Welcome to season 3 of Prim Rose Light. I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome you to this new series. I look forward to bringing you interesting, educational and topical content, along with my guests, as we continue to cultivate a conscious community. Here at Prim Rose Light, the focus is on mind, body and soul topics including personal development and spirituality, but also, real life topics impacting real people. It’s really important to me that I use my platform and voice to make a positive difference in the world.

To kickstart this series, we are talking about a very raw and real subject. We hear first- hand Gopika’s account of having a very premature baby, Khush who was born at 26 + 3 weeks back in 2020. Gopika shares her shocking birth details which is one of bravery despite many complications along the way.

Some of the UK stats which are quite staggering are: 60 000 preterm births a year so that means 1 in 13 born before 37 weeks There's 3 categories Moderate to late (32-37 weeks) Very preterm (28-32 weeks) Extremely preterm (less than 28 weeks)

Within this sensitive subject, we unpack the following big topics

1. Prematurity and birthing experiences. The incredible NHS and the work they do.
2. The pressure around getting pregnant and other complications that often go unspoken but impact behind the scenes (a non exhaustive list includes, PCOS, infertility, IVF, career circumstances, general feelings of not being ready to have kids)
3. The role of a father and sometimes the (lack) of support available for them, recognising this is a unit, not just mum and baby.
4. Navigating having a baby through a pandemic and the mental health implications. Breastfeeding and what’s good for mothers to eat but also why the mind is so powerful.

However I must also disclaim that this podcast was done in an effort to share some of the difficulties women can encounter. We both want to stress that this offer some comfort that women that you are not alone. Gopika has been very keen to share her story as a tool to help mothers. She has kindly shared the following resources to anyone who needs it:

https://gulfnews.com/parenting/pregnancy-baby/the-doctor-said-either-i-or-my-baby-wouldnt-survive-mum-1.1639659192541

https://www.bliss.org.uk/parents/support/emotional-support

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/parenting/covid-mums-year-of-lockdown-parenting/

Gopika has also kindly provided her email address if people have questions they’d like to ask her: Graiththa@gmail.com