We Just Happen To Be Mums is the podcast for women who are mums, but not only mums.
Nicky Crosby and Ellie Fanyinka are two friends who became mothers and then realised nobody had handed them the full picture. So they started talking about it.
Every episode is an honest, warm and often very funny conversation about real life with children, and real life beyond them. The invisible load. The pressure to get it all right. Friendships that shift. Bodies that change. Turning 40 and wondering what's next. Reinvention, ageing, desire, and the big question: who are you when no one needs you?
Some weeks it's just Nicola and Eleanor. Other weeks they're joined by guests who bring real expertise and lived experience, from sleep coaching and gut health to raising autistic children, single parenting and redefining what success as a mum actually looks like.
No perfect answers. No judgement. Just two women who happen to be mums, saying the things you've probably thought yourself.
New episodes every Tuesday.
Watch the full episodes on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@happentobemums
Follow along on Instagram and TikTok: @happentobemums
Get in touch: happentobemums@coreagency.uk
Produced by Core LDN.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Home Education vs School: Is the System Failing Our Kids?
Nicky has never told anyone this story, not even her husband. Her last day at the gym ended with her stripping off, bottoms first, in what she thought was the family changing room. Then it gets real: every school has said no to her autistic son George, and the two of us ask whether the school system is actually working for our kids at all.
In this episode:
The David Lloyd changing room story we will never live down
Mooning school buses, house parties and getting sent out of class
Every school saying no to George's EHCP placement
Home education vs school: friends, discipline, nature and "institution" lighting
Term-time fines and "they want us to be workhorses"
Ellie finally explains "the land"
Dating apps, connection and why laughter is everything
Why Lionel Richie's "Hello" is a stalker song
Team school or team home ed? Tell us in the comments, we read every one.
Follow us everywhere @happentobemums: YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok and X.
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome back: "Stop rolling around, Serge!"
00:59 How's your week? "Full throttle"
01:30 "I put it in the trauma dump bin": the changing room story
06:53 Mooning the school buses
08:04 Carol, potty mouths and house parties
10:43 Square Face and Miss Tranter's "clock"
14:02 Every school said no: George's EHCP
17:38 How important is mainstream school really?
20:26 Ellie's school visit: "Institution"
26:28 Term-time fines: "They want us to be workhorses"
26:59 What actually is "the land"?
30:49 Dating apps and "I just want the truth"
35:14 Bad at maths? Why not more art
37:40 "Laughter is my favourite connection"
39:44 Lionel Richie's "Hello" is a stalker song
43:59 The gilet debate and goodbye
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
3 Nov 2026
It's Not In Your Head. It's In Your Brain. (Endometriosis & PMDD Explained)
It's not in your head. It's in your brain.
We asked you about living with endometriosis and got more stories in 24 hours than we could read out. Neuroscientist Dr Emilė Radytė (Harvard, Oxford, former emergency medic and co-founder of Samphire Neuroscience) joins us to explain the three levels of pain, why surgery doesn't always end it, what PMDD does to your brain, and why research into women's pain is still so underfunded. Plus perimenopause, her emergency C-section, and why science should serve people, not the other way round.
Find Emilė and Nettle: samphireneuro.com (http://samphireneuro.com/)
Content note: discussion of chronic pain, medical trauma and suicide. Samaritans: 116 123. Endometriosis UK helpline: 0808 808 2227. Not medical advice; please speak to your GP.
Chapters:
00:00 It's not in your head. It's in your brain.
01:19 Welcome Dr Emilė Radytė
02:03 Building brain tech for women's health
03:52 Trying on the brain stimulation headband
05:00 The fake Prada test and designing for afro hair
06:51 What happens in your brain during PMS and PMDD
08:54 Your endometriosis stories
12:18 The 3 levels of pain
16:06 Why surgery doesn't always stop the pain
19:07 Why is endometriosis starting so young?
22:27 Taking on Big Pharma
24:01 "Channel your young confident man energy"
25:10 Endometriosis vs erectile dysfunction funding
27:27 If men had periods
28:16 Your cycle has seasons
31:53 Winning the innovation award
34:31 The lives it has changed
36:54 Fertility, trust and medical trauma
38:45 How much it costs and how to get one
40:14 How it works day to day
42:02 Perimenopause is starting earlier
44:53 Could it help in labour? Her own C-section
47:03 Motherhood as a neuroscientist
48:55 From Lithuania to Harvard: not belonging
51:38 Thank you
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
27 Oct 2026
From Phone Sex Operator to Dominatrix to Coach: Lady Velvet on Ditching Shame
Teenage single mum. Phone sex operator. Professionally trained dominatrix. Award-winning coach. Grandma of four. Lady Velvet, the Mistress of Choice, has lived many lives, and she’s done hiding any of them.
She tells us how a conversation on a bench by Tower Bridge led to seven years of phone sex work to feed her boys, what thousands of calls taught her about what men really want, and the moment she finally owned her story in front of 200 women. Then she leads us through the Velvet Command (try it at home), a releasing ritual, and a conversation about shame, pleasure, people-pleasing and who we are underneath all the labels.
Explicit, honest and surprisingly emotional. You’ll walk away with your shoulders back.
Follow us: @happentobemums
▫️https://www.LadyVelvet.co.uk
▫️IG: @Lady_Velvet_Official
▫️Birmingham Fetish Weekend
https://www.instagram.com/birminghamfetishweekend/
▫️Big and Buff Bespoke
https://linktr.ee/bignbuffbespoke? (https://linktr.ee/bignbuffbespoke?)
00:00 Cold open: "What's your book about?"
01:05 Meet Lady Velvet, the Mistress of Choice
01:50 Teenage single mum, boarding school in Jamaica
06:45 Gut and Glory (partner)
08:35 "Why don't we do phone sex?"
16:02 How Lady Velvet was born
18:08 What men really want in bed
20:19 From dominatrix to owning the label "sex worker"
23:38 "I don't want to be a lady, Grandma"
28:32 The Velvet Temple
37:00 Telling 200 women the truth
41:17 The Velvet Command (say it with us)
47:36 Swallowing your no
54:53 "Who are you?"
1:01:32 "My children saved my life"
1:06:34 Gifts and goodbyes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
20 Oct 2026
Rejected for Being “Too Much”: Autism, EHCP Waits & Home Ed
Two mums, one very real week. Nikki opens up about her son George, who is autistic and minimally verbal, being turned away from a home ed class and a mainstream school in the same week, the long wait for an EHCP, and whether school is really for the kids or for the parents.
Then Ellie tries a period facial (yes, really), we ask why we’re still calling it menopause, and we imagine we’re on the government’s new misogyny task force. First to go: “the missus”, “female CEO”, and dads who “babysit” their own children. Plus why motherhood should be at the centre of everything, “Spermageddon” and falling birth rates, and what the world’s blue zones can teach us about connection.
The good, the bad and the ugly. What would YOU do if you were on the task force? Tell us in the comments.
Follow us: @happentobemums
00:00 Coffee, guts and why “sunshine” is patronising
01:59 The gilet ick
03:22 Splattering foundation on a stranger
04:21 A tough week: hives in the woods
05:54 George, autism, EHCP and home education
07:03 Rejected from a cooking class
09:22 Turned down by a mainstream school
09:58 Leaving Qatar: was it the right call?
10:50 Who is school really for?
14:56 I tried a period facial
17:20 Why we need a new word for menopause
19:23 The misogyny task force
20:26 Retire “the missus”
20:56 Drop “female” from job titles
21:37 “Who’s looking after the kids?”
22:19 Dads don’t babysit
22:59 Why are balls the measure of bravery?
23:58 Put motherhood at the centre
26:42 “Spermageddon”: falling birth rates
28:43 Humankind, blue zones and connection
30:54 Wrap up and next week
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/happentobemums
🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@happentobemums
✉️ Get in touch: happentobemums@coreagency.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
13 Oct 2026
Toddler Sleep Without Cry It Out: A Child Sleep Specialist Explains
Is your child’s bedtime a nightly battle? We sit down with Gemma, a child sleep specialist and former children’s nurse, to talk honestly about cry it out, co-sleeping, dummies, night waking and what really helps when you’re running on empty.
We play Bin It or Bed It with the sleep trends all over your feed (melatonin gummies, magnesium, white noise, the SNOO, blackout blinds, lavender and the bath before bed), share our own bedtime chaos, and ask the big question: what if your sleep setup is working fine as it is?
No shame, no one-size-fits-all rules. Just real mums and an expert who’ll help you find the one change that makes the biggest difference.
Find Gemma: childsleepspecialist.co.uk
Follow us: @happentobemums
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday
🎧 Watch on YouTube: @happentobemums
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/happentobemums
🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@happentobemums
✉️ Get in touch: happentobemums@coreagency.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
6 Oct 2026
Am I Enough? Single Mum Resentment, EHCP Battles and a Red Fleece Nightie | We Just Happen To Be Mums
Nicky and Elle are back for episode two, and it swings from tears to stitches and back again.
Nicky is fighting for her son George, who is six, autistic and minimally speaking. She's working three jobs, homeschooling while the family waits on an EHCP, and asking why getting your child into school can take a tribunal and two years. She also gets through a day of sickness with a kitchen knife, a mango and no backup.
Elle opens up about a weekend with friends' young families. It brought up something she didn't expect: resentment, exhaustion, and the question every single mum asks herself at some point. Am I giving her enough? Then an unexpected message from a friend brings it full circle.
Plus: the neighbour who said "I just feel so sorry for you in there with those children" (and then delivered the triple whammy), the dark world of Jerry Springer and Jeremy Kyle, Celine Dion's comeback, and this week's icks, which turn out to be each other. One gilet, one red fleece nightie with a side zip, and no apologies.
Finally, we settle it: what IS Celine singing in Think Twice, and what does Gabrielle have inside her shoe?
Real, funny and honest. Because we just happen to be mums.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday
🎧 Watch on YouTube: @happentobemums
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/happentobemums
🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@happentobemums
✉️ Get in touch: happentobemums@coreagency.uk
Produced by Core LDN.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
29 Sept 2026
Ex-Pat Living vs UK Living, Botox Routine & Period Facials | We Just Happen To Be Mums
Is life as a mum actually easier abroad? This week Nicky and Ellie compare ex-pat living with raising a family in the UK, what you gain and lose when home is somewhere else.
Then things get personal. We talk about Botox, plus period facials and why you might want to try it.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday
🎧 Watch on YouTube: @happentobemums
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/happentobemums
🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@happentobemums
✉️ Get in touch: happentobemums@coreagency.uk
Produced by Core LDN.
This episode shares personal experiences only and is not medical or skincare advice.
#WeJustHappenToBeMums #MumPodcast #ExPatLife #Botox #PeriodFacials
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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