Notes: From Motherhood

EP 14. What We Carry Into the Birth Room & Why it Matters — Emma's Story

What if the hardest part of giving birth has nothing to do with the birth itself? In this episode, Jade sits down with Emma — a mother of two and small business owner — for a tender, honest conversation about the things we carry into pregnancy, labour and motherhood long before our babies arrive. Emma had two C-sections, four years apart, and two completely different experiences. The difference wasn't medical. It was what she came to understand about herself — and what she finally let herself say out loud. She shares what it was like to go into her first birth with her childhood trauma buried and unspoken, the obstetrician who gently saw through her at her six-week check, and how being honest the second time around changed everything. This is a conversation about what surfaces when we're at our most vulnerable, the quiet power of telling just one trusted person, and how Emma slowly found her way back to herself — not through anything big, but through the smallest, most ordinary moments of joy. In this episode, mama, we talk about: * Why mental preparation matters as much as the nursery or the birth plan * How our past can resurface in the birth room without warning * What changes when someone helps you carry the weight * Building a slower, more intentional life out of the need to stop people-pleasing * Finding "her" again, years on — and why it's the little things that bring us home * What it's really like to revisit your birth story through journaling 💛 A gentle heads up: this episode includes discussion of childhood trauma and abuse. Please take a moment to check in with yourself before listening, and come back another day if today isn't the right one. As always, Notes From Motherhood is here to walk beside you — it doesn't replace therapy. Want to do some of this reflective work yourself? DM the word JOURNAL to @yourmamajourney.co on Instagram for a free sample of the Embracing Your Birth Journey journals.

EP13. Matrescence Doesn't Sink in Right Away: Carla on Motherhood, Milk & Mum Shoes

Jade sits down with Carla — a Venezuelan-born, Montreal-based urban planner and mum to a two-year-old — for an honest, unhurried conversation about matrescence and the long, slow work of becoming a mother. Carla doesn't sugarcoat any of it. She talks about the year of therapy before trying to conceive, the pregnancy loss that came before her son, the eighteen months of feeling "uncomfortable" in her new role, and the day she pumped breastmilk in an office bathroom and quietly wondered how any of this is actually allowed. It's an episode full of the contradictions matrescence is built on. Carla shares the resentment she felt toward her husband — a deeply involved, loving dad — simply for being able to walk out the door. The cool mum shoes she bought to feel like herself again. The breastfeeding moment by the St Lawrence River that turned the hardest thing she's ever done into one of the most beautiful. And why she sat down and wrote her own birth story — not for anyone else, but to take back control of the words. If you're in the thick of it right now — folding washing, breastfeeding, driving, surviving — this one's for you. Carla's parting wisdom: time is elastic. Find the small pleasures. Put the music on.

EP12. The Story Almost Every Mother Is Carrying (And Never Quite Tells)

Almost every mother has told her birth story. But almost none of us have told the whole thing. We've told the dinner party version. "It was long but fine." "Ended up being a C-section, but the baby was healthy, so." The edited, tidied-up version that fits into the space other people are comfortable holding. Meanwhile, the full story — the one with the feelings attached, the thing the midwife said, the look on your partner's face, what you were actually thinking when they put the baby on your chest — is still sitting inside you. Shaping how you mother. Underneath the impatience, the anxiety, the quiet voice that says "maybe I'm just not cut out for this." In this episode, I talk about why so many of us never get to tell the whole thing, the research that proves you're not imagining it, what matrescence actually is, and what starts to shift when a mother finally puts her story somewhere outside of herself. Whether your baby is three months old or ten years old — this one's for you. 🎁 Free community, journal prompts & book chapters → Mama Inner Circle [https://www.skool.com/your-mama-journey-7063/about] 📖 The Birth Story Journal → yourmamajourney.com [www.yourmamajourney.com] 📸 Follow along → @yourmamajourney [https://www.instagram.com/yourmamajourney.co/] Alexandra Sacks, TED Talk →A new way to think about the transition to motherhood [https://www.ted.com/talks/alexandra_sacks_a_new_way_to_think_about_the_transition_to_motherhood]

EP11. Postpartum Anxiety Isn't Your Fault—Here's What's Actually Happening

That constant checking. The "what ifs" you can't turn off. The feeling like you're the only mum experiencing this? You're not broken. About 1 in 4 postpartum women experience maternal anxiety—and it looks different from regular worry. In this episode, Jade (an accredited mental health social worker) explains the difference between worry and anxiety, why motherhood changes everything, and a simple technique using attention-shifting that actually helps your brain recalibrate threat signals. You're not meant to survive motherhood in a state of fear. This is how you start to change that.

EP10. Your C-Section Recovery: What Nobody Actually Told You

You were cleared at six weeks. So why does your body still feel like it's trying to tell you something? In this episode, accredited mental health social worker and mum Jade Marklew gets real about C-section recovery — starting with her own emergency surgery after sudden onset preeclampsia, and the moment she walked out of her six-week check feeling anything but healed. Jade breaks down why the information most mums receive after a C-section is medically accurate but fundamentally incomplete — and how a system built on seven-minute appointments was never designed to guide you through what real recovery actually looks like. You'll hear the truth about the 12-month recovery timeline your doctor didn't mention, what's actually happening to your scar, nerves, core, and pelvic floor at each stage, and why your emotional healing may not follow the same path as your physical one. Jade also speaks honestly about birth trauma, body image, returning to sex, and why grieving the birth you didn't have doesn't make you ungrateful — it makes you human. This episode is for every mum who's been told she should be back to normal by now. You're not broken. The information was just incomplete. Notes from Motherhood is hosted by Jade Marklew, founder of Your Mama Journey. This podcast does not replace professional therapy.