Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave

Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave

Emma Barnett

£12.99

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When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service.

Learn more in this episode

Emma Barnett: 'I have a hypertonic pelvic floor'

A hypertonic pelvic floor is where the muscles are so tight they can’t relax. It can happen after childbirth. It can be incredibly painful. And we can add it to a long list of things we’ve never heard of but probably should.

In this episode, Helen is joined by the award-winning broadcaster and journalist Emma Barnett who says a hypertonic pelvic floor is one of the ‘most upsetting’ things she’s ever been through. Emma’s not afraid to smash stigmas. She's literally written the book on periods and spoken openly about living with endometriosis. But a tight pelvic floor? She’d just never come across it.
‘I would have loved to have heard this conversation when my son was around three months old and I was scrabbling about on the internet late at night thinking ‘Am I losing my mind here?’
Helen and Emma talk about awareness, a need for research and how ‘women’s issues’ don’t always get the platform they deserve.

Emma presents Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 in the UK and is a regular on BBC 2's Newsnight
You can find Emma's book 'It's About Bloody Time. Period.' here
She's @emmabarnett on Instagram and @Emmabarnett on Twitter

For more information on hypertonic pelvic floor listen to:
Find Helen @whymumsdontjump on Instagram and Twitter or at www.whymumsdontjump.com

To find a pelvic health physiotherapist in the UK, Emma mentioned Mummy MOT or you could try the Squeezy Directory

For more information and support about Endometriosis, go to Endometriosis UK

This episode is from Series 2 of Why Mums Don't Jump.

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