Show Notes
Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussions around infertility and becoming parents through surrogacy.
"I walked into a room full of cots, and it was like a lightning bolt." That's the moment Louenna Hood describes as the turning point… the second she knew she was going to adopt.
Louenna's spent her whole career looking after other people's children, over 100 babies, a Norland nanny training, and now the app and book that's helped thousands of parents (myself included).
She chose to build her family on her own terms, no father, no partner, just her in her quest for motherhood. We talk about the trip to Ukraine that changed everything, the foster-to-adopt process, and the day Alice arrived — three days old, "dropped off by the stork."
Louenna's honest about what it's really like to parent through adoption: staying open with Alice about her story, meeting her birth parents, and why she pushes back on the idea that adopted children are simply "lucky."
This is truly a special episodes, so don’t forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE wherever you’re listening so we can bring more amazing conversations to the mum group chat 💛
Links Louenna Hood: IG - https://www.instagram.com/nannylouenna FB - https://www.facebook.com/nannylouenna
The app - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/nanny-louenna/id1508344643 Website - https://louenna.com/
Charlie: IG - https://www.instagram.com/charlielaunder TT - https://www.tiktok.com/@charlielaunder YT - https://www.youtube.com/@charliebarkerr
💪 Bumps & Burpees: https://www.instagram.com/bumpsandburpees www.bumpsandburpees.com
Produced by Bear Lane Productions 🎙️Music licensed via PremiumBeat - 4WJJ2ROAVKXSJCGW
More from Dear Mum
Content Note: This episode includes an honest conversation about OCD, intrusive thoughts and anxiety in pregnancy. Take care when listening 💛 Dear Mum… it’s the last episode of Series 2 - and it’s with the gorgeous soul that is Steph Elswood. After whispering to me at a friend’s wedding that she was pregnant, and I’ve wanted her on this podcast ever since. We go back to the early days of Instagram, and she’s now mum to 18-month-old Elsie and the founder of Studio Glide Pilates. We talk about severe sickness in her pregnancy, the 25 packets of salt and vinegar crisps in her hen do suitcase, and living with OCD through pregnancy, including the intrusive thoughts she didn’t know were a thing - but how NHS therapy helped. It’s funny, honest and very reassuring, and - I know I always say it butttt… her Post-it for the mums might be my favourite yet. I can’t quite believe that’s a wrap on Series 2. Thank you for listening, for sharing these episodes, and for sending them to the mum who needed to hear them. Keep doing just that - and hopefully we’ll be back for Series 3 very soon 🎙️ Links Follow Steph: IG - www.instagram.com/stephelswood TT - www.tiktok.com/@steph_elswood YT - https://www.youtube.com/@StephElswood
A gentle heads up: this episode includes an honest conversation about a traumatic birth and time in intensive care with a newborn, in case that's a hard topic for you to hear right now. Dr Emily Jackman spends her days reassuring worried patients that their child's rash is probably fine…at 3am with her own kids? She's just as lost as the rest of us.
“The first thing she said to me was, can you pick me up now?" That's Giorgina Falcone on meeting her daughter Summer-Rae after her C-section.
"You're too young to be going through perimenopause." That's what Kelly Taylor was told the first time she asked for help — so the second time, she didn't ask.
Content Warning: this episode includes conversation around a serious postpartum health scare (sepsis). Please listen with care.