Laura Gwilliam | Mother, homebirth, hyperemesis, sleep deprivation, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, isolation, patriarchy, meditation

This week on the podcast I am talking to Laura Gwilliam, mother to Rui who is nearly 3 years old now and soon to be brother to another baby on the way! Laura describes motherhood as the greatest spiritual journey she has ever be on. She shares how her their family have shifted the lifestyle to the needs of their growing family, birthing Rui in the depths of the Scottish highlands to quieten the noise, connect to nature, slowdown and be free but now as Rui nears 3 wanting to meet his need for more of a social life their next move is towards more of a community. Laura had a beautiful slow homebirth and first few weeks of postpartum life being cared for by her husband, her parents and 2 female friends in the spring sunshine. We discuss the bits Laura found the hardest in becoming a new mum and that included loosing the freedom and spaciousness of her previous life, going against the grain with different parenting decisions, and the trenches of sleep deprivation and how that has a knock on effect to every aspect of mothering. We touch on rage and anger at the patriarchy and how under seen and undervalued motherhood it is. but how integral it is to a healthy society. Laura works 1:1 with mothers who want to carve out small pockets of time to connect to themselves through different meditative practices and she feels that this work, mothering her children and mothering other mothers, is her dharma, her life purpose, and in walking this path it brings her back to herself, the most aligned and authentic self and her very most pink.