EP 2: Siblings with Gemma Sherlock and Jess Honeyball
This is another emotional, incredibly heart warming and, as always, funny as f**ck discussion. Both Gemma and Jess talk openly about their individual IVF journeys, the births, surgery, diagnosis and where they and their children are now.
Both Mums talk frankly about the process of moving through the acceptance of their first children’s early days to deciding to have more children.
They share wonderful stories about their children’s unique characters and how that plays out between siblings in daily life.
Guest Biographies
Gemma Sherlock lives in North London with her husband Rohan and two boys, Jasper, aged 7 and Spike, 3. Gemma followed her love of sculptural installations into a Degree in Art History and onto a career in Architecture. Her passion is manipulating existing buildings to create exciting interior spaces. These days, when not running around after the boys you can find Gemma in the Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath or with a glass in hand nattering somewhere with friends. As a family they spend as much time as they can by the sea at their home in Cornwall.
Gemma says ‘I feel so lucky to have found myself amongst an indomitable group of people parenting children with additional needs and disabilities. Together we laugh, cry and muddle-through. We hope our Podcast will let others know they are not alone’.
Jess Honeyball is mum to 5 year old twins Freddie & Dylan, and 2 year old Leo. Jess lives in Crouch End, London with her husband Dan and kittens Margot & Jerry. Jess says ‘at least I have one female on my team, even if feline…’
'I adore storytelling, to my children and for a living. I work as a Producer and Director in non scripted television, and am kind of making it work juggling being a mum and working full time. My way of releasing tension (there’s a lot!) is through bootcamp and barre. My parents were musicians, so playing and seeing my boys respond to music is one of my greatest joys! I look forward to the days that they can play instruments themselves. I feel extremely lucky to be so plugged in to Reach, the charity for children and families with upper limb difference. For Freddie, seeing and playing with other children who look like him, and continue to push and smash the boundaries of what’s expected is magical and vital.'
Content Warnings
IVF Stories
Miscarriage
New-born Brain haemorrhage and surgery
Drug resistant epilepsy
Birth stories
Lots of tears
Resources
Sinead Burke’s Book – Break the Mould
https://www.sinead-burke.com/break-the-mould
Hydrocephalus
www.shinecharity.org.uk/hydrocephalus/hydrocephalus
Cerebral Palsy
www.nhs.uk/conditions/cerebral-palsy/
Epilepsy
ESES Syndrome
Reach
Poland syndrome
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F**king Normal
Join hosts, Lauren Fenton and Rina Teslica, both mothers to daughters with special needs as they and their guests share unique parenting stories and chat about the things they've learnt and are still learning. Prepare to sometimes laugh, sometimes cry, but hopefully leave with a shot of optimism in your arm!
The goal of the F**king Normal podcast is to extend the conversation and build a supportive community for other parents. We don't have the answers but want to create a safe space to share stories as we venture through parenting disabled children together.
Note: The F**king normal podcast is a parents perspective. We are not talking on behalf of disabled children or adults. We can't and we would never presume to. That's not our experience. We want to learn to parent and advocate better and this show is about our experience as parents.
For more information and transcripts for each episode go to our website at www.fkingnormalpodcast.com
The F**king Normal Team
Hosts & Editing: Lauren Fenton, Rina Teslica
Production team: Genevieve Porritt, Victoria Wason
Artwork: Sharon King-Chai
Music: Æ Mak - Listen on Spotify
Wider creative team: Mary Forrest, Clare Wright, Gemma Sherlock, Helen Gamble-Shields, Kathleen Javalla, Caroline MacPake, Evangelia Vasiliadou.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- No. of episodes: 33
- Latest episode: 2025-02-03
- Kids & Family Society & Culture Documentary Parenting
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