On todays episode I speak to Maddi who is Mum to Alby (almost 2!) and William (2 months).

We talk in depth about losing control of decision making during her first pregancy and birth, as it became micromanaged by the medical system. This ended in an emergency cesarean and birth trauma for both herself and her husband. Maddi then tried to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) with her second but that didn't work out, resulting in another c-section.

Maddi speaks about having to acknowledge her feelings of gender disappointment when she realised her second baby was a boy, and not the girl they thought they might be having.

We talk about her living arrangements not being condusive to establishing good sleep for Alby and the resulting sleep deprevation being the hardest part of navigating motherhood.

She also shares about her mental load and the transition from 1 to 2 kids.