Welcome to episode six of The Mother Yarns. We’re looking back at our conception stories and sharing the most beautiful and horrific stories from our listeners. You will not believe the places people have had sex…And how many people don’t know what pre-cum is.B tells a story Jared’s family will be horrified to hear. She’s never said it before. Content warning: Butt cysts. We also talk about how the Morning After Pill or Emergency Contraception Pill (ECP) having a weight limit: If you weigh under 70kg, the ECP is 98% effective at preventing pregnancy. If you weigh 70kg or more, or have a BMI of 26 or more, the ECP can be less effective and there will be a bigger risk that it won't work. More info from our mates at Family Planning.Our episodes are sent to paid subscribers on Wednesdays and to everyone else on Fridays. We end this episode with a song by a dad in honour of Father’s Day! This week’s sweet track is Never Give Up On Your Love by Louis TM. You can get this on Spotify here or pre order a 7' vinyl here to get it on the B Side.As always, thank you for listening. Follow us at The Mother Yarns Instagram page or Facebook page. Comment below or send us your conception story.Leave a commentWith you signing up for a paid subscription here - you’ll be keeping the podcast going.

Welcome to episode five of The Mother Yarns! We take on all of the myths you hear as a mum. We talk about what we did and didn’t know before having a baby. We also ask: What works? What doesn’t? We talk about old wives’ tales, the golden era of amber beads, osteopaths for sleep and colic, and cabbage leaves - with many other tangents.Content warning: In this pod we go on a weird tangent where we talk about our experiences birthing our placentas (gravity helps apparently), cord clamping, short cords, ventouse suction, and episiotomy. Subscribe now.Our episodes are sent to paid subscribers on Wednesdays and to everyone else on Fridays. On Fridays you can find them on Spotify and other podcasty places. Our episodes are sent in separate emails because that’s how Substack rolls! We end this episode with one of my favourite songs right now Carry On by Mel Parsons. Listen to it on Spotify and watch the gorgeous video on Mel’s instagram.As always, thank you for listening. Follow us at The Mother Yarns instagram page or Facebook page. 

Hello! Welcome to episode five of The Mother Yarns. In this episode we speak to Alison James. She gave birth last year in lockdown level four.We asked her to share the story of her son’s birth. Please be aware - some parts of it are quite upsetting, but it’s also an uplifting and I think inspiring story of love and community. Last year, I (Emily) spoke to heaps of mums who birthed during lockdown. You can read their experiences here.If you have questions about birth in lockdown please talk to your LMC. As always, thank you for listening. Follow us at The Mother Yarns instagram page or Facebook page. 

In this episode we speak to Jane*. Jane’s daughter M. came to her about a year ago, when she was seven, and said "[I] didn’t want to be a boy all the time”. Prior to that she had said she didn’t feel like she had a gender. This is Jane’s story of how they handled this as a family who didn’t know much about what it is to be transgender or much about gender at all. To me it’s a story of a family loving each other and supporting each other - like any other family. It’s about learning and doing the best you can to let your kids be who they are.Here she shares how they talked about gender, moving between pronouns, and the way her daughter being able to be who she is has changed their lives.Let’s talk about some of the terminology we use in the podcast. These descriptions are from Gender Minorities Aotearoa a really great resource for finding about about this stuff.Transgender - An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is culturally typically associated with the gender/sex they were assigned at birth. Cisgender - Prefix or adjective that means not trans. Cisgender people identify more or less with the gender assigned to them at birth. Sex - The system for assignment and classification of people as male or female based on imprecise perceptions of their physical anatomy – generally the appearance of their external genitalia at birth. Sex is not fixed or immutable, and no single criterion (e.g. genitals, chromosomes, hormones, fertility) definitively describes one’s bodily shape or configuration. The Gender Binary - Similar to the sex binary, the gender binary is an incorrect system of viewing gender as consisting solely of two categories, termed male and female, in which no other possibilities for gender or anatomy are believed to exist. Gender is not fixed or immutable, and no physical criterion (e.g. genitals, chromosomes, hormones) defines one’s gender. Gender is experiential, and only the person themself can define their gender. The gender binary system is oppressive, and is a cause of marginalisation for people who do not fit within the gender binary. Rebecca, Jane and I are all cisgender and we are speaking from that position. We are not experts on being trans. The only experts on being trans are trans people. Gender Minorities Aotearoa have amazing resources online for you to read.*For privacy reasons Jane and her daughter have pseudonyms. It’s a devastating reality that parents and children are often targeted with abuse, harassment and death threats when they talk publicly about being transgender or having a transgender child. We thank Jane for her immense bravery in speaking to us.Thank you to Kiki and Jason from Giantess for their song The News. Listen to Giantess on Spotify. Kiki is a mama living in Wellington and we are so excited to share her music with you.As always, thank you for listening. Follow us at The Mother Yarns instagram page or Facebook page. 

Hello! Episode three is here! In this episode we are talking about parenting confessions. We share the confessions given to us by mums and dads that are both funny and tragic.And we share some advice that few people would want to say out loud…We confess because we worry we’ll be judged, and usually parents are judged. It’s a vicious cycle.We ask: Why are people so afraid of a mother’s rage? And what happens when mums are silenced?We become a fortnightly podcast from now on, but if you’re a paid subscriber on Substack you’ll get extras between episodes. With you signing up for a paid subscription here - you’ll be keeping the podcast going.We finish this episode off with one of our favourite songs to get you through the week: Big Boss Mama by Tami Neilson.As always, thank you for listening and reply to this email if you want to anonymous share your parenting confession with us for a future episode. Or DM us on The Mother Yarns instagram page or Facebook page.

It’s episode two and it’s a special one. Rebecca and Tess have a chat about what their surrogacy experience was like together. They’ve never had a proper debrief - you get to hear it all!CONTENT WARNING: In this episode we talk about infertility, birth injuries and post birth injuries, and post-natal depression. Please take care and if you need help to process your birth - please check out these resources. You can also contact Little Shadow. They offer in person or online counselling for parents. 

It's episode one of The Mother Yarns! This first episode was recorded the day after our Wellington show was cancelled due to Level Two. We break down the highs and lows of the tour we just finished and talk about our hopes for the podcast.CONTENT WARNING: We talk about what it would be like to get banged by (and bang) cartoon characters in this episode. There’s quite a bit of sex (not sexy) talk in it - so don’t listen to it with little ears around unless you want to have awkward conversations at school on Monday about it. Also don’t listen to it if the idea of imagining fucking Thomas The Tank Engine stresses you out. We also talk about poops in a sexual capacity. And of course Rebecca talked about her hemorrhoids and anal fissure because she always does.

It's The Mother Yarns! Have you ever felt like parenting is the best and worst thing in the world? This podcast is for you. Have you ever secretly sucked up LEGO pieces by vacuum and told your kids the park is closed when it’s raining – then this is the podcast for you! We're two mums talking shit about – parenting, sleep, sex, surrogacy, birth, gender, feminism, activism, Hollywood Hunks and body stuff! Laugh with us, cry with us and hear the stories of real mamas talking about their lives. Emily Writes and Rebecca Keil are mamas and best friends and they want to celebrate the wild ride of parenting with you.