Podcast Corner: Síomha Ní Ruairc and Labour Of Love delves into various aspects of pregnancy
Síomha Ní Ruairc presents Labour Of Love. Photo: SAM BOAL/Collins Photos
Pregnancy advice and pregnancy podcasts are everywhere. In Labour of Love, a six-part podcast series, presenter Síomha Ní Ruairc (one third of the gang) sets out to cut through the noise as she prepares for the birth of her first child. Across the three episodes released so far (of six total), she speaks to experts and parents about what actually matters, from leave entitlements to nutrition and the realities of physical change. She points out that 86% of women feel overwhelmed by the amount of pregnancy information available.
Solicitor Michelle Loughnane, mum to a 16-month-old girl, says parenting is a mix of pure joy and love, “a little bit like being held hostage by something very cute and tiny”. She is clear and plain-spoken on a strand of issues, explaining that the statutory two weeks’ paternity leave only came into effect in 2016. “The two-week period, while it’s progressive and is a step forward, it’s such a short period of time. In my opinion it’s not nearly enough… I think sometimes this is where the law hasn’t really caught up with society.”
Jess Willow is a women’s health expert and fertility and pregnancy dietician who joins in the second episode - alongside her four-month-old Maisy. She describes a pregnant patient who had been following a long-term plant-based diet and choosing organic plant milks, assuming they were healthier. However, because organic products cannot be fortified, the milk contained no added calcium, iodine, or vitamin D. As a result, the woman’s calcium intake was very low. “Once we went through it, she was really happy to swap to an inorganic variety, which, again, is cheaper a lot of the time,” says Willow.
Midwife Áine Hennessey discusses body changes, from moving teeth and bleeding gums to vaginal mucus and restless legs. She says women’s blood volume increases by 50% by the end of pregnancy, leading to puffy or swollen feet.
Ní Ruairc asks about enemas: “So women used to get enemas to help clear out everything? What would be the purpose of that, just so that they wouldn’t go then during labour? Because honestly when I was younger, the way we spoke about it, it was as if the worst thing in the world that could ever happen to you was that you’d poop at the same time as you were giving birth. Now I feel like there are so many bigger issues in life than that. That’s very low on my list of things that I care about.”
Hennessy says this is much less of a concern these days - and anyway, midwives love that as it’s indicative that the baby’s close to coming. “Because as the head’s coming down, it presses on the back passage.” Midwives are discreet about it - and the women won’t even know, she adds.
