Welcome to Pregnant & Strong - this podcast aims to help more people feel mentally and physically strong in pregnancy. From myth busting, to conversations with experts - many mums themselves, to practical tips and sharing of research - the aim of each episode is to leave you feeling motivated and most importantly, empowered to move more during your pregnancy.

This chat is an honest and, at times, quite eye-opening chat about pregnancy and birth. This episode must come with a trigger warning - we discuss everything from baby loss, to sharing our birth stories in detail, to other pregnancy-related symptoms. Whilst we hope that the chat goes some way to open up the narrative around pregnancy and birth, and know that many of you will find this relatable and hopefully helpful, it may not be the right time to listen if the above content may be upsetting or triggering for you at this time. It is an extremely frank and unfiltered chat - and one that I think should be shared more and more often but it needs to be the right time for you to listen - so please feel free to skip this one or come back to it (just to be aware we begin to talk about birth in the second half of the pod so if you’d like to listen until then just stop when we get to that point).

I really hope this honest chat is supportive and that you find listening to two mums talk about their experiences, unfiltered, as refreshing as we did recording it.

Hayley’s recommendations to take away this week were:

Is it Normal - Jessie Ware podcast

Hypnobirthing Course - The Positive Birthing Company

Don’t forget to drop your comments wherever you listen to your podcasts, share with others, and spread the word.

You can find me on Instagram @strongwithionamumby

You can find Hayley on Instagram @hayleydoeshealth and on her nutritional therapy account @nesting.nutrition and her website https://www.nestingnutrition.co.uk/ - please do reach out to her if you are interested in working with her.