Podcast
On this week’s episode of Happy Mum Happy Baby, we were joined by first-time mum and BAFTA nominated actress Mia Mckenna-Bruce!
The past year has been quite the journey for Mia, as she navigated pregnancy for the first-time and welcomed her son Leo to the world; all alongside achieving significant success through her role in “How to Have Sex”. A critically-acclaimed film which landed Mia an BAFTA EE Rising Star nomination, How to Have Sex is an honest coming-of-age portrayal of sex and consent as a teenage girl.
In our podcast episode, Mia opens up about her unexpected journey into motherhood full of twists and turns. To start, Leo’s birth coincided with a super blue moon – “Apparently when there’s a super moon, hundreds of babies are born” Mia shares, and this phenomenon meant there was no space on the ward for her to give birth. After already receiving her induction and contractions starting, there was a long road ahead whilst Mia waited for her waters to break. Following an active labour of 25 hours and 3 days in the hospital, Mia welcomed her son into the world following a forceps intervention after Leo’s heartbeat started to drop.
After Leo being admitted to NICU for several days when he first arrived, Mia reflected on the aftermath of this, sharing the impact of not experiencing the “golden hour” immediately after birth: “We never got that moment. Which in the grand scheme of things, is not that big of a deal. But I didn’t realise that that part [of birth] was the one part that I kind of envisioned.”
Despite a tricky start to motherhood and difficult healing following an episiotomy, Mia shares the profound changes motherhood has brought to her life, transforming her outlook on life, her relationships with her family and her career. Mia states, “I love, love, love my work. But now I love it for a whole different reason, because I’m like this is going to give me the chance to travel with Leo, it’s going to give him such amazing experiences. […] He’s going to be able to look back one day and be like, ‘Oh my God, my mum was at the BAFTAs and I was like six months old.’ Like, surely he’s going to think I’m a cool mum.”
Not only had motherhood changed Mia’s outlook on her career, but her relationship with her Mum & Dad, bringing a new appreciation for all they’ve done for her and her sisters. “After having your own baby, that realisation of parenthood is just second to none. I see my sisters back-chatting my mum and I’m like ‘hang on, she’s gone through pregnancy, she’s gone through sickness, she’s gone through birth for this – so shut up” she shares jokingly.
Our episode with Mia provides an intimate glimpse into the initial phase of motherhood, and the profound learnings that come with this new transition. For a deeper dive into Mia’s story, be sure to listen to Happy Mum Happy Baby wherever you get your podcasts, and watch our episode on Youtube below.
