Today on Blended, we are speaking to a guest that so many of you have been asking for! Former Queen of the Jungle, podcaster and author Vicky Pattison! Although Vicky herself isn’t part of a Blended family, hearing her journey to potential parenthood is very in keeping with the family stories we love to hear on Blended. Earlier this year she took the decision to freeze her eggs and start an IVF journey, but it hasn’t gone completely to plan. During a scan in January, the doctors discovered that Vicky had an ovarian cyst, meaning she couldn’t start treatment, luckily after a rocky few months, Vicky has been given the all clear and has started the IVF process. Vicky has been so open on social media in documenting her journey and showing both the physical and mental challenges that come with IVF. On today’s episode Vicky details the last few months of her IVF journey alongside sharing why she doesn’t yet feel ready for pregnancy and the scrutiny she’s faced because of this. It was such a pleasure to chat about her alternative route to motherhood, as always with Vicky this chat is open, hilarious and more than a little sweary! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

Hey Guys! Well, it's been quite a journey since the last time we chatted, and I've stepped out of my little bubble to share a special life update... Shae's here! In today's mini update, I'll take you on a journey through what it's been like getting to know my gorgeous little girl and adapting to life with not just a newborn, but a toddler and teenagers! You know, trying to find our new rhythm and establish a fresh routine. But let me tell you, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Shae made quite the entrance into this world, being born with congenital pneumonia, and I'll be sharing that rollercoaster of an experience today. So, thank you for joining me on this incredible journey. Your support means the world to me. If you haven't already, become part of the Blended community by following and interacting with us @Blended on Instagram. Thanks for listening, and I can't wait to share more with you all!

TW: This discussion covers displacement through war, and descriptions of death and violence so please be kind to yourself when listening. Next week marks Refugee Week here in the UK, and we’re honoured to be joined on Blended by the inspiring Waad Al-Kateab. Waad is a Syrian journalist, filmmaker, and activist. Her documentary, For Sama, was nominated for four BAFTA’s, winning Best Documentary, and it was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at The Oscars. ‘For Sama’ is a love letter from Waad to her daughter, Sama. The film tells the story of her life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival, as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice – whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life. Waad has since settled in the UK with her husband Hamza and their young two daughters Sama and Taima. We chat about the resilience being a mum provides you, how war & conflict cause you to build families beyond blood, the impossible scenario of having to leave your newborn child in a different country and starting again in the UK for the safety of your family. Waad is an absolute inspiration, the challenges herself and her family have been through couldn’t be tougher, so to come out on the other side and speak with so much strength optimises the Blended story. Check out Waad’s incredible film For Sama, as well as her new film We Dare To Dream and please do follow @actionforsama If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

Hey Guys! This is the last time you’ll hear from me for a little while, because when this episode comes out I’ll be 37 weeks pregnant and officially on maternity leave! To be honest I've been on maternity leave unofficially for a week or so because the tiredness has hit me SO hard. Before I go, I want to leave you with some final bits to round off this amazing series of Blended. You’ll hear my final preparations for pregnancy, an interesting update from team Blended and I’ve selected some of my favourite moments from the season for you to enjoy, one of the clips I've chosen does contains reference to miscarriage and baby loss so please take care while listening. I hope you’ve found this season of Blended as enjoyable and comforting as I have, thank you so so much for your support and community, it genuinely means the world and I can’t wait to share more with you guys on the other side! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Hey Guys! As you’ll hear in today’s episode, life has been busy over the last few weeks! So it feels like a good time to fill you in on what I’ve been up to, book launches, birthdays and my ever growing bump! Thank you so much for all your questions that came in from my Instagram Q&A, I do my best to answer all the things you want to know! We’ve got such an exciting last few weeks on this series of Blended so please stick around and I’m hoping to do another one of these before going off to have the baby! Please click here if you’d like to (pre) order a copy of my brand new blended children’s book ‘The Family Tree’ If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

Nevine Coutry is the founder of the UK’s first dating app for single parents, ‘Playdate’. After divorcing her ex-husband in 2016, Nevine found herself as a single parent to her 3 year old son. Nevine tried all the mainstream dating apps looking for a new partner but would often get ghosted after mentioning her son or her divorce. It wasn’t until a couple years later at a friends’ birthday party that Nevine met a single dad, and they hit it off immediately. They joined family units and Nevine became a step-mum. Although their relationship didn’t work out, the experience left Nevine feeling so enriched by the Blended experience that she decided to create her dating app. Nevine’s story is a chance to hear what happens when Blended families don’t quite work out as planned, as Nevine says in the episode, it’s bittersweet but she would do it all over again. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

TW: Mentions of self-harm and suicide Today we welcome the wonderful Louis Weinstock to Blended. Louis is a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and coach who has 20 years experience in guiding adults and children through some of the toughest challenges life can throw at us: loss, trauma, divorce, burnout and breakdowns. Louis is also a published author, his book ‘How The World Is Making Our Children Mad and What To Do About It’ gives children the tools they need to look after their mental health in an increasingly turbulent world of climate change, social media and war. Today's chat is all about finding the balance of using social media in between different households and how we can help our children deal with trauma by helping ourselves first. Louis has such a calm, warm energy and has such an easy way of opening up deep topics, which hopefully makes it feel relevant and you can take some tips that can help you and your family. To find out more about Louis’s book ‘How The World Is Making Our Children Mad and What To Do About It’ ‘click here To find out more about Louis’s charity ‘Apart of Me’ click here If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram. My book How To Build A Family is available now, and you can pre-order The Family Tree here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinand

Hey guys! Loads of you have been getting in touch with questions about Rio and I so it only felt right that I got him back on the podcast.We set the record straight on how we met, and as you’ll hear he didn’t make the best first impression… We also chat about how we’ve blended our lifestyles, how we resolve arguments (sort of) and there’s a bit of banter too. Safe to say Rio left the studio feeling like I’d taken the mick out of him but we do actually answer these questions honestly and we hope you find them interesting! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram. My book How To Build A Family is available now, and you can pre-order The Family Tree here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinand

Here’s something very special for all the Blended listeners. A few weeks back, I did a live show with the amazing host of the Motherkind podcast, Zoe Blaskey. If you haven’t heard of the Motherkind podcast before, it’s basically a show where wellbeing experts help you find your calm, happy place in the madness of modern mum life. So today we’re sharing an episode of Motherkind where Zoe chatted to Reshma Saujani. Resham spent the last 10 years telling girls to lean in and fight to get to the top; however, after her experience parenting and working during the pandemic her message has changed. Find out what she now has to say during this powerful episode. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram and you can pre-order my book How To Build A Family here https://lnk.to/HowToBuildAFamily

Hi guys, I’ve got something very exciting to share with you today, it’s been a long time in the making, but I’m so excited to say that my brand new book ‘How To Build a Family’ is out tomorrow - I can’t quite believe it! How to Build a Family is a nurturing handbook that I wish I’d been given when I started out my journey in a fully blended family. As well as my experiences, and those of other blended families, it has advice and tips from experts you’ve heard on the show like Julia Samuel and Lisa Doodson. My goal in writing this book is to encourage, inspire and support families everywhere. In today’s podcast I also talk about my other new book ‘The Family Tree’ which will be coming out on the 8th of June (quite the author I know). The Family Tree is a reassuring picture-book adventure that will help blended families feel seen and celebrated, offering gentle conversation starters for the youngest readers. I hope you find these books refreshing and useful, as always thanks for your amazing love and support, I can’t wait to hear what you think of them!You can pre-order both books by clicking on the link here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinand If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today’s episode of Blended is with content creator, author, mother and in her words survivor, Grace Victory. In December 2020, Grace was seven months pregnant when she was diagnosed with a severe case of Covid. Grace was taken into emergency care and their son Cyprus was delivered via C-section. Hours after giving birth on Christmas Eve, Grace was put in a voluntary coma to treat her Covid. Months passed and Grace’s condition declined, Doctors only gave her a 5% chance to live. Remarkably though Grace has made a full recovery. Grace talks about re-learning how to live after a coma, missing your son’s first few months of life and being kind to yourself in the aftermath of traumatic events. Grace’s story is one of trauma, adversity and pain but also one of hope, defying the odds and getting a second chance at life. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram and you can pre-order my book How To Build A Family here https://lnk.to/HowToBuildAFamily

Hey guys, I thought now might be a good time to update you with what’s been going on in my world because believe me it’s been chaotic. The headlines are holidays, hospitals and a whole lot of baby brain. I’ve also been getting loads of questions from you guys about how we’re getting on with potty training Cree and as you’ll hear, it’s been an interesting experience… I love checking in with you guys and just letting you know what I’ve been up to, I hope it’s relatable or at the very least you can have a laugh at my expense! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram and you can pre-order my book How To Build A Family here https://lnk.to/HowToBuildAFamily

Raising kids is no small feat and I think most people listening in will be able to relate. Whether you are part of a Blended family or not, this messy, yet beautiful, chapter we call childhood is FULL of questions, worries and concerns and sometimes all you want is a bit of support so that you can feel more comfortable supporting your kids in return. With the new baby on the way, I’ve been encountering a lot more questions so I thought why not go back to parenting expert Dr Martha Deiros Collado who has got such a refreshing, calm, and empathetic way of tackling big subjects for some advice. And that's what I did, so today I’ve got 3 of my favourite bits from Dr Martha. This advice is actually from her podcast - Taking Sense - which provides a thought provoking lens on child behaviour that all parents witness and see every day and find ideas to support you and your child. It's honestly so great, and a little bit like Blended, it helps bring you closer to other parents who have similar concerns. The advice discussed on today's episode are from the following episodes of Talking Sense, which you can listen to here: How do I prepare my child for a new sibling? When can we expect our children’s big outbursts to stop? How to deal with others' judgement of our parenting? I hope you find this mini-episode as useful as I have! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today on Blended, we’re joined by the lovely reality TV star, Lydia Bright. For pretty much all of Lydia’s life she’s been part of a Blended family. Her Mum Debbie and Dad Dave fostered over 250 children across 27 years, as well as having 3 biological children of their own meaning the Bright household was always a busy place to be! Lydia’s now a single mother herself, raising her three year old daughter Loretta. This chat focuses on both the Blended sides of Lydia’s life, the amazing and challenging experiences of growing up with foster siblings and becoming a single mother during a pandemic. If you're a single parent or considering fostering, the experiences and advice Lydia shares in today’s episode is just invaluable. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today’s episode of Blended is all about positive co-parenting and the process of blending two families with the hilarious Rickie Haywood Williams and Natalie Harman. You may know Rickie from TV and Radio, he currently presents a Radio 1 show alongside Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges, but chances are you haven’t heard of his partner Natalie who remains out of the spotlight, this was her first time doing a podcast but you’d never know! Rickie and Natalie met three years ago and after a successful period of dating they decided to combine their families. Both Rickie and Natalie have daughters of a similar age from previous relationships, and the four of them have Blended in the last couple of years. Last August Rickie and Natalie added to their family and had baby Cruz, their first child together. Rickie and Natalie discuss all the topics that so often come up in parenting: How to navigate discipline and how to make sure you carve out time with your partner. They also give some great advice on maturity to make co-parenting a harmonious process. This episode is full of laughs, it’s a really heartwarming story that shows Blended families can bring so much joy! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today we have a very familiar face on Blended in the name of ex-footballer and more importantly my husband, Rio Ferdinand. Rio finally comes on the podcast for a full episode to talk about how the family has changed from his perspective over the years. Rio also discusses growing up in a blended family, both of his parents finding new partners and how his upbringing impacts the decisions he makes as a parent himself today. There’s also a lot of banter in this episode, you can say what you want about Rio but he holds his hands up when he’s in the wrong and there’s a lot of laughs because of it! This conversation also shows a side to Rio you may not have seen before and gives a real look in to the inner workings of our family - both the happy times and challenging! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Something we place a lot of importance on in the Blended community is being really open and honest with our feelings and that’s exactly what we are in today’s episode with grief expert, loss author and CEO of the charity The Mariposa Trust (widely known by its primary support division ’Saying Goodbye’,) Zoe Clark-Coates MBE. As you may remember from her last episode on Blended, Zoe has lost five babies, but her ability to take the positives and honour life from these experiences is so inspiring. Zoe shares some great advice and tips from her book 'Pregnancy After Loss', including how to prepare for scans, coping mechanisms for stress and managing the joy and the fear of being pregnant after loss. Click here for more information on Zoe’s Charity ’Saying Goodbye’ https://www.sayinggoodbye.org/ and find her on Instagram at @Zoeadelle. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

This week on Blended we have an inspiring conversation on single parenthood with author of the book ‘Liv’s Alone: Amateur Adventures in Solo Motherhood’, Liv Thorne. When Liv Thorne was in her twenties, and single, she would joke to friends that if ‘Mr Right’ didn't come along she'd have to take matters into her own hands and have a child on her own. When she was still single in her thirties, it stopped being a joke and she started researching sperm banks and fertility clinics. Having chosen donor sperm from a bank in Denmark, her first three attempts to conceive via natural IUI failed. Liv had said to herself that she would try 4 rounds of IUI before she would undergo the more invasive (& expensive) route of IVF. Happily, and somewhat surprisingly, it was her 4th round of IUI that resulted in a successful pregnancy. Liv gave birth to her son on her Dad's birthday who sadly died when she was 12. Her Dad had always called her Little Herbert, which is why her longed for son is called Herb. Liv gives us a really honest account of what it's taken to create her family through sperm donation, the financial burden, and how you need to be especially kind to yourself if you decide to start a family solo. As always, these conversations show that there’s no ‘normal’ way to raise a child, the main thing is to show them support and love. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today’s episode of Blended is all about Mother’s Day, an event which can mean so many things to different people. That’s why for today’s episode I really wanted you to hear my husband Rio’s perspective on this day. Rio and I talk about how our family has changed over the years and how our emotions of grief evolve around Mother's Day as time goes on. Rio will describe himself as not having massive highs and lows in his emotions but he’s really getting better at voicing his feelings especially around grief, and our takeaway message as a family is do what feels right to you. We decided not to put this episode out on Mother’s Day so you can listen in the build up, afterwards or whenever feels right for you. If you're struggling this Mother's Day, please be easy on yourself, the greatest bit of advice I've got was from Julia Samuel, just turn your phone off and try to enjoy the day. If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

After her advice went down so well with you guys at Christmas, we decided to invite child psychotherapist and co-host of the ’Therapy Works’ podcast Emily Samuel back to Blended to answer your questions. It can be really easy to get caught up in our emotions and everything can seem a little bit overwhelming in parenthood, but Emily gives simple and actionable advice to use. We cover a range of topics including: dealing with grief, divorce, and how we can best support neurodiverse children (and for any parents currently experiencing the terrible two’s, I ask Emily how to deal with those tantrums too!) If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.