It’s less than a week ago that the midwife called to tell me I had gestational diabetes. I was shocked. I hadn’t expected the test to come back positive. I suddenly remembered an article I’d seen about gestational diabetes which had mentioned stillbirth. I mentally decided I wouldn’t google anything incase it was scare mongering.…
Motherhood
Dads
Dads, dads, dads. Daddy, daddy, daddy. Papa, baba, tata, abba. It doesn’t matter what way you say it. Kids seem obsessed. My son claims he doesn’t have a daddy. Though I tell him he does. But according to him daddies live with their children. I try to explain people he knows where the daddy doesn’t…
The Third Trimester: Pregnancy as a Solo Mum By Choice
I can’t believe I’m already finally here. It’s been a long old journey; a year or two of contemplating whether I should and could go down this route, about ten months of trying, and (almost!) nine months of actually doing it. And still, I’m yet to meet the baby it’s all been about. I’ve got through trimester one and…
Hypnobirthing affirmations versus the reality
Hypnobirthing affirmations – you either love them or you hate them. This is in no way meant to disrespect those who found hypnobirthing an amazing tool for pregnancy and birth. I’ve heard the stories of babies birthed at home because the mother thought she was only having a few braxton hicks, what with it just…
Preparing to Share My Love: Expecting A Second Child
I used to scoff at people who wrote about how they didn’t know how they could love another child. How ridiculous I thought. Perhaps – being the last of four – meant I didn’t want to acknowledge that my own parents might have had the same thoughts before my arrival. Now, I’m shitting my pants.…
Pregnancy: First Trimester as a Solo Mum
So, this is it. I’m doing this pregnancy thing. No turning back now. Like many women out there, I’m doing it alone. After seeing the pregnancy line grow darker over the days, it still took me a while to believe that I was actually pregnant and even longer to accept that in less than nine months…
My New Year’s Resolution: When Being Selfish Is Kind
My new year’s resolution this year is clear, simple and to the point. I’m going to be selfish. By the end of last year I was at breaking point (again). Most nights ended up in tears (mine, and occasionally little man’s), I got angry in a way I never wanted to and at times it…
Childhood Chores For Three Years Old
Is it just me or are there a load of posts going round about the chores that kids can, and should, be doing lately? I thought perhaps I could bring some added insight on this debate as a solo mum. Raising a child alone means doing all the housework, and – ironically – it means…
Still Waiting To Take The Pregnancy Test
When I started writing about this journey I thought perhaps I’d write a couple of posts about the process and maybe one once I got pregnant. This is now my twelfth post and I’ve not even taken my first pregnancy test yet. I’m not trying to eek this journey out, it’s just that it turns out it’s…
Another Reading of the Single Mum Research
You might have seen in the news recently that a study has just been released about the long term effects of growing up with a single parent (read mum). It’s the usual kind of gumpf – single parents are useless, blah, blah, blah. Only this one claimed to have long term data to prove it,…