Give Birth like a Feminist

This week is the last episode of series 1, and I’m thrilled to be speaking to Patricia Cordeiro.  Patricia is a mother of two boys, a journalist, a writer, and a doula. She has been an activist for the birth movement in Brazil since 2013,  and participated in the group that stood up for Adelir Carmen in 2014, when Adelir was forced to have a c-section for the birth of one of her daughters. It was at this time that myself and Patricia connected, when she translated Adelir’s first hand account of her court ordered caesarean for me, so that I could write about it in the British press. Nowadays, Patricia works in international communication, promoting gender equality and human rights among other topics. Article about Adelir in the UK press: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/10767161/Kidnapped-by-the-authorities-meet-the-woman-forced-to-have-a-caesarean.html More about Milli ⁠www.millihill.co.uk⁠ Give Birth like a Feminist is available from Amazon and all good bookshops: ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/⁠ The Positive Birth Book: ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/Positive-Birth-Book-Bestselling-Pregnancy/dp/1780667655/⁠ My Period (for preteen girls): ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Period-Find-period-positive/dp/1526363372/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://millihill.substack.com/⁠ Buy me a coffee: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/millihill

On this episode I speak to Cynthia Overgard for a one hour special about birth in the USA. Cynthia is founder of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, LLC and host/producer of the Down To Birth® podcast @downtobirthshow. She has authored numerous articles in award-winning international publications and has personally worked with thousands of women and couples through pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum since 2007. She is certified in HypnoBirthing and is trained in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders through Postpartum Support International. Cynthia has an undergraduate degree in Sociology and an MBA in Finance. After experiencing her own beautiful and empowered waterbirths to her son and daughter, she resigned from a fulfilling corporate career in risk management and completed a ten-year term at University of Connecticut as a Professor of Finance in order to transition into the field of women’s heath as an educator and advocate for informed birthing.  Cynthia can be reached at HypnoBirthingCT.com or DownToBirthShow.com. You can get a copy of the USA edition of Give Birth like a Feminist from a variety of bookshops, here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/give-birth-like-a-feminist-your-body-your-baby-your-choices-milli-hill?variant=32258579333154 More about Milli ⁠www.millihill.co.uk⁠ Give Birth like a Feminist UK edition is available from Amazon and all good bookshops: ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/⁠ The Positive Birth Book: ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/Positive-Birth-Book-Bestselling-Pregnancy/dp/1780667655/⁠ My Period (for preteen girls): ⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Period-Find-period-positive/dp/1526363372/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://millihill.substack.com/⁠ Buy me a coffee: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/millihill

This week I’m talking to Dr Alice Keely, a specialist midwife with 15 years of experience who is passionate about supporting plus size pregnant women. Between 25 and 50% of women fall into the category of having a ‘high BMI’, putting them on the back foot in a system that already focuses excessively and unnecessarily on risk, causing, she says, even more rules and restrictions, anxiety and stigma. You can find Alice via www.theheavyweightmidwife.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/theheavyweightmidwife TikTok: www.tiktok.com/theheavyweightmidwife And she is on LinkedIn as Dr Alice Keely More about Milli www.millihill.co.uk Give Birth like a Feminist is available from Amazon and all good bookshops: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/ The Positive Birth Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Positive-Birth-Book-Bestselling-Pregnancy/dp/1780667655/ My Period (for preteen girls): https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Period-Find-period-positive/dp/1526363372/ Substack: https://millihill.substack.com/ Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/millihill

On this week’s episode I talk to Kim Thomas, CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, about birth trauma and the really vital topic of consent in the birth room. Kim is also a journalist and has written two books about birth trauma and postnatal PTSD. You can find out more about the Birth Trauma Association at www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk. If you have experienced birth trauma and need support, you can contact the charity’s team of peer supporters at [email protected]. The BTA has recently launched three training videos on birth trauma aimed at health professionals. If you’d like to hire them, please email [email protected]. Kim's books: Birth Trauma: A guide for you, your friends and family to coping with post-traumatic stress disorder Postnatal PTSD: a Guide for Health Professionals More about Milli www.millihill.co.uk Give Birth like a Feminist is available from Amazon and all good bookshops: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/ The Positive Birth Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Positive-Birth-Book-Bestselling-Pregnancy/dp/1780667655/ My Period (for preteen girls): https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Period-Find-period-positive/dp/1526363372/ Substack: https://millihill.substack.com/ Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/millihill

In this episode I’m speaking to midwife and hypnobirthing expert Maureen Collins. When I was writing and researching Give Birth like a Feminist back in 2018, I spoke to Maureen, who at the time was Head of Midwifery for One to One Midwives, a service that since 2010 had offered a caseloading midwifery model – this basically means when women are cared for by a midwife they get to know and trust – in the North West of England and Essex. This One to One service was free to women under the NHS, and, as you’ll hear in the podcast, they had the most fantastic outcomes for women and babies, with an exemplary safety record AND numbers of straightforward vaginal births at home AND in hospital WAY higher than the national average. In spite of these incredible statistics, back in 2018 Maureen told me that she felt One to One were seen as ‘mavericks’ and that much of her time was being spent trying to protect her midwives and One to One itself from criticism and, at worst, from being closed down. At the time she said to me: “There is excessive scrutiny, and no attention paid to our outcomes. If people cared about outcomes, our service would be rolled out across the country. Instead we are constantly under threat.” And we talked about other, similar models of care, like the famous Albany practice in London, that, in spite of incredible outcomes, had already been closed down. And then – in 2019 – Maureen’s fears were realised, when One to One was also closed. So, I wanted to catch up with Maureen, and find out more about what happened, and why these woman centred services keep being lost. You can find Maureen's hypnobirthing work at: https://www.thebirthcoachingcompany.co.uk/ She is on instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/birthcoachingcompany/ Find Give Birth like a Feminist and Milli's other books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Milli-Hill/e/B00RITKBBE/

In this episode I talk to Mara Ricoy Olariaga also known as Matriactivista, a birth educator, activist, radical feminist, poet, writer and medical interpreter. Mara founded the global movement against obstetric violence known as The Roses Revolution, and has published 3 books in Spanish about feminism, birth and its representation in media and movies. She is also a mother of three children, and the lead in Sexual and Reproductive Rights for the feminist organisation FiLiA. To find out more about Mara go to: https://www.matriactivista.com/ Information about FiLiA can be found at: https://www.filia.org.uk/ You can get a copy of Give Birth like a Feminist from any good bookshop: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/

Today my guest is Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, and midwife for more than 30 years. Hannah has over 250 research papers and book chapters to her name and in 2019 she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing and medical education and research. Her focused determination to end birth trauma and bring about lasting improvements in care for women, really gives me hope. You can find Hannah on twitter: https://twitter.com/hannahdahlen Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hannahgracedahlen and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannah.dahlen/ Her book The Canary in the Coal Mine on women who birth outside the system. The brand new edition of Give Birth like a Feminist is available in all good book shops. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/

In this episode I speak to Holly Dunsworth, a biological anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island. Holly’s work came to my attention when I was researching Give Birth like a Feminist, and discovered she had challenged a theory called The Obstetrical Dilemma. You might not be familiar with that name, but you WILL be familiar with the ideas behind it, essentially that childbirth is more difficult for us humans than for any other mammal, because we’re an intelligent species with large brains, BUT we’ve also evolved to walk upright. This ‘obstetric dilemma’ suggests that there’s something different, or even WRONG, about human females. But, luckily, Holly Dunsworth has had the foresight to challenge this incredibly male-centred way of looking at women’s bodies.  Read Holly's paper on the obstetric dilemma: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/soc_facpubs/19/ You can find Holly on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollydunsworth/ More about Holly's academic work: https://web.uri.edu/soc-anth/meet/holly-dunsworth/ The brand new edition of Give Birth like a Feminist is available in all good book shops. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Birth-Like-Feminist-choices/dp/000831313X/