As a member of the Edinburgh & Lothians Twins & Multiples Club Facebook group I have been privy to some really interesting chats recently. One this week was about the first year of parenthood and what to expect after welcoming your baby home. It made me realise just how much things have changed since I was pregnant with my son!
When Lewis was born we were incredibly lucky to have both sets of parents within 45 minutes of home all of whom were eager and willing to babysit! One of the things that my husband and I have always felt was important was that we had time together as a couple so being able to go out for dinner or to the cinema to have something to talk about other than our child was important to us. As much as having a baby is an amazing and wonderful experience it can also become the only thing you talk about!
Resources such as netmums and Facebook groups aimed at parents in Edinburgh were also a great help in finding out about things from child friendly restaurants in Edinburgh (which I aim to blog about at a later date!) to preferred teething solutions!
One thing nobody really warned me about before hand is that after the initial influx of visitors, once your partner returns to work it can be a real shock to be on your own with a baby 10 hours a day! I am not the sort to want to be on my own all of the time so staying home was not an option. So as soon as I felt healed enough to walk a few miles I was rarely home during the day.
I attended a local ante natal class in Cramond and then the midwife led weighing clinic so was able to get out for a chat and some lovely home made soup and home baking once a week which was a great support. It certainly helped to know several other mums in the local area who were on maternity leave at the same time so I had company during the day while my husband and friends were all at work!
There are now so many more classes and clubs available than there were 5 years ago and it can be overwhelming and hard to know which you will enjoy. I can personally recommend Dads Rock as a brilliant opportunity for Dads to spend quality time with their child(ren) and with the added bonus of meaning us mums can have a long lie and a few hours to ourselves! I am of course biased as my husband is the co-founder and chairman but honestly, it's brilliant to have a few hours each Saturday for rest, housework, haircut etc!
There are also a number of wonderful new support services available which did not exist when we became parents. Tricia Murray has launched the fabulous Nurture Me (http://nurturemeedinburgh.com) in Edinburgh. NurtureMe has been created as a specialist service in the Edinburgh and Lothians to support the needs of parents when planning for the arrival of their babies, in the first few weeks after birth and for the first year. NurtureMe focuses on both physical and emotional support and offers gentle parenting advice.
Tricia has plenty of first hand experience being a mum to 5 year old twin boys and a 3 year old boy. I had the pleasure of photographing the Murray family this summer and it was a real treat!
NurtureMe has specialist knowledge in:
- Twins and triplets
- Breastfeeding
- Supporting new parents
- Working with babies and young siblings
- Post natal depression
- Recovery from cesarean section
- Preparing for parenting following infertility and supporting these parents through their pregnancy
Another new service launched this year is Sleephart by Lorraine Hart (http://www.sleephart.co.uk) SleepHart is a new professional service for Edinburgh and the Lothians designed to help mum, dad and new baby cope with the transition from hospital maternity care to home. As a fully qualified Midwife with many years working as a senior in a Special Care Baby Unit, the care of new babies including premature and twins or multiple births is well within Lorraine's experience.
And remember, if you come to Beautiful Bairns for a newborn session you can relax knowing that I have a fully enhanced disclosure so have been fully police checked. As well as having 5 years experience of being a mum I also have over 15 years experience of working with other people's children so nothing much fazes me!!
If you know of any other services that are available please leave a comment below as I would love to know about them! For now the kettle is calling as is my inbox so off to make tea I go. Oh and the next blog will hopefully feature some photos if I can pester hubby into showing me how to add them! :)
