episode, Suzanne continues her discussion with Susana Montoya Pelaez, a body worker who uses physiotherapy, craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation and applied kineseology to her treatments, along with numerous other modalities. Susana explains how she would help a woman's body recover from birth, whether it be caesarean section, instrumental or normal vaginal birth. She also discusses what a baby's body needs to do to prepare its nervous system for life outside the womb, and how birth prepares it for that. And how interrupted births - caesarean sections - affect the baby. She also gives some advice on how to help your baby make the transition to extrauterine life, regardless of the mode of delivery.

In this episode Suzanne concludes her discussion with Ayurvedic Consultant and Therapist Mairead Moodie. In this second part, Mai discusses the Ayurvedic approach to health and wellbeing in the postpartum period. Mai talks about how women can nourish themselves in the days and weeks following birth, and how mental health is viewed from the Ayurvedic perspective. Mai offers wisdom and practical advice to be used to increase wellbeing and vitality throughout the early days of becoming Mother.

This episode is a discussion with Jenny Smith-Nicol on traditional postpartum care traditions and how we can implement them into our lives. Jenny and Suzanne discuss proper nourishment during pregnancy and the postpartum period and the need for deep rest following the birth in order to avoid depletion and long-term health issues. The link between postpartum care and women's health and wellbeing is often disregarded in our western society and women are left unsupported and simply trying to survive what is actually a sacred time for both mother and baby. We discuss the western culture's disconnection with honouring this sacredness and how we can begin to change our norms to better appreciate and feel healthy and joyful in the postpartum time.