In this open and honest episode, host Heather is joined by Marie Bateson to talk about ectopic pregnancy — a loss she points out is rarely spoken about, and one that comes with major surgery on top of grief.

Marie conceived her son easily, with no problems at all. What followed was years of secondary infertility and two ectopic pregnancies. The first, at around 12 weeks, came completely out of the blue and cost her one fallopian tube. The second was discovered barely a week after a positive test — and she woke from surgery knowing, before anyone said a word, that she now had no tubes at all.

What Marie describes so powerfully is that the hardest part wasn’t only losing the babies. It was the finality. Knowing that natural conception was, from that moment, simply not possible. She talks about months of appearing fine during the day and weeping the moment she got into bed, recovering from full abdominal surgery twice, and receiving no support of any kind — no groups, no information, not even a leaflet. The medical focus, she says, was on the medical issue and nothing else.

Marie also shares what helped: her second husband proposing to give her something to focus on, planning a wedding, and going privately for IVF — which they had to fund themselves because although Marie had a son, her husband had no children. It worked first time, and her daughter arrived after a 9.5-year gap. Two later attempts with frozen embryos didn’t succeed, but by then, Marie says, she had her boy and her girl.

• Secondary infertility after an easy first pregnancy
• Two ectopic pregnancies, and losing both fallopian tubes
• Why the finality hurt more than the loss itself
• Recovering from full abdominal surgery while grieving
• No support groups, no information, not even a leaflet
• Finding a focus — planning a wedding to get through the days
• Paying privately for IVF, and the rules around eligibility
• Success first time, and the 9.5-year gap between her children
• Friends who cared but had no idea what to say
• Avoiding baby showers, and showing up at work anyway
• Why she says never give up hope, and to seek out someone who understands

A candid conversation about a loss that rarely gets talked about, and the particular grief of a door closing for good.

Connect with Marie: Marie Bateson

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Content note: This episode touches on abortion as part of our guest’s personal story. Our conversation is really about the body’s response to trauma, nervous system protection, and the different ways healing can look. All experiences around pregnancy and loss are deeply personal, and this conversation isn’t about telling anybody what they should or shouldn’t do.

In this brave and long-overdue conversation, host Heather is joined by Claire Williams of Claire Sophia Coaching — a yoga teacher and somatic trauma therapy practitioner — who shares her story publicly for the very first time.

If baby loss is a taboo subject, Claire points out, abortion and termination are more so. And her story isn’t the one people expect. In her mid-20s, married, buying a house, outwardly happy, Claire was in a relationship that involved infidelity, coercion and gaslighting — and she had kept much of it from family and friends. When she discovered she was pregnant, her mind reeled, but her body simply knew. It was, she says, the first time she really trusted her own instincts and knew her own no.

Losing her husband, her home and her baby in the space of weeks, Claire went through the clinic process alone at 25. She describes a sterile, clinical environment, being asked repeatedly to justify her decision, no leaflet and no mental-health support — and the one question she does remember: did she want it to appear on her GP record? In other words, did she want to keep it secret.

Now in her 40s, Claire speaks honestly about grieving a life she might have had, and about how this has only recently begun to surface — because her body finally feels safe enough to look at it. She and Heather also explore her work in depth: what somatic healing actually is, how it differs from talking therapy and coaching, and why she believes the somatic approach is the next big wave in healing.

• Why abortion remains even more taboo than baby loss, and the shame around it
• A coercive marriage behind an outwardly perfect life
• The first time Claire trusted her body and knew her own no
• Losing husband, home and baby within weeks
• Going through the clinic alone at 25 — and being asked to keep it off her record
• Grieving, in her 40s, the life she might have had
• Why the feelings surfaced only once her body felt safe
• Somatic healing explained: the bottom-up, body-led approach
• Therapy is the past, coaching is the future — somatics is the present
• Titration, slowness, and why the nervous system can’t be rushed
• Community and being witnessed as a missing piece in healing

“Your body knows the way, even when you feel lost.”

Connect with Claire: Claire Williams — Claire Sophia Coaching, Yoga Teacher & Somatic Trauma Therapy Practitioner Website: clare-sophia.com Instagram: @iamsophia

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In this tender and deeply honest episode, host Heather is joined by Louise Fletcher — a coach who helps women become the leading lady in their own life — to share the story of her son Daniel, and everything that came after.

Louise was in her early 20s, in a relationship only a few months old, when a late-night call from her doctor sent her to hospital with a suspected kidney problem. It was there she discovered she was four weeks pregnant. Coming from a broken family, all Louise had ever wanted was a family of her own, and she loved being pregnant — until, at around 25 weeks, she noticed the movements slow and her bump stop growing. Daniel was born at 32 weeks weighing 1lb 13oz, breathing on his own, tiny and perfect. He died at six days old.

Louise speaks with remarkable openness about the details she still carries: asking for the lung-development injection on the way to theatre and being told she didn’t need it; not holding her son because she was certain he’d be coming home, and because she felt she was in the way; and navigating it all largely alone, at 22, with a fragmented relationship with her mum.

She also shares what came later — the discovery that both fallopian tubes had been damaged during her section, the years of trying with her ex-husband that never came to anything, and the kidney transplant she lovingly calls Kate the Kidney. And she describes the moment, decades on, when she went looking for the root of a lifelong lack of confidence and found it waiting there: how can I be confident when I couldn’t carry a child?

Now Louise helps other women uncover exactly those buried beliefs. Her message throughout is that loss is never only about grief — it shapes worthiness, relationships, and business, quietly, for years, until someone helps you look at it.

• Discovering a kidney condition and a pregnancy in the same hospital admission
• Noticing reduced movements at 25 weeks, and Daniel’s birth at 32 weeks
• The injection she asked for and was told she didn’t need — and why she says speak up
• Not holding her son, and the lifelong feeling of “being in the way”
• Facing it all at 22, alone, with a fragmented relationship with her mum
• Damaged fallopian tubes discovered years later, and never conceiving again
• Kate the Kidney — her transplant, and the peace that came with it
• Tracing a lack of confidence back to not being able to carry a child
• How grief quietly shapes worthiness, relationships and self-sabotage
• Why talking helps but deeper subconscious work is what truly shifts it
• The healed, beautiful relationship she has with her mum today

“I’d tell her I was proud of her.” A moving conversation about grief, self-worth, and finding your way back to peace.

Connect with Louise: Louise Fletcher — Coach & Speaker Instagram: @iamlouisefletcher Facebook: facebook.com/louisefletchershines

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