We are Holly & Ben. Holly is a zookeeper and Ben owns his own marketing business. We have just had our first child, a little boy called George. We also have a dog Albus, and 2 cats Tilly & Josie. We took the Happy Parents Happy Baby antenatal classes in The Wirral.
Pregnancy was tough as I had a morning sickness pretty much all day, every day for the first few months and then towards the end I developed some liver problems. It was emotionally quite overwhelming but the course info from HPHB really helped me understand the options I was being offered by the hospital and meant that I already understood a lot of the terms being used and the pros and cons of things like induction. It helped me to feel more confident standing my ground with my preferences.
My birth went well but he did decide to come 5 weeks early! This was obviously a big shock and we didn’t quite feel ready but I hate to imagine how unprepared we would have been had we not done the HPHB course. We didn’t have as long as we thought we were going to have to physically prepare however, because of HPHB, we were at least mentally prepared and so were much more able to face the challenges of having a premature baby. The knowledge we gained throughout the course was invaluable to us as it got us through the ‘too shocked to function’ stage!
Breathing 4/5
Gas & air 5/5
It was like nothing I could ever have imagined – relief, followed by pure joy, love and awe.
Overwhelming but nowhere near as overwhelming as it would have been without having done the course. We applied information we’d learnt about feeding, sleep and recovery. When he wasn’t sleeping we had things in our back pocket that we could try, eg. We knew how to swaddle. I knew what would help with recovery and had purchased things to help after learning about them at the course, eg. Post-birth wash bottle.
Getting him consistently putting on weight, as he struggled weight-wise to begin with. We were doing weekly weighing once we came home, and every time he put on weight was a little celebration.
We had to stay in hospital for 10 days and that got really tough towards the end. It was mentally challenging to be away from home for so much longer than we’d prepared for.
The first time he latched properly and fed from the breast. Breast feeding to begin with was really tough as, because of the premature birth, my body wasn’t quite ready and he wasnt quite ready either. But we persevered and had success and I’m really proud of that.
I wasn’t expecting to have a premature baby, have to stay in hospital so long and experience quite as much stress early on as we did. But I now like to see it as we got an extra 5 weeks with him which has been amazing.
Not packing my hospital bag earlier!
The support we’ve received from the people we met through HPHB has been invaluable. We were even in hospital at the same time as a couple of them! This whole experience is overwhelming and it has given us an instant community.
Post-Birth Wash Bottle.
A fruity Lucozade – refreshing and hydrating.
Ergobaby bouncer – keeps him entertained and settled best.
Reusable Wipes – so much more effective than disposables and also so much less waste!
Do the HPHB course! (I’ve not been coerced into saying that, I promise!) It has genuinely been the most valuable thing we’ve done, not only for the course material, but because of the people we’ve met. Having other people local to you who are going through the same thing helps you to not feel alone at a time which could be very isolating. It has helped us get out of the house which has been brilliant for our mental health, and it has given our son a ready-made group of baby friends of a similar age, which I can imagine will only continue to be more and more positive for him and his development going forward.
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