What does the research tell us about the role of hormones in a cesarean delivery where if labour is slowed down, what happens to all those natural birth processes in the body?

That's such a good question.

I just recently went to a big convergence of the rebellious midwives, Dr Melanie Jackson's incredible, and they talked about some of the research around that.

It does impact the development of those hormones, the oxytocin, and the prolactin, which then has flow on effects for breastfeeding.

Every woman's body is different and unique.

Our births are all unique.

But definitely it does impede the growth of those hormones to enable healing.

you're overworked you're underpaid you're invisible and as you say the mum becomes the cloak that you put on rather than I am a woman who has just done this extraordinary thing and I'm responsible 24 7 for this tiny little fragile being and yet it's overlooked it's misunderstood and it is invisible to so many people how do we elevate matrescence elevate this idea that it is absolutely extraordinary to become a mother and to birth a human and raise a human

Why have we not heard of this word? Have we even lived through it? What does it mean for us? Because I think it's a really beautiful invitation, this word.

Oh, my goodness.

It's my favorite topic, Penny.

So I'm so glad that you asked me.

And it's an enormous word that we all should know.

So we now all know menopause.

We've heard of that.

sad or frustrated or feel helpless or my baby's not doing what I think it should be doing and we're feeling like we're doing it wrong and so I think what this appreciation of it's natural and normal we're not necessarily doing it in a way that supports it being natural and normal like you know this sense of isolating a woman or not having community and cross-generational support and information that's not supporting women so it's not our fault but we're still in it so I think someone listening there's possibly a bit of like wow that makes so much sense and I feel seen because I I lived that I had that experience and I know what it feels like to not have oxytocin on tap or I know how much being around young people provides that the touch and the the love and but what about the grief that i'm feeling now too like i feel like there's a sadness that i have that gosh if only i'd known that if only i had understood this phase of life from that perspective do you talk to that i think that's why you actually got into it too isn't it you were in the grief of it

back.

Okay, great.

So I have two kids.

One is 10, my son, and then my daughter is five.

I had birth trauma with my son, didn't know, just kind of kept going with parenting, right? And parenting, parenting, parenting, not stopping to consider what was really happening in my body.

And then I had my daughter during the pandemic.

So this was in 2020.

I just think we all just want to