Happy Mum Happy Baby

On this episode of Parenting SOS, Gi welcomes the founder of My Bump Pay, Tobi Asare. Tobi was inspired to create a platform to help give women the confidence to achieve their career goals amidst the barriers that can hold back working mothers. Her book,The Blend: How to Successfully Manage a Career and a Family, is all about overcoming the challenges that come with working motherhood.Tobi and Gi had so much to talk about, from negotiating maternity leave to returning to work with confidence. Plus Tobi answers your questions on how to thrive as a working parent.

In this episode of Happy Mum Happy Baby, Giovanna sits down with Stacey Heale, a writer, campaigner, and the author of ‘Now is Not the Time for Flowers’, a candid exploration of grief written by Stacey following the death of her husband Greg.Stacey tells Gi about the day Greg was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer and how they navigated the realities of parenting their two daughters through his terminal illness.

Anna Williamson has many strings to her bow. She’s an author, presenter, podcaster, life coach, counsellor, and mental health campaigner. She is also mum to two children and our guest on this week’s episode!Anna opens up to Gi about her perinatal and postnatal anxiety, the lessons she learned from her difficult first birth, and the importance of postnatal care.Trigger warning: this episode contains discussions around subjects including traumatic birth and postnatal depression. If you feel this may be a difficult listen, please choose another episode.

We have a 4-time Olympic medalist in the Happy Mum Happy Baby studio this week! Becky Adlington is Britain's most successful female Olympic swimmer, having won two gold medals at the Beijing 2008 olympics when she was just 19, and then two bronze in London 2012.Becky tells Gi that becoming a mum has brought out her softer side, plus shares the story of meeting her husband on a dating app. She also opens up about the devastating loss of her baby daughter after she suffered a late-stage miscarriage.Trigger warning: this episode contains discussions around subjects including miscarriage and baby loss. If you feel this may be a difficult listen, please choose another episode.

Giovanna’s guest this week is Youtube royalty Tanya Burr! One of the UK’s first influencers back in 2009, Tanya’s makeup tutorials and fashion vlogs have gained her millions of followers over the years. Now a mum to baby Sage and back on Youtube after a 5 year break, there was lots to catch up on!Tanya tells Gi all about her motherhood journey so far, including the sickness she experienced during pregnancy, plus the decision behind her return to making long-form content.

On this month’s Parenting SOS, Giovanna sits down with Kirstie Beaven, Founder and Editor in Chief of Sonshine, a quarterly magazine all about raising boys in a more equal world.Kirstie felt like the messaging around being a ‘boy mum’ was always one dimensional - it was all about stinky socks, dirty houses and muddy football boots! And so she was inspired to create a space that spoke about the many other aspects of motherhood, and provide resources that could help us as parents talk to our boys about gender equality.Kirstie and Gi discuss the importance of encouraging emotional intelligence in our children and why we shouldn’t be afraid to challenge gender stereotypes. Plus Kirstie answers our community’s questions.

It’s something a little bit different on this week’s show. Giovanna’s guest is the bestselling author Emma Gannon, who is child-free by choice. Emma opens up to Gi about her personal decision not to have children and the importance of finding supportive child-free friendships. They also talk about how choosing not to have kids doesn’t mean having to grow apart from your friends who do, plus the societal pressure put on women to experience motherhood. You can read more from Emma over on The Hyphen

Gi continues her conversation with Louise Thompson...This week Giovanna is joined by former Made in Chelsea star, author and businesswoman, Louise Thompson.Louise’s life changed when she suffered severe complications during the birth of her son Leo, which left her in Intensive Care. Since then she has suffered with PTSD and continued health problems, resulting in recently being fitted with a stoma bag.This is the second part of Louise’s candid conversation with Gi where she describes the impact her experiences have had on her mental health whilst also coming to terms with the challenges of motherhood.Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions around subjects including traumatic birth and PTSD. If you feel this may be a difficult listen, please choose another episode.

This week Giovanna is joined by former Made in Chelsea star, author and businesswoman, Louise Thompson.Louise’s life changed when she suffered severe complications during the birth of her son Leo, which left her in Intensive Care. Since then she has suffered with PTSD and continued health problems, resulting in recently being fitted with a stoma bag.This is the first part of Louise’s candid conversation with Gi where she describes the impact her experiences have had on her mental health whilst also coming to terms with the challenges of motherhood.Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions around subjects including traumatic birth and PTSD. If you feel this may be a difficult listen, please choose another episode.