Episode 24 | Lucinda

In this episode, Lu shares her experiences of becoming a mum to Ray and Posie and reflects on two very different postpartum seasons.

After Ray arrived unexpectedly four weeks early, Lu spent his first week travelling between home and the special care nursery while establishing breastfeeding. She talks about the difficulty of leaving her new baby in hospital, but also the incredible support she received from family, friends and healthcare professionals. Once home, Lu experienced the baby blues and a particular sense of loneliness and dread as night time approached, while also remembering much of those early months as a beautiful and well-supported postpartum season.

Lu’s second postpartum experience with Posie was very different. Although the early weeks again felt blissful, Posie became an unsettled baby who struggled with sleep, and Lu shares openly about just how significantly prolonged sleep deprivation affected her wellbeing. We discuss the pressure to find the “right” routine, the judgment mothers can experience around their parenting decisions, and how having two very different children ultimately highlighted the role temperament plays.

We also talk about returning to paid work, building Ready or Not alongside motherhood, and what Lu has learnt from years of conversations about combining careers and caring responsibilities. As she puts it, there is no perfect hack or blueprint, and sometimes the difficulty we experience is not an individual failure, but a reflection of the systems mothers are trying to navigate.

This is an honest conversation about postpartum, sleep deprivation, temperament, work, motherhood, judgment, and the importance of feeling heard and validated when things are hard.

Lu is the co-host of the podcast Ready or Not, where she and Loz have honest conversations about motherhood, careers and everything that comes with trying to do both.

You can find Lu at @lucindamckimm_ and Ready or Not at @readyornot.pod.