Interview with Mother, Writer and ‘EX’ Expat Louise Emma Clarke

Today Zoe speaks to Louise Emma Clarke, journalist, columnist, blogger and author. Listen in today for a varied episode with a great insight into expat life as well as motherhood and Louise’s writing.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   Louise moved to Dubai when her husband moved there for six months and didn’t want to come back! Louise’s first son Stanley was born in Dubai. Being pregnant with him gave her a network and made her really start to enjoy living in Dubai. Louise says that she was very lucky in all her pregnancies and births. She felt more scared in her first pregnancy so found she didn’t do much research but this changed in subsequent pregnancies. Louise’s pregnancies were all quite long and she was induced with all three. Zoe points out that in France they don’t even give a due date they just give a month window, which makes a lot of sense. Louise found the hardest time in her motherhood journey was when she went from one child to two. Her circumstances were hard to deal with and it took her time to change the circumstances and get some help. Nannies are much more common in places like Dubai, one of the reasons being that mothers generally have much less of a support network. Before Louise’s second child was about to start school her and her husband decided after staying with her mum in the summer that it was the right time to come back to the UK. Louise always uses her own life experiences in her writing, especially in her books. She tries to make her characters more real so that the reader will empathise with them and feels like she can write so much more convincingly about things she has experienced herself.   BEST MOMENTS   “After you have your first baby you throw yourself into learning more about how it all works”   “There’s a theory that we all have different gestation times and mine would just go on”   “For a long time I felt displaced and a bit like I had two homes”   “I put myself in the shoes of every character I write to try and make them real”   “I don’t want to go for tea I want to go for wine!”   VALUABLE RESOURCES  www.petalscharity.org www.tommys.org ABOUT THE GUEST Louise Emma Clarke IG @mumofboysandmabel www.mumofboys.co.uk Facebook: Mum of Boys and Mabel Facebook: Bargain Buys for Mums and Dads Louise’s Book    ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Cresswell Devoted mother of two (and a big hairy dog), UK trained midwife, doula and personal trainer, specialising in pre and postnatal fitness. Zoe was born in the UK and before moving to Dubai in 2013 and worked as a midwife in central London, both in a birth centre and a very busy NHS hospital. Although late to the scene, Zoe is an aspiring athlete having won numerous triathlons and representing Great Britain where she placed within the top 10 on the world stage. With her husband James, the couple will soon be launching their cloth nappy company, Bop & Bee, where they hope to inspire families to swap a few disposable nappies a day for the more planet friendly option of cloth. Zoe’s goal is to share her knowledge and experience, tell real life stories, manage expectations and open up those often difficult conversations. Zoe’s own motherhood journey has been full of twists and turns as she put everything on hold and went through numerous miscarriages and rounds of IVF.   CONTACT DETAILS Instagram : @zoecresswell_me Facebook: Zoe Cresswell LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-cresswell