Podcasting, Privilege and Publicity - Interview with Natalie Silverman

Today Zoe speaks to broadcaster, voiceover artist, and podcaster Natalie Silverman. Natalie talks about the work she is doing around fertility and the relaunch of her podcast as well as her own journey to motherhood.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Natalie has been running her podcast the fertility podcast for 7 years. She had no idea what she was starting at the beginning and never expected for it to last this long. There wasn’t the fertility community there is now when she began the podcast, it was her therapy and is one of the things she is most proud of. Natalie is relaunching the podcast with more of a linear and clear approach to fertility. Pre-covid she was working with GPs to get more information out there so she now wants to try and make it used as an NHS resource. Natalie and her husband had been trying for a baby but nothing was happening so they went to their GP and had tests ran. They found out that they had male-factor infertility, they were fortunate to have treatment and it worked. However, the diagnosis had a large impact on their relationship and Natalie’s husband’s confidence. Natalie was a breakfast host at the time and she was very open about all aspects of her life including the progression of her relationship and then marriage but she didn’t feel like she could talk about her fertility journey. This was one of the reasons she wanted to break down the stigma. When Natalie thinks about her pregnancy she feels blessed as she had a good pregnancy and fairly straight forward birth. After her first child Natalie and her husband decided they didn’t want to have another baby. They spent quite some time thinking about treatment and their lives to come to this decision including counselling. There can be a lot of stigma and guilt surround having one child. As a society, we need to talk about this more. Not all siblings get on and are supportive yet we are sold the story that having one child means they will be lonely, spoilt amongst other things. All children are so different and have different needs and all parenting is different too! Natalie is a freedom formula success consultant – it’s a step by step formula that teaches you about how to deal with your emotions and looking after your mind whilst going through fertility problems. Natalie coaches and helps people with this formula to teach them how they can ‘come back to neutral’. It’s a mixture of talking, CBT and visualisations and also helps people know how to cope with the outcomes of fertility problems.   BEST MOMENTS   “Have you felt stigma attached to only having one child?”   “It’s been a real privilege to have people share such an intimate part of their world with you and learn so much”   “I’m talking about this private thing in a public way”   “Why do we have guilt for having one?”   “They’ve been part of the journey in their own way”   “I talk about it being the hardest decision of my life”   VALUABLE RESOURCES   www.petalscharity.org www.tommys.org www.arc-uk.org www.sands.org.uk   www.thefertilitypodcast.com @fertilitypoddy      ABOUT THE GUEST Natalie Silverman   www.thefertilitypodcast.com @fertilitypoddy    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