Hello. We are Ulli and Jonny. Ulli works in printing and Jonny works in Facilities. We are parents to baby Jesse. We took the Happy Parents Happy Baby antenatal classes in Maidstone.
My pregnancy was quite smooth sailing thankfully, aside from bad acid reflux and insomnia in the third trimester. There were some tough days with anxieties about the birth, but overall I was super excited and amazed at what my body was doing.
At Pembury hospital in Tunbridge Wells. It was scary having to go into hospital after planning to go to the birth centre, but I felt really well looked after. The infant feeding team were especially supportive after he was born.
I had planned a water birth at the Maidstone birth centre but my body had other ideas! After 4 days of early labour, I opted to go into hospital for additional pain relief. I wasn’t dilating further than 3cm and ended up with a C-section and this was definitely the best outcome for me and was a really positive experience in the end.
HPHB helped us understand what happens during birth and what choices we had…For example, I had been really scared of induction, but the class helped me understand the different stages and what I could opt in/out of. I was also scared of the idea of the epidural but it was totally the right choice in the moment.
Breathing techniques 1/5 – I don’t think I could relax enough to get these to work for me.
Birth comb 3/5 – provided good distraction during early labour.
TENS machine 2/5 – honestly don’t know if this helped or hindered, I felt at some points like it might be making the contractions worse.
Epidural 5/5 – what a relief!
Totally elated. Like my heart has been broken and put back together with a million more pieces.
The first few days were so special but so tough. We really had no idea what to truly expect but the HPHB classes on baby care made us feel a bit more confident caring for Jesse at the very start.
Keeping Jesse happy and healthy.
Not having a full night sleep!
Managing to exclusively breastfeed – feeding was really hard at the start, with the C-section I found it tough to lift and position him so we started him feeding formula in the hospital just so he was eating. They call it a journey for a reason!
Just how much love we could have for our baby. And how many nappies you need!
It’s been so nice meeting up with and talking to other mums going through all the same things at the same time – really invaluable.
Mini fan and extra king charging cables.
Sushi!
Baby Bjorn bouncer.
Extra high changing table to save our backs!
The magical moments will make all the really tough moments so worth it. Sometimes just getting outside for 5 minutes if you can makes everything feel a bit easier.
Free downloadable resources and weekly guides for your pregnancy.
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