BeingMum: some of the untold stories of pregnancy, birth and as a parent with a baby.
What 3 words sum up your pregnancy?:
Womanly, special, uncomfortable
What 3 words sum up your labour/birth?:
Excruciating, raw, powerful
What 3 words sum up your life with a newborn?:
Exhausting, confusing, tender
What impact did the birth of your children have on you?:
Before birth I was a ‘one of the lads’ type girls. Birth made me realise the power of being a woman but also how there are parts of it that men will never understand
What type of parent did you want to be? Are you that parent? Is anything stopping you from being that parent?:
I wanted to be more patient. I feel like having been a working mum I’ve never had as much time as I would have liked to deal with things calmly
What has surprised you about being a mum?:
How fiercely I love them, how much it is about showing up rather than getting it right all the time, how little sleep I can function on.
Where have the biggest challenges been for you?:
Never being alone, I liked being alone
What have you learned about you since becoming a parent?:
I really value time alone and am a more pleasant person when I get it
What do you think you are doing well?:
I love my kids unconditionally, I don’t think I put any pressure on them to be a certain way for me to love them
What do you worry/feel guilty about?:
They don’t eat enough healthy food, and I get angry too easily when they’re naughty
Is there anything else you would like to add?:
Birth and motherhood have floored me with how hard they are/were. Before I had kids I imagined because so many other people had done it I would find it pretty easy to be a good mother. How wrong I was. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done but I didn’t know I was capable of so much love.
BeingMum is kept anonymous so you can share freely. By collecting your stories, I would like to:
- give you a space to share your experiences, which will be posted anonymously
- share the reality of what being a mum feels like
- ease some of the isolation of being a mum
- start a conversation about motherhood, about how individual it is and the impact it can have
I’d love it if you could share and take part. Thank you so much!
antenatal & postnatal specialist 