everymum

This week's guest is media mogul Alexandra Ryan, owner and brains behind the incredible Irish media brand, Goss Media. Ali joins me this week to talk all things egg freezing. Having undergone the process twice in recent years, Ali knows the ins and outs. We discuss her motivation for embarking on the process, the financial implications, the side effects of taking so many hormones, the physical aftermath of the retrieval and so much more. One of the things I love about Ali is that she's always so transparent and honest about things, and her egg retrieval process is no different – she's showing the realities of every step of the journey and is doing so to encourage others to talk about it more openly. She believes there's an unnecessary shame around not reaching those societally imposed milestones we all know exist, and she's doing things her own way. I loved this chat and I know you will too.

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide/suicidal ideation. My guest this week, and our first back for Season 14, is Sophie White. A prolific and massively successful author and podcaster, Sophie is also mother to three boys between 10 and 4 and has battled with mental illness since she was in her early 20s. As Sophie says herself in the episode, it's not often someone can pinpoint exactly when they became mentally ill, but she can – a drug-induced psychosis in 2007 led to her being hospitalised and later diagnosed with Bipolar 2. We chat about everything from gender stereotypes and how trucks and cars just seemed to manifest in her home in the same way dolls and nail polish manifested in mine, to how she coped through multiple serious mental illness relapses. We also touched on the issue of responsibility and mental illness, and whether it's an irresponsible thing to do to have children when you know you're likely to be unwell. It's a fascinating episode in which I let Sophie do the talking – I couldn't compete with her eloquence and bravery and honesty on the subject – so I really hope you enjoy it.

Can you believe we've reached the end of the season! My last guest for season 13 is the very lovely Kelly Fitzsimons – formerly known on Instagram at least as MissEllaMayandMommy. Kelly had her daughter Ella aged 19 and her following online grew as the two of them grew up together. Sharing outfit posts with matching dresses, their mother daughter relationship was (and is!) goals. Kelly went on to have her son Mac in her early thirties, leaving a 13 year age gap between her two children. We talked this week about that age gap, what she knows now that she wishes she knew as a teenage mam, what has changed in the intervening years, and how threats sometimes *are* the best way to get children to do what you need them to do. Kelly also talks about the beautiful relationship her 14 year old has with her one year old, and how while one is worried about boys and periods, the other is teething. It sounds like delightful chaos! Kelly is so laid back about parenting and it's a very refreshing listen for that reason. Enjoy, and I'm delighted to say I'll be back next season for more amazing episodes.

I was so so grateful to this week's guest for joining me on the podcast. The lovely Dominique Nugent so bravely chatted to me about her experience, earlier this year, of late stage miscarriage. Dominique was a day short of 16 weeks when she delivered her baby, who had not survived in utero. She so generously decided now was the time to talk about it, start to finish, with me and with the listeners to the podcast, saying that she knows if listening will help just one person through their own tough time, she'll be happy she did it. If miscarriage is in any way a sensitive subject for you currently, maybe hold off on listening to what is an incredibly emotional episode – both of us cried a lot – but if you think it could help in your healing process, I know Dominique's courage was inspiring to me and could be to you too. I'll be back soon with another episode.

My guest this week is my lovely friend, author, and journalist Liadán Hynes, who is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to parenting, and life in general really. She's a single parent to one daughter who's 9 years old. She's self-employed and works flexibly to be as present as she can for her little girl and writes often about her experiences as a working single mother. We talk about everything from facing what could be lonely weekends without your child or children, the imbalance that exists for mothers in the workplace and so much more. Lia's got so much of her own experience to draw from, but as an empathetic and resonant writer, she has so much wisdom to share from years of interviewing. A truly lovely chat, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. *Note the cards mentioned by Liadán about the mental load mothers carry are called the Fair Play Game, created by Eve Rodsky.

My guest this week is Carla Kelly, who is one of the founders of Ask The Midwife, a company that aims to support parents from pregnancy through to postpartum and beyond. A midwife herself, we asked you guys, our cherished listeners, to put questions to her that you might need advice on. We talked about an incredible grandparents refresher course that they run (totally genius if you ask me) their various antenatal and postnatal classes, how they help build a community of mothers so no matter what you're going through you feel less alone, and there's a little bit of chat about the various colours of baby poop. We cover all bases here on everymum! Anyway – enjoy my chat with Carla and I'll speak to you next week.Note: If you have a specific medical query, it's recommended to speak to your GP.