April is Caesarean Awareness Month and as my contribution I wanted to share the birth story of my baby girl. I love birth stories and this time around I attempted a VBAC which resulted in an emergency caesarean. I have also included my experience with the recovery from both the physical and mental aspects. A caesarean sometimes receives negativity, but the simple fact is, sometimes babies and Mothers can die without them.
This is a positive birth story, with a happy ending!
Continue readingI was 14 weeks along at my first antenatal appointment when the midwife first asked the question “Have you given any thought as to how you want to birth this baby?” Well, no. I was still in the midst of morning sickness and all day nausea. I was just trying to make it through each week.
And then, when I did start to think about it, I realised that the thought of giving birth, either by c-section or VBAC, kind of terrified me slightly. The possible complications that could arise either way. The unknowns. The lack of control. What if something goes terribly wrong and I will forever wish I chose the other option? Continue reading
For those that don’t know my child was born via an emergency caesarean. And yes, I say born because it still counts despite what some crazy people rant about on the internet. In the spirit of April being “Caesarean Awareness Month” I thought I’d draw attention to it by sharing some of my birth story and personal experience of dealing with having a c-section. Continue reading
A lot of families start their childcare journey around the start of the year. The majority of questions I am asked about starting childcare fall under four main questions. What do I do first? What does a childcare centre offer? How can I make it easier on my child? What should I expect on their first day? I have provided general answers (as each place and circumstance can differ) to those questions for you. Continue reading
It’s always good to reflect on the year that has just gone. Isn’t it? It helps me process, take stock and move forward with the year ahead. I’m going to do a short review here under categories for those of you that are interested. I usually go much deeper and link to goals when doing this for my personal records but for online I’ll keep it simple. I’ll also touch on what is in store for 2019. Continue reading
Book Week 2018 is happening in Australia this month (August 20th – 24th) and children everywhere will be dressing up as their favourite book characters or following the 2018 theme – Find Your Treasure. I have always loved reading from a young age and I am hoping to pass my love of reading on to my child. So far so good! My child is only two and his childcare doesn’t do a dress up so I thought I’d share some of our favourite books over the past couple of years to celebrate Book Week instead. Continue reading
To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week (August 1st – 7th) I thought that I would share my personal experience of breastfeeding my son. I consider myself fortunate enough to have been able to breastfeed him until he turned 20 months old. However this does not mean that it was easy or intentionally planned that way. Below you will find a brief summary of my story followed by some additional thoughts and experiences on certain topics that I encountered. Continue reading
Have you ever noticed that once your first child turns two it is like a magical wand has been waved and then suddenly everyone is asking you “when will you be having another baby?” Surely it’s not just me? Clearly that is not the reason to start trying but it does seem to be around this time that parents start to wonder if they should. While I certainly can’t give you the answer, here are a few things that you may find yourself considering…. Continue reading
I originally wrote about this on my old blog when my baby was close to six months old. Even though I had mostly planned to take a year off from work and financially we were still on track for that, it was the six month mark that was really triggering that question – the “when do I go back to work” question. Now that my son is two I still find myself constantly wondering if our situation is right. I went back after he turned one and once he turned two an opportunity had come my way and I increased my hours. Still part time but it still felt like a huge jump. Therefore I thought I’d revisit the question and rewrite my experience for you here. Continue reading
How did Planes and Playdates come about?
Over the last two years of parenting the collection of thoughts that keep gathering in my mind have been getting louder. Writing has been a hobby of mine and these thoughts were slowly starting to form into “blog posts”. Often these would be while in the shower or driving or while stuck under a sleeping baby….. so some of the best stuff has never made it to the written format. I have slowly been gathering them and started to feel inspired to share them on here as an outlet for myself and on the small chance that it may help someone else. Continue reading
planes and playdates 