My Story (in a nutshell)
After my wonder-child was ripped into this world, he refused to breastfeed and so I went on an Exclusive Expressing journey (getting the milk out using a pump instead of your babies mouth, and then bottle feeding it to the babe).
Expressing is a long, arduous process which involves a massive amount of faff and apparatus and you end up thinking that you will never be able to get the smell of sterilisation fluid off your body and out of your nose, ever. Plus, sometimes you actually just wish you could breastfeed your baby.
As a way to make life more fun, I took photos of myself ‘pumping’ in various life situations - 5 minutes before going on stage, in rehearsals, moving the boat, after a root canal, and so on.
I posted the images up on Instagram and the love and support was amazing. I was told it should be an exhibition and so I went on a mission to make that happen. As an ‘aide memoir’ to the exhibition (brochure) I started to write about the surrounding scenarios of each photo. Then I didn’t stop writing.
My one woman mission to talk about birth and the truth about New-mum-dom overtook my panic ridden mind. And so I birthed this other baby. An honest, open and frankly quite amusing tome for anyone to get their inquisitive teeth into. I am not a terribly ‘earnest’ being so there are no wafty-bollocks lies, just balls-out reality from my brutal and brilliant mind.
Thank you.
This is a great article written by the brilliant Cassie Werber for Quartz ‘Documenting the comedy, beauty and the pain of pumping breastmilk at work’
Here is my interview with MOTHERS WHO MAKE.
And here is my mini ARTICLE for the Theatre Deli brochure for my Exhibition
A little bit about me - I write comedy and I am a boat dweller with my wee boy Billy and my man Matt. I have been a freelance actor for 20 years. My career has taken me all over the world, from being a pirate in the Caribbean to working with Rihanna in Hollywood. I also sing and am in a band called the 'Mediaeval Baebes' we were double Emmy nominated for ‘Best Theme Tune’ for singing the title track to ITV's 'Victoria'. I have been the bride of Beetlejuice in the Versace villa, the Queen of the Land of the Dead for Jose Cuervo, been heralded as Madame JoJo in our own ‘Tiny wallops’ Victorian Music Hall creation at Wiltons Music Hall and secretly controlled the underground world of Punchdrunks 'The Drowned Man'. Currently you can see me dancing like a mad mother banshee on BBC for Zoe Balls breakfast show ad and at the weekends I drape myself in gold and shout dance instructions to those wanting to barndance and ceilidh to house music called Remix Reeling, as well as the trad version with 'Cut A Shine'. I am a lover of all things American 'Old Time' and am one of the UK's Appalachian flatfooters (foot percussion). Since November ‘18 I was indoctrinated into the inside world of the Agent and now I get other actors their dream jobs, which is a dream job in itself. I am a 41 year old mother with a world of adventures under my belt. Bring on the next one.