Postpartum Sex Life, Bisexuality and Vaginas with Melanie Murphy

In this episode, Hannah is joined by Melanie Murphy, an award winning lifestyle YouTuber, bestselling author and Hannah’s good friend! Mel talks about how relationship with her bisexuality has changed since becoming a mum, being genderless blobs with her husband, and how she navigates creating parenting content whilst also maintaining boundaries for her and her family. Mel also opens up on the impact of giving birth on her body, as well as the miracle of the body and its capacity to heal. Melanie shares her advice on around navigating your sex life with your partner after you have a baby and learning to prioritise time and making extra effort as a couple after becoming parents, and Hannah and Melanie talked about how to cope with anxiety when you're pregnant and dealing with fears of miscarriage. Finally, Hannah shares why she didn’t want to see the picture Melanie took of her vulva after giving birth!

CW: discussion of miscarriage, mention of eating disorders

Read the episode transcript here!

What we chat about…

  • Has Mel’s relationship with her bisexuality changed since becoming a mother?

  • Feeling genderless at home

  • Choosing which parts of yourself to share online

  • Mel’s decision not to share her kid’s face or name online and her audience’s reaction to that

  • Navigating sharing parenting content with your own comfort levels around sharing your child’s image online

  • Mel taking a picture of her vulva after giving birth

  • Why Hannah didn’t want to see the vulva picture at the time

  • How did it feel to take that picture? Does Mel go back and look at it now?

  • Explicit sex ed for certain topics like perineum massage

  • The impact of giving birth on Mel’s body

  • How Mel’s orgasms feel now after birth

  • Navigating a sex life with a partner after having a baby

  • How have Melanie and her partner been able to connect with each other after having a baby? Has it taken effort?

  • Sharing a bed and a bedroom with a baby and your partner

  • Managing expectations about what your relationship might be like after you have a baby

  • English pronunciation in baby toys and cartoons

  • How did you cope with first trimester anxiety? (36:38)

  • Mel’s hospital stay after the baby was born

  • Worrying about miscarriage in the first trimester

  • Experiencing a previous miscarriage

  • What's something you wish people had told you about postpartum? (42:40)

  • How to keep the non breastfeeding partner involved while exclusively breastfeeding? (47:00)

  • Mel’s advice for Hannah on postpartum relationship things

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MORE ABOUT MELANIE MURPHY

Melanie Murphy is an award-winning lifestyle Youtuber and best-selling Irish author from Dublin, Ireland, where she lives with her husband and one year old son. Melanie’s online content about creativity, relationships, motherhood, sexuality, confidence and mental health has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers across social media platforms and her YouTube videos have amassed over 72 million views to date. She was named Blogosphere's ‘Influencer of the Year’ in 2018 and ‘Best Social Media Star' at the 2020 Gossies.

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