'Mommy's Happy Hour' Book & Podcast From the Frontline of Motherhood

It hadn’t been an easy journey for Heba Shunbo, the author behind the book and podcast, ‘Mommy’s Happy Hour’. Life came to a screeching halt when she became pregnant with twins at the age of 41. An interior designer and a businesswoman, Shunbo had struggled with infertility for ten long years before it finally happened.

“I always thought that after giving birth to my twins that I would have my happily ever after,” Shunbo tells #CairoScene. “Instead I got postpartum depression, and in my deep misery I decided to write a funny book to lift my spirits.”

That book, ‘Mommy’s Happy Hour’, helped her grab a hold of the spiralling tailspin that maternity turned out to be. More than that, it allowed her to set a new course towards a whole community of like-minded mothers. “Initially the project was purely selfish. I didn’t have any friends that were mothers,” Shunbo shares. “I wanted to know how other mothers are navigating this. What hardships are they going through? People paint a rosy picture of motherhood. I wanted to connect with others so that I didn’t feel alone.”

From there, she started airing her podcast, which released its first episode in October 2020. And while the book came first, it only appeared in bookstores in March 2021. Both of them dissect the myths and misconceptions behind motherhood, and tackle taboo topics about fertility and childrearing.

The ‘Mommy’s Happy Hour’ podcast releases new episodes every other Wednesday which you can listen to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anghami, or Deezer. As for the book, you can pick up a copy at Diwan Bookstores.