Ready Birth Go

Carly Sandland

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Parenting

Real birth stories, told by the women and their partners who lived them. Each episode, host Carly Sandland - birth doula and founder of The Doula Club - sits down with parents to hear their birth stories. What they expected. What actually happened. The decisions, the turning points, and what they wish they'd known. New episodes weekly.

2d ago

Scott Mair on what no one tells dads about birth

In this episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to Scott Mair - dad of seven and founder of Fatherhood Solutions - about birth from a perspective the show doesn't often hear on its own: the birth partner's. Scott has been in the room for seven births, from one textbook day to some genuinely frightening ones - a placental abruption, time in neonatal care, and a birth that nearly took everything from him and set him on the path to the advocacy work he does now. A former infantry soldier, he's spent the years since helping other dads prepare for a role almost no one teaches them, without ever taking the focus off the woman doing the hardest part. We talk about: What a birth partner can actually do when something's gone wrong and they can't fix itAdvocating for your partner when you're frightened yourself - and why "no plan survives first contact"The conversations worth having before the day: who goes with baby, pain relief, the what-ifsSkin-to-skin for dads, and the practical things no one mentionsWhy the romantic partner isn't always the right person in the roomThe birth that changed him, and the work it led to Content note: this episode includes discussion of birth trauma, serious illness after birth, neonatal care and paternal mental health. Scott: instagram.com/fatherhood__solutions_ · Fatherhood Solutions on LinkedIn Carly: instagram.com/thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: readybirthgo.com Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me
Aug 19

Karla on holding out to 44 weeks for the birth she wanted

In this episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to Karla about her two very different births - a first that spiralled into intervention she hadn't seen coming, and a second she took completely into her own hands: a home water birth, with Carly as her doula, at 44 weeks pregnant. Karla's first labour started calmly and quickly became anything but - meconium, a room full of doctors, an induction, an epidural that left her unable to move, and a baby who turned out to have the cord wrapped twice around his neck. She came out of it certain she never wanted to feel that powerless again. Second time, she changed hospital, changed plans, and held her nerve through weeks of pressure to get the birth she wanted. We talk about: How a calm early labour turned into meconium, an induction and a forceps birthWhy being unable to move became the thing she'd never repeatDeciding to do it completely differently, and getting properly informedHolding her nerve through the phone calls and the fear as the weeks passedTaking back control: a home water birth, on her termsWhat she'd say to a woman being told her baby's in danger if she doesn't act now Carly: instagram.com/thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: readybirthgo.com Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me
Aug 12

Isabelle and Mike Parr on the extreme sickness that changed her birth

In this episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to Isabelle Du Plessis and Mike Parr - Ross Barton in Emmerdale - about the hyperemesis that shaped Isabelle's entire pregnancy, and the birth she chose in order to take back control. From five weeks until the day she gave birth, Issi was sick almost hourly. She was hospitalised for dehydration, couldn't keep down water or medication, and struggled to be believed - all while grieving the soft, joyful pregnancy she'd imagined. Mike was the one picking her up off the floor. We talk about: What hyperemesis is actually like, day to day, and how it differs from morning sicknessBeing disbelieved and second-guessed by doctors, and finally being looked afterThe guilt of taking medication in pregnancyFeeling robbed of the pregnancy she'd hoped forWhy she chose to elect for a caesarean a week before her due dateBeing the birth partner, and what Mike carried through itThe surprise they saved for the birth itself Isabelle: @issiduplessis· Mike: @mikeparr226 Carly: @thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: readybirthgo.com Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me
Aug 5

Laura Guckian on checking herself into a psychiatric hospital when her baby was ten months old

In this episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to Laura Guckian about the decision to check herself into a psychiatric hospital when her first baby was ten months old - and everything that led her there. We talk about: The rush of love everyone promises, and what happens when it doesn't comeThe "good mother" myth, and where the guilt beginsCaring for a baby with severe silent refluxAsking for help for ten months and not getting itWhy it turned out to be the right decisionTurning all of it into the work she does now Content note: this episode includes discussion of maternal mental health, postnatal illness and suicidal thoughts. Laura: instagram.com/mindmommycoaching · her podcast, Momfessions Carly: instagram.com/thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: readybirthgo.com Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me
Jul 30

Madeleine Shaw on lifting her own baby out during her caesarean

In this episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to nutritionist and bestselling author Madeleine Shaw about her two births, and the honest, messy, wonderful reality of becoming a mum twice over. Her first birth was fast and unmedicated - ten hours, and she arrived at hospital already eight centimetres. Her second was a planned caesarean, and nothing about it went the way she'd pictured. We talk about: A breech, big baby, and deciding not to try to turn himWhy she never wrote a birth planHow an early loss shaped everything that came afterWhat no one warns you about caesarean recoveryThe love, and the fear, that arrive with a new babyQuickfire: three words, and the worst advice she was given Content note: this episode includes discussion of pregnancy loss and miscarriage. Madeleine: instagram.com/madeleine_shaw_ · tiktok.com/@madeleine_shaw_ · The Glow Space, her wellness platform: madeleineshaw.com/the-glow-space Carly: instagram.com/thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: readybirthgo.com Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me
Jul 22

Amy Walsh on learning to trust her body in birth

In the first episode of Ready Birth Go, Carly Sandland talks to Emmerdale's Amy Walsh about two births, four years apart, and how the first one shaped everything about the second. Bonnie arrived on Boxing Day 2021 after a Group B Strep positive result, an induction Amy was pushed towards on her due date, an epidural that fell out without anyone noticing, an episiotomy and a haemorrhage. She calls it torture, and says she came out of it feeling cheated. So when she was pregnant with Nell, she read more, asked more, and declined nearly everything she was offered. We talk about: Group B Strep, and how one test result can shape an entire labourWhy a sweep is an induction, and why it's rarely described as oneDeclining a seven-day induction and negotiating for tenEpidurals that don't workFetal scalp monitoringBirth trauma, and how a second birth can reopen the firstWhat partners carry into a second birthQuickfire: three words, the TENS machine, and a six-hour playlist Amy: https://www.instagram.com/amyvwalsh · https://www.tiktok.com/@amy.walsh27 Carly: https://www.instagram.com/thedoulaclub Ready Birth Go, Carly's birth preparation course: https://readybirthgo.com/ Content note: traumatic birth, haemorrhage, and postnatal mental health. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/william-proulx/for-me

6 Episodes

Real birth stories, told by the women and their partners who lived them. Each episode, host Carly Sandland - birth doula and founder of The Doula Club - sits down with parents to hear their birth stories. What they expected. What actually happened. The decisions, the turning points, and what they wish they'd known. New episodes weekly.

Creator

Carly Sandland
Years Active

2026
Episodes

6
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Carly Sandland