Hello. We are Gina and Mark. We are both teachers and are parents to our gorgeous Luca, 1 month. We took the Happy Parents Happy Baby antenatal classes in Dartford.
My pregnancy was great on the whole! I started off with morning sickness and thought “I can’t endure 9 months of this!”, but it did subside. And the rest was fine. I tried to keep active and was swimming right up to the day before birth! HPHB helped get me into the mindset of being a parent. It made me aware of the things I hadn’t thought about and taught me practical things like how to look after baby.
Darenth Valley Hospital.
HPHB informed me of the different ways you can give birth (their positives and negatives) as well as things like pain relief you may be offered and possible complications. I began labour feeling like I had an idea of what I wanted. I had Luca in the birth centre. I found the room calming, though my labour was so quick that I didn’t really have time to ‘personalise’ it, such as with mood lighting and essential oils.
Breathing techniques, 5/5, gave sense of control and something to focus on through the contractions.
I tried the TENS and gas and air, both 1/5, because I moved through labour too quickly!
I played music, 3/5, but I wasn’t able to think enough about which playlist so some music was quite dramatic!
Pure love. Amazement, joy.
The first days were quite hard as we had to stay in hospital due to Luca’s blood sugar levels and his feeding. HPHB taught me how to help him latch, which Luca did well, but he didn’t always drink, just suckled. HPHB pre warned me that emotions would be all over the place, which they were for both of us!
Continuing breastfeeding into week 5.
There hasn’t really been one moment, but we are proud of how well we work as a team.
Always questioning “is this normal?”
They have been amazing. We have met up a few times and it’s always so reassuring to know that others experienced the same/similar issues. I can ask them questions. We share tips about baby and baby classes. It’s been amazing having them.
Chocolate!!
Portable changing mat.
A dummy!
It really is true about the expectations you have for yourself that then go out the window. I was determined not to use dummies, and then we used them but took them away after 5 minutes, and now we let Luca use them all the time! You have to be kind to yourself and be prepared to change things for your sake as well as the baby’s.
Free downloadable resources and weekly guides for your pregnancy.
Enter your postcode to find your nearest Happy Parents Happy Baby antenatal classes
