E35 Michelle Kovacevic | First Birth, PCOS, Fast Homebirth, Donor Milk

In this episode Michelle shares the story of her pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding journey with her son Ollie. 

Michelle has polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS and having been told that she may find it difficult to conceive, she was quite surprised when she fell pregnant really quickly.

Michelle’s pregnancy was very straight forward, and she tells a beautiful story about how she celebrated and honoured her pregnancy at each stage to help her connect with her baby and honour her transition to motherhood. 

Following Ollie’s fast and complication free homebirth, Michelle went on to have a long and difficult breastfeeding journey, where she ended up relying predominantly on donor milk. We talk about the practice of breastmilk sharing and the community that has sprung up around it. We discuss how giving and receiving donor breastmilk through an online platform is a perfect example of bringing traditional practices of ‘Village Parenting’ into the current time, another step in our shared passion for breaking down the unsustainable ideal of nuclear parenting and shifting towards interdependence.