One singular mama is back for YOU dear listeners, with a fantastic guest for your listening enjoyment: the one, the only: Kevin the Husband!

Kevin is here to share his meal prep strategies (chicken pot pie: OUT, ravioli: IN), share date night stories and to participate in our long running tradition: My Horrible Poop Moment of the Day.

Kevin also talks about being a small town queer, preferring the quieter slower pace. There is the odd time that being trans pops up, like in interactions with medical professionals, but as Kevin tells us, he lives a half-invisible life, with people able to read some flavor of queer from his aura, but aren't quite able to pin point it down ("bisexual, perhaps?").

We finish off by musing the role that queerness plays in our role as parents, and end it off by agreeing to go out on a date soon.

It's a fun cute episode, hope you all enjoy!

Beloved listeners, the mamas have a treat for you: our very first guest on the podcast, featuring the marvelous Bethany Lee from Protect Our Water Source!

Bethany is a fellow mother, and like Justine, has roots in the city and has fallen in love with the rural Quebec life in recent years. In this wide ranging interview, we talk about loving and belonging in our communities, how being mothers shapes our hopes for the future, and how we should share the most precious public resource: water.

Bethany is the spokesperson for an organization called "Protect Our Water Source", which become organized when it was revealed there would be a commercial water pumping venture in Hinchinbrook. Her community of Powerscourt was both surprised and concerned by the lack of information provided, and the organization has sprung forth to push for more disclosure on how water testing was performed for this project.

She takes us through the timelines of the project, what risks water pumping poses to the nearby farms, how the community has responded and what the next steps are.

It's a fantastic episode, both for locals and all those who have ever wondered: "Who is water for?"

Bethany would say: "it's for the people".

Sources we mentioned:

Protect Our Water Source: https://protectourwatersource.ca/

"The History of the County of Huntingdon [Quebec]: And of the Seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois from Their Settlement to the Year 1838" by Robert Sellers

Gleaner: "Farm To Food" podcast

Eau Secours: https://eausecours.org/

Fans of "Loud and Proud Mamas", you are in for a TREAT of an episode! It's finally that time: Laura's birth story!

To kick things off, Justine talks about celebrating her 2nd year anniversary at the World Final's for short track speed skaing in Montreal. It was there that afternoon that 1) she learned of the existence of William Dandjinou and 2) instantly became a committed, die hard fan. Tragedy struck in his race, and it is the opinion of this podcast that Mr William Dandjinou was robbed of his gold medal #justicefordadjinou

After that intro, we dive into what you've all been waiting for: Laura's incredible rollercoaster journey through labour and birth. This story has everything: a promising beginning, navigating medical beaurocracy, the power of family and friend support, and the complex emotions of having a different delivery experience that you had envisioned.

Justine is the one who writes these episode descriptions, so I will state this with no ego: this is truly a beautiful story of doing your best in the face of physical agony, emotional turbulence and seeing a journey through to it's end. Laura talk with honesty about pain, fear, grief and how these feelings mix with joy during birth. It's truly a must listen episode.

The podcast that Laura listened to while in birth was called "Crime Junkie" (linked below).

If you are interested in sharing YOUR birth episode, or being a guest on this podcast, let us know! We are collecting ideas for future episodes, and we'd love to have you on! Get in touch with us at loudandproudmamas@gmail.com.

EDIT: In the first version of this episode, Justine (me) pronounced William Dandjinou's name as "William Danjilou". Apologies to Wiliams Dandjinou and his fanbase, I misread his name and spoke incorrectly. I have since recorded the parts where I say his name, so if you notice some weird edits, that would be why. Keep going for gold William, we are big fans :)