The Birth Activists

A little bonus episode for you all!

Sam & I couldn't let the utter fuckwittery happening in the US slide by without talking about it... which morphed into a rant about the Schools Bill and the erosion of human rights in general that seems to be happening around every corner at the moment.

Not a light and fluffy episode, but essential listening nonetheless.

Resources (otherwise known as complete fuckwittery happening in the UK at the moment):

We absolutely LOVED this interview with Jenna from Tribe Psychology - the conversation was rich and diverse! Delve into this episode with a brew and listen to a psychologist's view on birth, parenting and coercion.

Dr Jenna Brough is a Perinatal Clinical Psychologist supporting people on their journeys surrounding growing their families. Jenna has 14 years experience working therapeutically in the NHS, private sector, and private practice, and has personal experience of infertility, pregnancy loss, over-medicalised birth, and physiological birth.

In this episode we chat to Amy (AKA Doula Alqabalia) about her work as a muslim doula:

"Amy has been doula-ing for a few years; supporting women during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period.

On the back of the pandemic, following the birth of her third baby, she decided to train officially as a doula and enrolled on the ‘Side By Side’ course with Leila Baker. 

Since then, she has been actively involved with all things birth and birthwork and even has her own Podcast channel; ‘Muslim Birthworld’ in which she explores Islamic perspectives of birth, lifestyle, shares interviews and reviews weekly clubhouse themes.

She hosts the clubhouse group every Thursday at 1pm; ‘Diversity Birth World’, for birthworkers, pregnant mamas and mamas to be. The group is closed to members only (to maintain confidentiality) and promotes cultural awareness and competency. It is a safe space for everyone to bring and/or share their questions, concerns and experiences. 

Alongside home-educating her children and running another small business (Sunnah Shifa), Amy also volunteers for Doulas Without Borders on the social media and campaigns team, for AIMS as a social media co-ordinator and for her local MNVP. "

Check out Amy's work here:

So this season Sam and I are going to be featuring more real-life birth stories on the podcast and this is the first: it's Brighde's story of her birth experience of her daughter, Rebel, when a planned home birth turned into an empowering hospital birth!

Brighde is mum to two beautiful children, Niko and Rebel and step-mum to Emmie and Teddy. She lives in Doncaster with her best friend and soul-mate, Matt. When Brighde isn't being a 'full time badass bitch' (her words, not mine!) she is an Activities Coordinator working with adults with learning difficulties.

Brighde found a lot of information and support from Sam's group really made a difference to her birth experience. You can join them too, here:

In this podcast, the second of the March With Midwives episodes, I am joined by Milly Morris, Maryla Crosski and Elsie Gayle - all midwives - who joined the Steering Group of the MWM campaign to have their voices heard and to raise the voices of midwives suffering in Maternity Services across the UK right now. Nationwide vigils are being organised for Sunday 21st of November at 2pm.

In this special episode, I talk to fellow Doulas Maddie McMahon, Verina Henchy and Paula Cleary about the grassroots movement that is making waves in the birth world, March with Midwives UK. Nationwide vigils are being organised for Sunday 21st of November at 2pm. 

The last episode in this series covers the controversial topic of vaginal birth after caesarean.

Louise tells her birth story of having a home waterbirth after two previous caesareans and Rosalie talks about how she opted for a freebirth after a previous caesarean. If you are considering your options after a caesarean birth then this episode is sure to inspire you!

In this episode we chat with Lucy Baena, a doula and disabled parent, about ableism in maternity services. Lucy is so insightful and eloquently summarises the disparities and discrimination within the maternity & health services when it comes to being disabled and pregnant and a disabled parent.

If you would like to share your story as a disabled parent with Lucy, please contact her by email: lucybaenadoula@gmail.com

Go check out Lucy on social media here: 

Sam and I were very lucky to be joined by trans-parent, Jacob, and his 'pocket midwife', Maeve in this episode. Jacob talks candidly about his experiences as a pregnant trans person and about the birth of his first child. Maeve and Jacob are two members of The Queer Parenting Partnership who support LGBTQ+ people from conception through to pregnancy, birth and parenting.

A bit more info about TQPP:

Kati Edwards aka ‘The Poetry Doula” joins us in this episode with an exclusive first reading of her new spoken word piece, 'The A to Z of Childbirth Activism'. 

Allison Tate (she/her) of Birthworkers for Human Rights (previously known as Doulas for Human Rights) joins us in this episode to talk about birthwork in the US, racial disparities and birth activism during the pandemic.

Allison is a Scottish, holistic, spiritual, birth and bereavement birthkeeper, birth rights activist, birth advocate, birth educator and energy worker, living in Florida.  She provides trauma informed support for births in all trimesters, all outcomes and for all birthing people.  She holds herself accountable for addressing white supremacy, racism, inequity, disparities and obstetric violence in reproductive care, for reducing harm, trauma and perinatal illness and for facilitating change.  She can be found across social media platforms @backtobirth @birthworkersforhumanrights 

Birthworkers for Human Rights:

Stacie is a parent who navigated being autistic and pregnant during the pandemic. She joined us to tell her story.

April is Autism Awareness Month and, in this episode, we are joined by Lana Grant, author of "From Here To Maternity, pregnancy and motherhood on the Autism Spectrum". We talk about the difficulties and discrimination autistic women and birthing people face when pregnant and accessing maternity services, including how the pandemic has impacted their rights.

Amanda Burleigh, midwife, joins Sam and Becki to talk about cord clamping - a very informative episode you won't want to miss!

Amanda started campaigning for optimal cord clamping in 2005 with the Wait for White campaign. After years of practicing immediate cord clamping as a midwife, Amanda realised that there was no evidence to say this was safe for baby and, on the contrary, she found research which shows immediate/ early cord clamping deprives the baby of 30% of their blood volume and could cause harm. 

In this episode we talk to Safura and Faiza, founders of The Raham Project. The project is dedicated to supporting maternal mental well being for mothers and their partners of ethnic minority backgrounds. 

Sam and I are joined in this episode by the lovely Aimee Hamblyn. We discuss the sacred work of the Doula with Aimee and touch on subjects such as Religion, abortion and being queer. We just LOVE how Aimee refers to birthwork as 'Spiritual Activism' and we all enjoyed delving into this deep, meaty subject. We are sure you'll love this episode as much as we did!

In this episode the lovely Sheena Byrom joins us to talk about midwifery, maternity services and the current challenges midwives are facing working during the pandemic. 

The first podcast episode of 2021 is here!

This year saw the creation of the Birth Activists podcast amid a global pandemic. Sam and I recap on the podcast guests of 2020 whilst we enjoy a festive tipple. 

In this episode, we are joined by the Leader of the Welsh National Party, Neil McEvoy AM, to talk about the issue of parental alienation and the abuse of power perpetuated by social services. Neil has well and truly earned his place on The Birth Activists podcast! His activism work has caused great controversy and he has been personally targeted because of his willingness to speak out against injustice.

You can follow Neil on social media @neiljmcevoy

Kay King joins us in this episode to discuss her new book 'Why Babyloss Matters' and her work as an Advanced Grief Recovery Practitioner.

*TRIGGER WARNING* In this episode we discuss sensitive issues such as abortion, infertility, miscarriage and babyloss.

In this episode, Sam and I talk to Komal, a first time expectant parent based in Northampton (my neck of the woods). She has been campaigning about the restrictions on partners attending scans and is now facing the prospect of spending a great deal of her labour alone, without her partner.

Amity Reed joins us in this episode, on the eve of her book release!

"Amity Reed became a midwife to serve women, but the reality of working in over-stretched and underfunded NHS maternity services soon shattered her illusions. She’s not alone – for every 30 midwives that train, 29 will leave the profession.

Overdue is both the devastating personal story behind the statistics, and a call for change in the NHS. Real-life stories capture the moments at the heart of midwifery: life, death, birth, tragedy and joy, and are embedded in a clear-sighted examination of what is working – and what isn’t – in maternity services. The result is a book that asks – and tries to answer – questions that are at the heart of many people’s working lives: how can we follow our calling, provide for our families and keep ourselves healthy, if the workplace and its systems are working against us?"

In this episode, Sam and I are joined by Laura to talk about her work with refugees and asylum seekers, and in particular the research work she has done interviewing 'displaced' mothers. We tackle sensitive issues such as racism, racial bias and colourism.

In this episode, Sam and I are joined by Maddie McMahon - Doula, writer and Breastfeeding Counsellor. Maddie talks about her blog, 'In the Eye of The Storm: Ocular Melanoma, Maternity Care and Me', and how her recent experience receiving cancer treatment opened her eyes to similarities with maternity care.

Follow Maddie's work here:

In this episode, Samantha and I chat with fellow doula, Michelle, and plus-size mum, Sarah, about what it's like to be labelled with a high BMI during pregnancy and how this can impact on your birth choices.  This episode comes with a *TRIGGER WARNING* of obstetric rape and violence, sexual assault and infant death.

Sam and I are joined by fellow doula, Paula Cleary, talking about the trials and tribulations of being an activist for birthing women and people. 

This episode comes with a TRIGGER WARNING for sexual abuse, domestic violence and obstetric violence and as such has been categorised as EXPLICIT. We also talk about self care as birthworkers when handling traumatic cases.

Samantha and I chat with fellow doula Katie Olliffe about the benefits of optimal cord clamping and the controversial subject of intact resuscitation.

Today, Samantha and I talk about what is and isn't in the remit of a doula and how this is often misinterpreted or misunderstood by healthcare professionals.

Becki Scott chats to Samantha Gadsden about the rise in women and birthing people considering freebirth during the pandemic.