Erin’s Tokophobia Healing Journey
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
I'm thrilled to share with you another incredible tokophobia healing journey. As the host of the Fear Free Childbirth podcast, I have had the profound privilege of connecting with many incredible women, each on her unique path to overcoming the fears and anxieties that accompany pregnancy and childbirth. Today, I want to share with you one of the most touching and inspiring stories to grace my podcast – the profound journey of Erin, a woman who bravely faced her tokophobia and emerged with newfound confidence and strength. Tokophobia, an intense fear of childbirth, is more common than many...
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Overcoming Birth Trauma: Heather's Journey Positive Birth
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In today's episode, I am joined by Heather to dive into her incredible journey from a fear-filled first birth to two positive and empowering experiences. Heather shares her deep emotional work in overcoming the negative feelings from her traumatic first birth and the steps she took to prepare herself mentally and emotionally for her second pregnancy. From therapy to Emotion Code, to Head Trash Clearance and hypnobirthing, Heather explores the various tools she used to transform her mindset and approach childbirth with a newfound sense of confidence. Here are some of the things we talked...
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Celeste's Journey from Tokophobia to Inner Peace
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In this episode, I sit down with the inspirational Celeste to delve deep into her transformative journey of overcoming fears and phobias related to childbirth and pregnancy. Throughout the episode, Celeste candidly shares her profound and life-altering experiences, providing invaluable insights for anyone navigating similar challenges. This episode is for you if you want to have a peep under the bonnet to better understand what it looks like EXACTLY to clear your head trash (tokophobia, anxiety or indeed anything else) using Head Trash Clearance. We get down to brass tacks and...
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Periods & Pregnancy: Learning to love your cycle
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In today's episode, I have a thought-provoking conversation with Elizabeth Tidwell, a menstrual cycle coach, as she shares her journey of healing and embracing the power of her menstrual cycle. I wanted to talk about periods because even though they're not front and centre of the pregnancy and birth experience - they are! We obsess over when they stop - are we pregnant??? - and then we obsess over when they start again. They are a HUGE part of this. And, more importantly, I wanted to talk about them because I don't think that we appreciate our periods much. There's lots of negativity around...
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Solo Parenting: Steph's Choice
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In this episode, we dive into a powerful and inspiring conversation with my guest, Steph Bennet, as she shares her experience of choosing to solo parent. Steph's story is a testament to the strength and resilience of women who navigate both career success and motherhood on their own terms. Join us as we explore the challenges, triumphs, and joys of Steph's unique journey into motherhood. Steph made the decision to prioritise a career that allowed her to have control over her work without judgment. She is a strong advocate for not compromising but optimising her life to create a balanced and...
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Transforming Birth Culture: Resolving Conflict in the Birth Space for Improved Maternity Care
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
Birth is a profound and transformative experience, but unfortunately, conflicts and disagreements within the birth space can sometimes overshadow the joy and empowerment that should be at the forefront. In this episode of the Fear Free Childbirth podcast, Jenny Koslow, a perinatal educator with four decades of experience, sheds light on the issues of conflict and tension within the birth world. Understanding the Birth Space: Jenny begins by sharing her wealth of knowledge and stories gathered from birth workers around the globe. She highlights the conflicting views and struggles...
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How Puberty Trauma Shapeshifts into Fear of Pregnancy and Body Image
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
Today's episode is a deeply insightful conversation between Alexia and a previous guest, Ramona who recently shared her story of overcoming tokophobia. They share personal experiences and explore the connection between puberty trauma, body dysmorphia, and the fear of pregnancy and childbirth, known as tokophobia. In this thought-provoking episode, we delve into our own experiences during puberty, our struggles with body image, and the impact it has on our adulthood, especially as they transition from maiden to mother. Here are some of the things we touched on during this conversation; ...
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From Phobia to Calling: From Fearful Mama to Confident Midwife
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In this episode, I have an incredible story of transformation to share with you. My guest, Jessica, was once plagued with fear when it came to pregnancy and childbirth. However, she conquered her fears and had a positive birth experience that inspired her to make a bold career change. Jessica talks about her journey from fear to becoming a midwife. It's a remarkable turnaround that showcases the power of overcoming our deepest fears and embracing new paths in life. But before we delve into Jessica's inspiring story, I want to share with you a tale that highlights what can happen...
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Conversations with Spirit Babies
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
In this episode, my special guest is Emma Moon, a cosmic fertility guide and a spirit baby medium. Emma's unique background includes a Bachelor of Science in nursing and expertise as an integrative health practitioner. She blends both science and spirituality in her work, supporting women through their fertility journey, pregnancy, and conscious birth. Emma's approach involves connecting with the energy and spirit of her clients, helping them navigate emotional and spiritual blocks that may affect their fertility. Through a combination of nutrition, lifestyle changes, and intuitive guidance,...
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Measuring Healing Progress in Pregnancy and Birth
Fear Free Childbirth Podcast with Alexia Leachman
Welcome back to Fear Free Childbirth! In today's episode, I want to delve into the fascinating concept of the Map of Consciousness. Have you ever invested time and energy into courses, therapy or retreats to bring about a change in how you feel, only to wonder if they're really making a difference? We all have, right? Today, I want share a powerful tool that you can use to measure the effectiveness of these activities in overcoming fear, anxiety, and finding calm and peace. Once I discovered this method of measuring healing progress I decided to revisit my own healing journey around overcoming...
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Last week I shared an interview with Independent Midwife, Nicky Grace to showcase the wonderful women that are midwives, but also to highlight the challenge that Uk Independent Midwives are facing due to a new ruling that will prevent them from continuing their valuable work. But, to be honest, there is nothing more powerful that sharing a real life story of what the difference an independent midwife can make for a woman. Well the story I'm sharing today IS that story.
Today I'm chatting to Hannah Palamara who is a Birth Photographer and Doula. During my chat Hannah shares her difficult journey that ultimately led to her incredible healing VBAC for her third baby. During our chat, Hannah shares how she came to work as a birth photograher, but we also touch on so many worthwhile topics, including
- how the words you hear during your pregnancy carry so much influence
- how vulnerable you can find yourself without adequate emotional support
- the situations that led to her c-sections
- the value and doing the "inner work" and working on your "stuff"
- how being told "your pelvis is too small to birth a baby" makes you feel - and how utter rubbish it is!
- why she decided to hire an independent midwife
- why she decided to opt for a home birth
- why you should absolutely consider hiring a birth photographer
- what a birth photographer can help you to capture when it comes to your birth
And brilliantly, since my chat with Hannah, she has received an honourable mention for her photography work by the Internation Association of Birth Photograhers; the only person in the UK to be mentioned! Yay! You can see the competition here birthphotographyimagecompetition.com
To find out more about Hannah's work visit her website at - www.treeoflifedoulaphotography.com . You can find her on Instagram Tree of life doula photography or on Facebook - Tree of life doula photography