We are Ruth and Josh, both teachers and parents to baby Martha. We took the Happy Parents Happy Baby antenatal classes in Norwich.
My pregnancy was fairly smooth, everything was medically good and I generally felt ok throughout. Of course I had pretty intense fatigue and nausea at the beginning, and aches and pains towards the end but I loved getting to see and feel our baby getting bigger and was just so excited to meet her.
My birth didn’t “go to plan”, although thanks to the HPHB course I was very open minded to the events of the birth. I went into labour naturally at home and stayed at home for a couple of days breathing through each contraction – the course really helped me here and also gave my husband and I confidence to say and do the right things! It was really nice to have done the course together so that my husband could help me breathe correctly through my contractions and minimise pain and stress!
When we eventually went to the hospital, they discovered that the babies heart rate was not recovering after each contraction as it should and I had to have an emergency C-Section. Thankfully I knew what this would look like thanks again to the course. Everything was calmer than I thought it would be for an emergency and even though Martha had to go to NICU, the support from the midwives and doctors was immense.Thankfully Martha recovered very quickly and the midwives were amazing at making sure I could breastfeed successfully and we were both happy and well. I was so shocked by the amazing level of care for us both personally.
Breathing techniques 5/5.
Standing up and moving around 5/5.
Happy – but happier once she was discharged from NICU!
The first days post NICU I was able to use many skills from the course, especially to help aid breast feeding. I was worried because I had to spend a day away from Martha, that feeding wouldn’t be successful, however it has been a beautiful journey and Martha is a star!
Becoming parents has been an amazing triumph – I feel so proud to have created Martha but also in the mum and dad we have become.
The biggest challenge was the first few days after birth with NICU and then becoming fully responsible ourselves after.
About 8 or so weeks in when I realised how far we’d come (and the crying reduced!)
Just how often I would be breastfeeding- for the first 12 weeks I would feed on average every hour and a half in the day time!
It’s been amazing to have people to talk to about each part of the journey. Now we meet up regularly with our babies and discuss each week. It’s nice to get out and see people too!
Snacks!
All the food- I was sooo hungry.
Sling wrap!
Just do what you need to do to for yourselves. Trust your gut and know that each “tricky” thing is just a phase- it will change before you realise!
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