It's Baby Loss Awareness Week, and host Patsy Day tells the story of the unexplained stillbirth of her and her husband Wil's baby, Jack.

Patsy shares a piece she made at First Person Health, an audio storytelling workshop run by the award-winning journalist Golda Arthur, where people learn to tell the stories of their bodies and their health in their own words.

In her 40s, with children, work and a changing body, Patsy found that a loss she thought she had dealt with “pretty well at the time” had come rushing back tied up in anxiety affecting all aspects of her life, not least her working one.

In the piece, she goes back to Jack's paperwork, where the hospital letter shows no cause, and asks why stillbirth research is so underfunded.

If you or someone close to you has lost a baby at any stage, please take care as you listen.

About Golda Arthur and First Person Health

Golda Arthur has been an audio storyteller for 25 years, reporting and producing for organisations including the BBC and Vox Media. She runs her own production studio and hosts Overlooked: Women's Health Can't Wait which features immersive personal storytelling and in-depth conversations about women’s health.

Her First Person Health workshop teaches people to tell their health stories in their own words, and each participant comes away with a professionally produced audio piece.

Links

• Overlooked: Women's Health Can't Wait: https://overlookedpod.com/
• Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity: https://www.sands.org.uk/support-you
• Donate to Sands during Baby Loss Awareness Week: https://tinyurl.com/SANDS-Charity
• This American Life "One Last Thing Before I Go": https://www.thisamericanlife.org/702/one-last-thing-before-i-go/act-one-7

If you need support

The Sands helpline is free for anyone affected by the death of a baby. Call 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@sands.org.uk or go to their website: https://www.sands.org.uk/support-you

The Wave of Light

On Thursday 15 October, families around the world light a candle at 7pm local time, in memory of all babies who have died. As 7pm reaches each time zone, the candles make a wave of light that travels around the world.

ABOUT THE PODCAST: Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. The Wobbly Middle explores that moment when we recognise the restless feeling for what it is - returning ambition - and begin actively questioning our direction. It’s that in-between space where we know we want change but don’t know how to move forward.

Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories about leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.

In Season 4, she’s speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.

These wise women tell us that clarity comes from doing and that readiness grows as you go. The message is: don’t wait to feel ready to begin. Dip in a toe and see where it leads.

SHARE YOUR STORY: Made a left turn in your career? We’d love to hear about it - your story might just be the nudge someone else needs. Email us at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com

FOLLOW US on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook @thewobblymiddle

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A midlife career change that began with perimenopause: Danni Hewson was an experienced BBC journalist who could take anything in her stride — until her body had other ideas.

Perimenopause slammed her in her thirties, the brain fog wearing her down and undermining her confidence on live television. So she made a plan, moving to the early-morning microphone of Radio Five Live's Wake Up to Money, where she could keep her notes in front of her.

Then Covid came, and with yet another restructure, the BBC were asking people to do even more with less. Danni finally made the call - and surprised herself more than anyone when it led her to the world of finance.

Now Head of Financial Analysis at AJBell, Danni talks to Patsy about her career crossroads, transferable skills and how to look differently at what you've spent years building up. They also get into money. Danni breaks down the gender pension gap, explains why women's financial journeys diverge from men's at age twenty-eight, and gives us a good push to show our pensions some love.

What We Cover

• How a chance meeting in a Mexican restaurant in Leicester led to a career in radio
• What local journalism gave Danni and what we lose as local newsrooms shrink
• Perimenopause in her late 30s and fighting to be believed
• The conversation that opened the door to AJ Bell
• Transferable skills: how to break down what you do every day into something someone else values
• The gender pension gap: why women’s financial contributions diverge from men’s at age 28
• What to actually do when you open those pension envelopes for the first time
• The snowball effect of compound interest and the benefits of combining pension pots
• Pension options for freelancers, the self-employed, and women not currently in work
• The Lifetime ISA: what it is, who it suits, and why it’s underused

Useful Links

• AJ Bell Money Matters: https://www.ajbell.co.uk/investment/women-and-investing?utm_source=moneymatters&utm_medium=partnership&utm_campaign=wobblymiddle
• Government Money Helper (pension guidance): https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk
• Check your State Pension forecast: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If You Enjoyed This Episode

If you enjoyed this episode, you might want to go back to two earlier conversations about leaving journalism behind:

• Helen Wright spent a decade as a broadcast journalist before redundancy — while pregnant — pushed her to build something entirely her own: Nine to Three, a recruitment agency for women looking for flexible work; and
• Aundrea Cline-Thomas, a three-time Emmy-winning journalist, left the newsroom to found Mountain Court Media and The Rewrite, a platform helping media professionals find their next chapter. Both are well worth your time.

Coming up: Lisa Logan, who went from practising law to composing opera. I promise that is exactly as surprising and wonderful as it sounds.

Help Us Grow

If this episode resonated with you, the best thing you can do is tell one person about it. Word of mouth is how independent podcasts like this one find their audience.

You can also:

• Leave a review on Apple / Spotify — it takes two minutes and makes a real difference
• Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep38-danni-hewson

Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:

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