The 5 Live Must Watch blog Feed

Bump Club: Live from a maternity unit

2013-07-08T15:19:37+00:00

Jo Black is a BBC reporter:

There's nothing quite like a royal baby to generate column inches and make many of us go a little clucky. We are a matter of days (or maybe even less by the time you read this) away from a royal birth.

It seems that babies are making news like never before. Tomorrow we’ll be looking at claims from the country’s top midwife that some mums are not getting the choice of birth they want.

Are you a new mum? Did you get the birth you planned? Was it what you expected?

You’re not going to be able to escape this sort of baby talk this month. The world is waiting with baited breath and social media is already revving up into a frenzy.

Just check Twitter - Kate's bump already has many unofficial accounts and thousands of followers! Will it be a boy or a girl? Did the nurse doing the scan not have a quick peek?

Then there's the name to think about. Will the Duke and Duchess stick with tradition or could we have a Harper Eight on our hands? We are told there is a short list and the name is still undecided.

You may have noticed that here on 5 live we've been thinking about babies and bumps for some time now. Tony Livesey, Edith Bowman, Colin Murray and many others have been musing over all things maternal.

On Tuesday our Bump Club journey culminates at one of the busiest maternity units in the country. Richard Bacon will bring you his programme live from the Leicester Royal Infirmary between 2 and 4pm and I will be clocking on with the midwifery team there from 7am.

There are around 11,000 babies born every year in Leicester – in effect a baby boom. There are so many babies being born that the hospital is undergoing major building work so it can cope with the extra demand.

I will be talking to midwives about their work, the pressures they face day to day and ask what it's like to work in such a demanding and rewarding role.

These are the women - and men - who have seen it all and have story after story to tell.

We'll chat to parents-to-be and brand new mums and dads. We'll meet the students looking to become the next generation of midwives and we'll be speaking to the doctors who look after the tiniest and sickest of babies in neonatal care.

It promises to be a fascinating and eye opening day and who knows, bumps may become babies live on air.

Richard Bacon is presenting his programme live from the maternity units from 14.00 - 16.00

Bump Club will be there from 7am providing 5 live with updates throughout the day

The rise of the C-section

2013-07-02T14:30:44+00:00

By Bump Club contributor Beverley Turner

Being somewhat addicted to birth, I felt truly honoured to be invited by Bump Club parents Lorna and Justin Morley Medd to witness the birth of their baby last week. Like all of our mums to date (nine in total), this child would emerge by caesarean section (C-section). The World Health Organization states that no more than 10-15% of women should be giving birth under the surgeon’s knife. Yet in the UK roughly 25% of babies are born in this way, with the figure at some hospitals touching 35%.

Some people say that is fine: what matters most is a healthy baby. This attitude saddens those who see the longer term damage done to women whose confidence is shaken by the sense that they had their birth wrestled from them. Sit in on a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) discussion group and the effects are all too clear. These women will weep that they ‘failed;’ that they weren’t told of their options during birth; that they were ignored, bullied or humiliated. They can feel that their bodies let them down and they were labelled by that truly dreadful phrase, “Failure to progress”. These can be a hugely destructive emotions - a sense of failure plays a key part in almost every case of post-natal depression.

Perhaps in order to avoid this disappointment we should merely lower women’s expectations: if we expect birth to be hideous, we won’t be surprised when it turns complicated and traumatic. Isn’t it better if women accept that doctors know best and they should shut up and put up with medical direction? But wouldn’t that be extraordinary? It’s hard to imagine that men would accept a similar doctrine if such a personal, exposing, painful, important and life-changing experience applied to them.

Sadly, low expectations – and abstract terror – are already having a self-fulfilling prophetic affect on birth. Fear increases adrenalin which stops hormone Oxytocin, and therefore labour, in its tracks. Stop-start labours are helped with augmenting interventions of artificial hormones and both mother and baby can become distressed. Every global study into birth outcomes concludes in one way or another that women need to birth with a midwife that they know and trust. For the vast majority of women, unless they subscribe to their hospital’s Homebirth team, this is a remote possibility. It is no coincidence that many mums report a slow and stalling labour that suddenly kicks in when the shift changes and they meet eyes with the midwife they know and like who has just clocked on.

Lorna’s obstetrician decided that her patient’s best chance of avoiding a similarly depression-making scenario was to opt for a pre-labour C-section. Lorna talks of the lack of control she had last time and an elective section certainly gave her some of that. She was calm and chatty throughout. A different doctor might have given her a one-to-one midwife specializing in post-traumatic stress derived from birth trauma who would have supported her through a normal birth. The best hope is that every woman is happy with whatever decision is made together. Some couples will be unaware that each doctor brings their own preferences to the table. This is partly why rates vary across different hospitals. This is also why it is often misleading to say that more women are ‘choosing’ C-sections; they may be unaware that they have any choice whatsoever.

Action that is – or is not – taken in early labour seems to play a huge part in the likelihood of emergency C-sections. Although completely rigorous statistics are hard to come by due to the many variables, most studies suggest that induction and epidurals are more likely to lead to an emergency section as women cannot ‘feel’ the body’s natural impulses or get into positions that will help a baby descend. There is also the role of ‘defensive practise’: the fear of being sued that tips the elbow of the deciding surgeon in favour of the unit rather than the individual woman’s experience.

It has become almost inappropriate to mention the risks of c-section in case women are made to “feel guilty” (although if you say you fancy a homebirth it’s ok to be gasped at for your recklessness). But if we agree that informed choice is the best case scenario, it’s important to say that babies born by C-section are five times more likely to suffer asthma and allergies because they aren’t exposed to healthy bacteria in the birth canal. Women who have c-sections are more likely to have difficulty conceiving again and have a higher incidence of miscarriage. Heads of maternity units have told me they’ve seen a rise in infected scars due to poor post-natal care.

The fatality rate for all caesarean sections is six times that for vaginal delivery, and even for elective caesarean section the rate is almost three times as great. In the absence of other evidence (eg, from randomised controlled trials of different modes of delivery), it is not appropriate to be dogmatic about best practice, but any decision to undertake major surgery with an associated maternal mortality should be taken very seriously by all concerned.

Of course there are instances whereby emergency and elective sections are medically or psychologically vital. We are so fortunate to skilled surgeons who can work around tricky Placenta positions or unwell babies that may suffer from the stresses of labour. And the NICE guidelines now recommend that any woman requesting a section is given proper counselling beforehand. Thanks to misogynistic phrases such as “Too posh to push” C-section has been sold as the “easy option” – as though women were receiving a manicure whilst they baby is pulled out. But ask any woman who has had both and most will tell you that they’d take a normal delivery over a C-section any day.

What struck me as I watched Lorna’s daughter arrive is that sections take a massive physical toll on the body. The Obstetrician and her assistant yanked and pulled at the uterus – a magnificently strong muscle – to get the baby out and spent nearly 40 minutes sewing Lorna back up again. It wasn’t gory or shocking. It just made a drug-free, normal birth look easy.

Medicine can be our life-saver but we are oddly conditioned not to question or criticise a doctor’s decision. Next time you hear a woman labelled as “Failing to progress” ask if there’s a chance that she was “failed” by an over-worked and under-funded system that might have prioritised the department’s needs over hers. Over 85% of women can birth normally – as long as they are given the right support. Bump Club’s current 100% caesarean rate might be shocking now but it could prove to be a portent of the future.

Bump Club is on BBC Radio 5 live at 11am on Sunday mornings. You can subscribe to the podcast here.

Bump Club: Meeting Noelle - the birthing simulator

2013-06-21T12:43:57+00:00

By Bump Club contributor Beverley Turner:

Not being a huge fan of the mass mechanization of birth that hooks women up to monitors to avoid lawsuits, my heart slightly sinks at the notion of Noelle – a plastic mannequin, flat on her back who allows midwives to practise delivering babies. Her very existence makes me get all defensive on behalf of any woman who has ever felt ‘dehumanised’ during birth: left alone by over-stretched staff or coerced into procedures they don’t really need. Before I even meet Noelle, I fear that she and I aren’t going to hit it off.

Colin Murray and I arrive at Wexham Park Hospital near Slough. Like two expectant parents, we don’t know where to park; we’re not sure we’ve brought enough money for the pay and display and we are hopeless at finding the maternity unit.

“Hello, I’m here to watch a plastic woman have a baby,” Colin tells the receptionist. She pauses – wondering if his face is familiar because he was on the news that morning in relation to an escaped psychiatric patient. Nervously, she points towards a pair of swinging doors and we begin a thirty minute walk past indecipherable medical departments and sixteen coffee shops.

Thankful that we’re not actually in the latter throws of labour, we eventually find the maternity ward and meet the team of lovely birth practitioners who are very proud of their new birth simulator: Noelle.

Now, I am not easily shocked. I don’t embarrass easily and I can list over fifty words to reference female genitalia. But at the first sight of Noelle, Colin and I cling to each other in silent apoplectic disbelief. The designers have made an effort to add ‘realistic’ touches to this piece of training equipment: she wears a blonde wig, her eyebrows are pencilled and her physical proportions are intensely realistic. She’s wearing a hospital gown (to preserve her modesty?) and someone has kindly tucked a blanket around her waist. But she has no lips and stares gaping mouthed at the ceiling reminding me of a recent visit to The London Dungeons.

Quietly and diligently medical professionals buzz around her, pressing buttons on a nearby laptop and observing her vital signs. Even her chest slowly rises and falls. It is spooky beyond belief and when a male midwife pulls back her gown to spray lubricant on the place from which the plastic baby will soon emerge, Colin and I can do nothing but stare; silently hyperventilating.

A midwife explains that the beauty of such birth simulation is that it allows medical professionals to practise unusual situations that might otherwise only happen in a true medical emergency. From a wireless laptop, the metal corkscrew that pushes the plastic baby down the birth canal can be manipulated to enact any number of dramatic scenarios. Noelle is a truly modern woman: she comes with four dilating cervices, four umbilical cords and a set of three interchangeable vulva. What else does a girl need?

Apparently Noelle can be manipulated onto all fours, but she teaches students nothing about the empathy, emotional support, quiet communication and tenderness that labouring women need. My eyes water as I watch a midwife stretch back her plastic vagina to pull out the baby’s arm. And although the computer programme is making her yell, “I need to pee!” like a giant creepy doll, it’s no real substitute for observing real women have real babies.

The midwives maintain that she is a valuable piece of kit that complements their three years of medical training: they believe she is worth every penny of her £26,000 price tag. Personally, I don’t know how they get any work done with Noelle in the building – the potential for childish comedy is enormous.

I explained to Colin that supporting his new wife at the ‘head end’ is all about keeping her calm and reducing her stress. He tells me he knows what he’s doing: she’s not the first plastic woman he has had a relationship with. But as the baby crowns he turns to his Noelle and asks, “Is this a bad time to tell you I want an open relationship?” We’re all laughing too much to notice she needs more lube. Luckily the midwife leaps in with his spray – it’s just as well they know what they’re doing - Colin and I are clueless. We leave Slough determined to carry on talking about babies, but united in a belief that we’ll leave the real job to the experts: they're clearly much more grown up.

You can hear more about Colin and Beverley's experirences with Noelle on Bump Club on Sunday 23 June at 11am. You can also download the podcast here.

Bump Club: Beverley Turner on hypnotheraphy and childbirth

2013-06-14T14:26:02+00:00

Newspaper and online reports this week claimed the Duchess of Cambridge is using hypnotheraphy techniques in advance of giving birth later this month. Here Bump Club contributor Beverley Turner talks about her personal experiences with hypnotheraphy during childbirth:

By Beverley Turner: Perhaps more remarkable than the reports of Duchess of Cambridge using hypnotherapy to prepare for birth is the public response to the story. Just a few years ago, such a suggestion could have prompted cries of outrage at such mumbo jumbo: “What will she do: get up off the bed and start clucking like a chicken?”.

It’s amazing that we reserved Brits no longer leap to such conclusions about something sounds so ‘alternative’. Having said that, at a Royal Society of Medicine I conference I attended last week the researchers in charge of the first NHS clinical trial into hypnotheraphy - results of which will be released in July - noticed a significant uptake in volunteers when they dropped the word ‘hypnosis’ and replaced it with ‘deep relaxation.’

Fundamentally, that’s all it is: ‘deep relaxation'. ‘Hypnobirthing’ stems from a traditionally American model developed in the 1980s by a woman called Marie Mongan. She used the findings of obstetrician and author Grantly Dick-Read to develop the visualisation and deep breathing techniques that became known as ‘hypnobirthing.’ Dick-Read noticed that women who were relaxed felt less pain, had quicker, smoother labours and reported much more positive birth experiences: the concept of mind over matter.

I used hypnobirthing with my first baby and can categorically say I couldn’t have had a normal, drug-free birth without it. At the very least it gave me confidence, but it also gave me something to do with my mind rather than obsessing about dilations and timing contractions.

The hypnobirth concept is based on the cycle of fear, tension and pain; the more you are frightened, the more you tense up, the more you tense up, the more it hurts. So there are breathing techniques to help manage tension and stay calm. There’s also a great deal of emphasis on effectively cleaning out our subconscious minds – getting rid of all those negative, terrifying, traumatizing birth stories that we hear from the moment we can comprehend it.

Hypnobirthing teaches you to have confidence in your body. To believe in a woman’s ability to birth unaided. It uses visualisations to ‘go inside’ your body, helping it to relax and do what it instinctively wants to do. There’s lots of emphasis on the language of birth: contractions are called surges; the word ‘pain’ is banned and you are encouraged to see your uterus opening up like a flower. It worked for me – and thousands of testimonies across the world demonstrate that if you can turn off your busy, conscious mind, stop the flow of adrenalin and therefore allow natural oxytocin to flow, you can birth more easily.

However....I was still shocked by the pain of my first birth. It wasn’t unbearable – it was definitely manageable - but with so much emphasis on a ‘pain free’ experience, I was taken by surprise.

Hypnobirthing also encourages the partner to play a key role in helping the woman to stay calm. My husband James didn’t entirely buy into it (funnily enough) and so I felt a bit disappointed about his contribution during the birth. At one point when he asked if I was ok I growled, “Don’t ask me if I’m ok...TELL me I’m ok!” and wailed, “You should have read the ******* book!”

After I’d had my son I started to study hypnotherapy as part of a wider course of psychotherapies, and so could identify its limitations. For instance, I didn’t want to visualise the goings-on in my body during birth. I wanted to escape – to go to a completely different place in my mind’s eye. And I now knew that for me birth wouldn’t be ‘pain-free’ (even though it can be for some women). So that theory wasn’t going to help.

For my second child, I devised my own form of deep relaxation: a combination of everything I knew from hypnobirthing with a few of my own twists. My expectations of James were minimal – just a few reminders to drop my shoulders, relax my jaw and go to the safe place in my mind. It was magical. I spent the entire birth on a beautiful secluded beach watching the waves come and go. Imagining waves is a brilliant way of ‘riding out’ contractions and I almost didn’t want it to end. Even now if I’m having a bad day I’ll close my eyes and go to that beach.

My third pregnancy was much more stressful as James had sustained a serious brain injury having been knocked off his bike, and that made him difficult to live with. One of the major effects was an inability to feel empathy. If there is one time a girl needs a bit of husbandly empathy it’s during pregnancy!

My midwife gave me a box of hypnotheraphy CDs. I loved them. They acknowledged pain as a positive step towards meeting your baby, which is a much easier concept to get your head round when contractions kick in. I was struggling to spontaneously labour. But thirty minutes after listening to a hypnotheraphy “birth rehearsal” CD my waters broke; we had a baby within two hours. I literally felt a mental block shift and I knew I was ready to go.

Regardless of the type of birth that you have, being in a relaxed mindset and feeling calm is wonderfully beneficial. Some obstetricians now use hypnotherapy CDs during elective C-sections to keep the mothers relaxed - a slow, steady heart-rate is beneficial to minimise bleeding and keep baby chilled out. Many mothers who use hypnosis report a positive experience even if they end up with an emergency section.

If rumours are to be believed, the Duchess is using hypnotherapy CDs to prepare for the water-birth that she reportedly wants. I dearly hope she gets it. Some of my most rewarding moments in life have come from women who I have cornered at a party and bored to tears about this topic, only to bump into them some time later to hear, “I did the hypnotherapy thing and it was amazing! Thank you!”

Try it. You have nothing to lose and it will give you relaxation skills that you will have forever. Must go – there’s a beach waiting for me...

Bump Club is on BBC Radio 5 live at 11am on Sunday mornings. You can subscribe to the podcast here.

Bump Club: Hearing our baby's heartbeat

2013-03-19T11:47:36+00:00

Last week one of our Bump Club members heard her baby’s heartbeat for the first time. You can have a listen too, and hear more from Laura, on Tuesday’s Bump Club on the Tony Livesey programme from 11pm on Tuesday 19 March.

When I was pregnant with Ava I remember the 16 week appointment being a heart warming occasion, hearing your babies heartbeat for the first time brought about an overwhelming surge of love for the little person you were carrying.

Fast forward to this pregnancy and I was told by my midwife that National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines suggest not listening for a fetal heartbeat until around the 24 week mark.

Due to the babies size (around 10cm) it can make for a tricky business to try and locate the heartbeat and should it not be found no further testing or investigation would be done at this stage. As you can appreciate this only adds to stress and upset of the expecting parents.

However, not one to disappoint, my One to One midwife asked if we'd like to try and find the heartbeat and, of course, we accepted the offer.

So let's set the scene, as all of my appointments, bar scans, take place at home I got comfy on the couch whilst Leanne, my midwife asked my 16-month-old if she would like to help try and find the baby. Everyone gathered around expectantly and waited…and waited.

To quote my midwife finding a fetal heartbeat at this stage of pregnancy is "like catching a fish in a fishbowl" and despite not being defeated by my slippery on board passenger it did take some time before we heard the sloshing sound of baby Dunning's heart.

By this time my daughter had rifled through the contents of the midwife's bag and was throwing a knitted breast around the living room and my poor harassed husband was busy chasing the aforementioned breast to ensure it wasn't lost into the chaos of Ava's toy box forever.

Therefore due to the chaos unfolding around me there was no time for tears of joy or emotional outbursts, just the reassurance that so far, so good.

Join Bump Club Tuesday evenings from 11pm.

5 live Bump Club: The ups and downs of pregnancy

2013-03-12T11:54:34+00:00

Bump Club member Holly Sian talks about her week since the first Bump Club programme, and looks ahead to the next episode.

The last seven days has been a very tiring but brilliant time that began with the launch of Bump Club in Salford last Tuesday.

I was very nervous - although also excited - to meet all the other mums-to-be and they were absolutely lovely.

We shared all our common pregnancy complaints, chats about whether we know the sex of our baby and learnt a lot about each other’s situations and circumstances.

As for my pregnancy updates, this week we're counting down the days to our 4D scan on March 30th. It's where we get to see our little princess once again, but in a lot more detail.

On Tuesday we'll be back on air sharing our experience at one of our antenatal classes, and chat about how pregnancy has impacted on my life.

One of the main things for me is the physical changes pregnancy brings, I have always been a small size six and a very keen gym freak - I used to go at least four times a week.

I have stopped going the gym completely since becoming pregnant and I miss the adrenaline from a hard workout more than anything. I’m more than happy to have stopped for a healthy pregnancy without risks of hurting myself, however I cannot wait to get my membership back. I feel constantly sluggish and tired, with not much motivation on my aching days.

This can result in days where I feel terribly ugly and unconfident about how my body looks. But when I look down at my bump I forget all that; I just imagine what beautiful little miracle is growing inside.

My social life has changed dramatically too. I had only been 18 for a couple of months before I found out I was pregnant.

My friends come and visit me, or we go out for lunch. However, I sometimes I feel like I’m missing out. I've noticed I don’t get invited to do much with them as they assume I won’t be able to make it, or that I’d be too tired.

I guess I’m just incredibly lucky that I have Tom, not only because he is a supportive partner, but he is also my best friend.

Hear Holly in the next episode is on Tuesday 12 March at 11pm on BBC Radio 5 live. Click here to get the latest Bump Club download and find out more about some of the other mums-to-be.

5 live Bump Club: Introducing our mums-to-be

2013-03-05T13:50:33+00:00

Bump Club begins tonight at 11pm on Tony Livesey’s programme. Over the course of the next 18 weeks we’ll be bringing you the stories and advice of our Bump Club members.

Here’s a brief introduction to eight of these mums-to-be, with the first four appearing on the programme.

Mercy Koko-Snuggs

My name is Mercy Koko-Snuggs. I am a 32 year-old first time mum who lives in Kent with my husband, Tim Snuggs. I was born in Nigeria but spent most of my early years growing up in Vienna until my family finally moved to London when I was 13 years old. I have three siblings, one brother and two sisters with whom I am very close despite two of them living in different countries.

My hobbies include travelling, cooking (and eating), reading and spending quality time with family and friends. I would like to consider myself a domestic goddess, so watch out Nigella.

Our pregnancy was planned; however, when we went for the first scan and found out it was twins it was a complete shock. As first time parents, my husband and I are looking forward to welcoming the two bundles of joy although the learning curve is immense.

Laura Dunning

My name is Laura Dunning and I turn 28 the day that Bump Club launches. I’m married to Peter, a former Royal Marine injured in Afghanistan in 2008, who has since gone on to ski for the British Disabled Ski Team. We have a 16-month-old daughter Ava who is no end of fun, frustration and every other emotion in-between.

We did discuss the idea of extending our family, but our second pregnancy has happened a lot quicker than we expected. Being pregnant before left me with no doubt that the dozing in the afternoon, the irritability and the constant nausea through December was down to one thing, I must be pregnant again.

Things don’t seem to have improved much; I’m still feeling nauseous and off my food, but the main difference is second time around there is someone else to think about. When I was pregnant with my daughter I could nap when the need arose and stay in my pyjamas until lunch if I felt like it, but now I’m a mum I have playgroups to attend, visits to the parks and trips to the library to fit in. Dozing on the couch is now a distant dream.

Holly Sian

I’m Holly Sian, I’m 18 years old, from Keighley and I am currently pregnant in my second trimester at 22 weeks with a little baby girl.

This is my first pregnancy - it was unexpected, however it was a lovely surprise for me and my partner. I personally find pregnancy to be incredible, but it is the scariest thing I have so far experienced in life. Every day is different; you don’t know what’s in store for you or how you’re going to feel from one minute to the next. Looking back on my pregnancy so far, it has been nothing that I expected.

Lorna Morley Medd

I'm Lorna. I’m 39, live near Cambridge and I’m a mum-to-be for the second time. I have one son - five and a half years old - a cat and a husband.

I'm looking forward to being part of Bump Club, meeting other mums-to-be and comparing experiences, offering advice and learning from others.

The main thing I learnt first time round is that there's nothing called 'normal' - and it seems a shame not to use the things I learned. I had PTSD and post natal depression, and would hate for someone else to go through that feeling alone.

I'm also doing things differently this time, removing as many possible triggers/variables as possible and hoping to avoid it - but am aware of what I need to do now and how to get help.

This pregnancy has been fairly different - nausea in the evenings, heartburn from around 15/16 weeks, and I was showing even earlier than 1st time.

Last time I had an anterior placenta, but this time I don't, so the movements are different, although the flip feeling like going over a hill too fast does still make me feel queasy.

My hair has been growing much slower - I've only shaved my legs once since Christmas and they're still fine - and my skin has really dried out. This has resulted in some really horrid dandruff and dry patches on my face. Potentially we're having a pink one this time round; with my son my hair grew much quicker, and I had dreadful itching on my legs and feet, which my midwife attributed to excess testosterone (and was right).

Some of the other Bump Club members not on the launch show:

Kirsteen MacColl-Bowman

My name is Kirsteen, I’m 35 and I'm one half of 'Clan MacBow'. The other half is my husband Ralph, 41. I work as a staff nurse in a large teaching hospital and Ralph is a civil servant. We met while working in the Middle East in 2007 and got married in 2010.

Having a family was not in our plan for a variety of reasons. I had miscarried twice many years ago, while Ralph had beaten testicular cancer - the side effect of treatment being infertility. We enjoyed it being just the two of us. Following a change of heart and after seeing our GP we embarked on "having a bash" with no success.

After using ovulation predictors for six months with no success we decided to go back to the GP to look at assisted conception, which had been offered. We then got that Big Fat Positive in October and can't wait for June to arrive when we welcome the new arrival to Clan MacBow.

Kay Tart

My name is Kay, I’m 30 years old and I'm expecting our third child - a girl - in July this year. I live in Hertfordshire with my husband and two other children: Harry, 3, and Esme, 16 months. I am a busy but happy stay-at-home Mum and I definitely consider bringing up my children to be the most important, and challenging, job I will ever have.

This pregnancy was a bit of a surprise for us, but we are delighted to be extending our family and looking forward to welcoming our new addition. Apart from the long list of normal complaints, from morning sickness to a phobia of baked beans, this time my pregnancy has been progressing well and I am enjoying it – although being pregnant with two small children can be very tiring.

Charlotte Taylor

I’m Charlotte, I'm 22 years old and currently pregnant with my second child (I know...very young to be expecting my second already).

My second son's due date is 5 July. However, I'm being induced at 37 weeks with this pregnancy so he should be here around 14 June.

This pregnancy is quite a bit different to my first; I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in June 2012 so that's now placed me in the 'high-risk' category.

I'm now both loving and hating feeling him kicking - depending on what time he's feeling particularly 'energetic'. On the down side I'm suffering along with most other pregnant women with the heart burn, indigestion and *cough cough* flatulence.

Lynda Smith

My name is Lynda and I live in Bristol with my husband Ian and our son Arthur who will be two in May. We also have two cats Salem and Piran.

This is my third pregnancy and my third son. Pregnancy is both an exciting but a terrifying time for me. My first pregnancy ended with the saddest time in my life. Our perfect honeymoon baby was stillborn at 39 weeks just two days before he was due. There was never any reason given for William’s death. He was perfect in everyway, from his cute button nose to his tiny perfectly formed toes. It should be his third birthday in May. Our second son was born a year after William’s death and they even shared a due date.

I have gestational diabetes which means I inject insulin several times a day and can’t eat for two. Cake and chocolate are banned for me until after this baby arrives in June. He will be born by a planned elective caesarean between 37 and 38 weeks gestation.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you and introducing our latest addition.

You can listen to Bump Club on Tuesday 5 March at 11pm on Tony Livesey on BBC Radio 5 live. Or get the Bump Club download, available every Wednesday morning.

You can also join in the conversation using #bumpclub on Twitter, on 5 live’s Facebook page and here on the 5 live blog.

Introducing 5 live's Bump Club

2013-03-01T14:54:11+00:00

There are around one million women across the UK who are currently carrying a ‘bump’ - some of whom are more high-profile than others. But for every Katie, Kim, Coleen and, of course, Kate there are thousands of other pregnant women on the road to motherhood without fanfare or the paparazzi following them.

For example there’s Lorna, Holly, Mercy, Laura and ten other mums-to-be from across the UK who, together with their partners and families, are all on the emotional rollercoaster that is pregnancy. They’ve agreed to share the joys and difficulties of growing a baby over the next 18 weeks with BBC Radio 5 live’s Bump Club.

We’ve been getting to know them over the past four weeks ahead of the launch of the Bump Club in Tony Livesey’s programme on Tuesday 5 March. We’ve talked about the long-awaited joy (and for some surprise) of conceiving, the nervous wait for scans (how many are actually in there?), about getting to know the midwife and the excitement of sharing the news that there’s a baby on the way.

We’ve shared stories of the less glamorous and more undignified realities of pregnancy such as the hormones and emotions, the peeing, the vomiting, the constipation. They haven’t spared the intimate details because pregnancy doesn’t. Bump Club is about revealing pregnancy in its beautiful, glowing beauty and discussing the less pretty, physically brutal side that is just as important, but not nearly as widely discussed.

The one thing that Bump Club has revealed to me is that no single pregnancy is the same. This is unlike any other programme I’ve worked on before. That’s because this time I’m not only stood at a near distance, listening and recording, I’m actually living this alongside our members of the Bump Club: I’m 16 weeks pregnant. Talk about taking your job seriously…

No, I’m not that committed to my research! But it’s a happy coincidence that I was asked to produce this series just after I saw the long-awaited ‘plus’ sign.

Bump Club has given me a magnified view on all things maternity-related. I’m seeing all the varied, fantastically wonderful to downright dirty elements of pregnancy, alongside my own experience. It’s helped relieve some worries, but not all.

Just as the Bump Club members will paint an honest and realistic look at pregnancy, I’m prepared to share my stories too. A low? I recently threw up on a morning commuter train with a full audience (and only a discarded bakery bag for assistance). There were lots of tuts, sighs and looks that said ‘heavy one last night love?’ “If only,” I thought. Nothing could take away the frustration and utter despair I’ve felt at my lowest point of pregnancy sickness, but one look at the baby inside me at my 12-week scan lifted me up so far that I was prepared for any more long slogs over the toilet bowl.

With the help of Bump Club mums and dads-to-be, as well as experts who are approaching pregnancy from across a huge spectrum of experience and expertise, each week we’ll start conversations about the many issues which come up in pregnancy – from sex, to planning the birth, dealing with hospitals, midwives and scans, money worries, to choosing the perfect name.

Bump Club is for anyone and everyone who has ever had a baby, is currently with bump or has just always wondered what it’s like. 2013 promises to be as full of celebrations, tears and triumphs as 2012 that’s for sure.

Bump Club will begin as a weekly half-hour programme on Tony Livesey before an hour-long show, presented by new mum Edith Bowman alongside Colin Murray, starts in May. Click here to read more.