“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes mama with a baby carriage.”
Sound familiar? From our earliest days, we hear there’s a “right” way to do motherhood. And even today, plenty of people are still trying to tell women all the ways we’re doing it wrong.
The Babes Project calls that out.
For more than a decade we’ve supported women tackling new motherhood from every direction, and facing every challenge imaginable.
And now, our podcast Not the Plan shares their crisis stories – and ours – from first heart-wrenching realisations, the overwhelm and elation of pregnancy and birth, and through those tough newborn trenches.
Our advice and stories come from our proven perinatal support program, from experts across the community and health care sectors, and most importantly from women who have walked the walk.
The first episode of Not the Plan introduces The Babes Project founder and CEO Helen Parker, and her story of unplanned pregnancy aged just 20.
"Finding out I was pregnant was a really awful and hard time... it was so many decisions that were going to make such a big impact on my life, and so many people's lives," Helen explains.
"That was the biggest thing, knowing I had to make them alone, and make them with all the noise around me (trying to tell me what to do.)"
Chatting with Babes team-mate Holly, Helen also outlines the earliest beginnings of Babes - as well as some of the tough situations that proved why mums needed more support
Babes knows pregnancy and motherhood can be crushingly hard no matter what our best plans – and for too many women, the overwhelm and isolation have lifelong repercussions.
With Not the Plan, we want to take on the big issues for mums doing it tough, explore what approaches can change the experience, to support happy mamas and happy babies.
Not the Plan by The Babes Project is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts - we'd love you to listen, like and share with other mamas who might need to hear it.
(And if you want to link them with some extra support, don't forget our mama-life journal is available in our shop now too!)